In the context of the world witnessing the strong “rise” of the Halal industry, with an estimated market size of up to 3,000 billion USD, Halal tourism is considered to be able to become a “boost” for Vietnamese businesses, creating added value for products through serving the flow of tourists from the Middle East and Muslim countries.
Great potential
The Global Islamic Economy 2023 report indicates that the global Halal market is forecast to reach over US$2.8 trillion by 2025 and continue to grow strongly, covering many areas: food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, finance, tourism and fashion, with more than 2 billion Muslims worldwide, accounting for 1/4 of the world’s population.
Halal tourism (meaning all services are friendly, in accordance with the specific requirements of Islam) is currently emerging as a global trend, making an important contribution to the development of the tourism industry in many countries. It is estimated that there are about 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide and is forecast to reach nearly 2.2 billion by 2030, accounting for about 30% of the global population. With this number, by 2030, Halal tourism is estimated to contribute US$334.5 billion to the world tourism industry. This is a great opportunity for countries to implement policies to attract Muslim tourists, including Vietnam.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Vietnam, Mr. Shovgi Kamal Oglu Mehdizade also gave an assessment at the Workshop “Prospects for developing tourism associated with Halal in Hanoi” in April 2025 that Vietnam has great potential for the development of Halal tourism, especially for Muslim countries and is increasingly becoming an attractive destination for many countries such as Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, or to mention hundreds of thousands of tourists from Arab countries.
Building trust with Halal tourists
Vietnam has strengths in landscape, cuisine and tourism infrastructure, but to attract Halal tourists, it requires more efforts and positive steps. The important thing that many experts emphasize is to build trust with the Muslim community – from standard services, well-trained human resources…
Sharing information at the workshop “Guidelines and application of Halal technical requirements for food and beverage service establishments” held on May 9 in Da Nang, a representative of the Center for Technical Standards, Metrology and Quality 2 (under the General Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality, Ministry of Science and Technology) said that in order to realize the potential of Halal export and tourism, Vietnam has been implementing many activities from the central to local levels. Bilateral cooperation agreements with international Halal certification organizations from Malaysia, Indonesia, and the UAE have helped Vietnamese goods easily access the world Halal market. The national Halal standards system (TCVN Halal) is also being developed to form a transparent and consistent legal corridor.
In addition, the project “Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam’s Halal industry by 2030” approved by the Government on February 14, 2023 is a strong driving force to promote the development of the Halal industry in general and Halal tourism in particular.
Currently, many localities across the country have been making efforts to become Muslim-friendly destinations, meeting the requirements of services, human resources… for the Halal market.
As in Da Nang, statistics in 2024 show that the city welcomed more than 4 million international visitors, including nearly 200,000 visitors from India, 131,000 from Malaysia, nearly 40,000 from Indonesia and thousands from other Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran… Da Nang currently has more than 46,000 hotel rooms, 8,000 dining establishments and 16 tourist areas/destinations, meeting the needs of many tourist segments, including Muslim tourists.
The strong development of the aviation system is providing important support for Da Nang’s Halal strategy. Currently, the city has 16 regular international routes along with 8 domestic routes, with a frequency of 120 – 125 flights/day. From June 2025, Emirates Airlines will officially operate the Dubai – Bangkok – Da Nang route, opening up opportunities to access the tourist market from the UAE, the Middle East, and connecting countries from Europe and the US. Along with that, from April to October 2025, charter flights from Kazakhstan (Astana & Almaty) to Da Nang will also be put into operation. These are emerging markets with a high proportion of Muslims, with strong potential for future development.
To prepare well for welcoming Halal guests, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang City has… Da Nang organized a thematic seminar in March 2025 and May 2025 to share information, orientations and practices in serving the Muslim tourist market; update Halal technical standards for the catering and food processing industry, etc., promising to bring the most standard and suitable services to Muslim tourists.
Along with this effort of the localities, experts also especially emphasized the role of human resources. According to Dr. Trinh Thi Thu Ha – Principal of Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism, in order to develop tourism associated with good Halal, the issue of human resources and human training plays a decisive role. It is known that Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism has established a Halal Training Center, promising to provide good human resources to meet the needs of Halal tourism in the coming time.
Source: Tap Chi Tai Chinh. Link here
