Muslim travellers to spend $157 billion by 2020

Muslim travellers will spend $157 billion by 2020, as revealed at the Arabian Travel Market 2018 and the top outbound market remains Saudi Arabia, which will grow 17 per cent over the next three years alone, to reach $27.9 billion. During the first seminar, entitled ‘Halal Tourism – How far have we come?’ Faeez Fadhlillah, Founder and CEO, Salam Standard and Tripfez, highlighted the growing importance of Muslim millennial travellers illustrated by the changing global socio-economic trends and underscored the potential pent up demand.
“The biggest countries and some of the fastest growing economies in the world are found in Asia and the Middle East. These regions typically have large Muslim populations which are young with prosperous middle classes. In addition, second and third generation Muslim communities in developed economies such as Europe and North America now have far more purchasing power and overall, their combined growth generates increased demand for faith-based travel and tourism,” Fadhlillah said.
During the second seminar, ‘Halal travel becomes mainstream’, Omar Ahmed, Founder and CEO, Sociable Earth, revealed some of the key results from a recent survey, in which 35,000 Muslim travellers participated. “Certainly, the halal travel market has graduated from its niche status to become an industry-shaping force, in its own right. It has become mainstream,” said Ahmed. “It is also clear that mainstream travel and tourism organisations will now have to become far more pro-active, if they want to attract increasing numbers of Halal travellers and tap into the potential of this massive market,” added Ahmed.