IHATO Member Urges Turkey to Plan for Attracting More Muslim Tourists
Omer Akgun Tekin added that this geostrategic advantage necessitates devising strategic planning in Turkey for developing halal tourism, Anadolu Agency reported.
He said the Ankara government has yet to define the concept of halal tourism while it can benefit from this field and promote the halal tourism industry by adopting necessary legal measures to help institutes active in the field.
According to Tekin, Muslims will make up 26.5 percent of the world population by 2030, which means Muslims would be among the major groups of consumers in all areas, including tourism.
He cited reports showing that in 2018, 131 million Muslims traveled to destinations in countries other than their own for vacation.
They spent nearly $170 billion in their trips, the member of IHATO’s advisory committee stated.
While reports about trips made in 2019 have not been released yet, the number of Muslim travelers in that year could be 180 million and they are predicted to have spent $180 billion, he went on to say.
Tekin said among the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Turkey has the third best conditions for attracting Muslim travelers after Malaysia and Indonesia.
