Making Halal Travel in the Maldives Possible - Maldives Halal Travel
Monday 17th of May 2021
Maldives being a 100% Muslim country, the potential for the development of Halal travel has remained untapped in its almost half-a-century history of blooming in the travel and tourism industry. With Muslim travelers from around the world becoming a fast-growing and promising segment to the destination, a brand-new initiative has launched to explore Halal travel ventures in the World’s Leading Destination.
On May 16, a special ceremony was held in the Arabian Travel Market 2021 event currently ongoing in Dubai, to mark the launch of Maldives Halal Travel and its platform of various products. MHT was launched by Managing Director of MMPRC, Mr. Thoyyib Mohamed.
An entirely Arabic platform, MHT portfolio expands into exclusive halal news, offers, Maldives Halal Travel Magazine (Print & Digital), and Muslim Friendly Travel Rating (MFTR). The MFTR is a voluntary 5-star based rating system that evaluates a property based on their level of Muslim-friendliness in services and facilities available. This system will act as a reliable and trusted rating system for future travelers to access and encourage travelers to explore more options in the Maldives.
Version 1 of the Maldives Halal Travel Magazine was also launched as part of MHT. The inaugural edition explores the potential of the segment in the destination and introduction, leading on to future prospects of the initiative. Exclusive interviews of key figures in the industry are also included in this Arabic language magazine, available digitally.
Superheaded by Dr. Hussein Sunny Umar, MHT aims to build on his vision of diversifying the travel products available in the Maldives and opening it up for newer segments of niche travelers. “It is a potential market worth over $189 billion. The goal is to drive Muslim travelers to Maldives especially from the GCC region.” he commented, highlighting that MHT will be heavily marketed in the region. He further added that “Resorts are halal friendly and has the capacity to fully provide this service. It does not matter if resorts sell alcohol or pork. Resorts are equipped in a manner that they can provide 100% halal travel packages.”
Adaaran Maldives and Heritance Hotels in the Maldives were among the first group of properties to join with MHT. The initiative has received immense support from Assistant Vice President - Sales & Marketing at Heritance Aarah & Adaaran Resorts, Mr. Suresh Dissanayake, and local authorities in their journey to the launch.
The MHT platform also provides advisory & consultancy, PR & marketing, trainings, conferences, specialized content creation, visiting designated halal travel fairs & expos as well as hosting Halal Travel Awards. Their goal is to complete with the likes of South Eastern destinations which currently dominate the outbound Middle Eastern markets, and drive the newly segmented product range as an irresistible offer.