2014 studies compiled by Dinar Standard revealed that, the global Islamic market spend on travel translated to $142 billion, positioning them in third position globally behind China and the United States who during the same period spent $160 billion and $143 billion respectively.
Mesbah says: "The Middle East and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are notoriously big spenders and there is a strong opportunity for Cape Town and the Western Cape to appeal to this market. Although only making up 3% of the global Muslim population, the GCC represented 37% of Muslim travel spend in 2014. A positive for the host destination is that these travelers prefer to stay in a destination for up to three to four weeks at a time, translating into bigger spend."
According to Mesbah, targeting these markets requires proactive, strategic steps and requires destinations to do sufficient ground work before rolling out huge marketing campaigns in a bid to attract Islamic tourists.
With an already sizable local Malay community, presence of mosques and availability of halal cuisine, Cape Town is well on its way to being an attractive destination to this market. Mesbah did however task the Western Cape tourism industry to think out of the box in order to deliver on, among other things, offerings like dry hotels and unique tailored beach resort experiences which could be packaged to cater to the needs of the halal tourist.
Wesgro CMO Judy Lain added, "Cape Town and the Western Cape have the right ingredients to attract the Islamic tourism market. Engaging with experts like Mesbah is critical for the Western Cape tourism industry. The Middle East, GCC and South East Asia are strategically important growth markets for us."
