THE PHILIPPINES can boost tourism from Muslim countries by making halal food more available, a Malaysian embassy official said.
“The Philippines is a growing tourism destination. You have a lot to offer. But for Muslim travelers, it is difficult (to get) halal food. It is a huge challenge,” according Malaysian embassy Tourism Office Director Zaidi Kassim.
“Halal is more than having no pork. Halal (governs) the way you slaughter, the way you keep it in the farm, the kind of food you feed to the livestock, and the slaughter of cattle has to be in a certain way. Halal also regulates the transport of produce from the farm to market, it has to go through the whole process,” he told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industries Inc (MCCI) conference on Dec. 15.
“I was informed that the Philippines has a 10% Muslim population. That in itself is a sizeable market to develop for the halal industry… You have a fantastic list of products, what you need to do is to tap more of the Muslim travelers, especially from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei,” he said.
He said the Philippines will be hosting the Southeast Asian Games in 2019, and will need to serve halal food to Muslim athletes.
“We at Tourism Malaysia, we are more than happy to share our best practices as far as halal tourism is concerned,” he said.
The Department of Tourism (DoT) said in the nine months to September, visitors from Malaysia increased 2.59% to over 109,000. Malaysian tourists accounted for 2.04% of total tourist arrivals.
“The number has not been encouraging but you can do more to promote the Philippines,” he said.
“When I first came here in March, I was very surprised to see how committed the Philippine government in promoting halal tourism because it is a huge market. It is a billion-dollar market, maybe even trillion,” he said. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
