Halal tourism market of 350 billion USD, opportunity for qualified human resources

Halal tourism market potential of hundreds of billions of USD

At the seminar on Halal tourism organized by Saigon College of Tourism on August 20, Mr. Mieu Abbas, Chairman of Halal Vietnam, said that by 2030, the Muslim population will reach more than 2 billion people, accounting for nearly 30% of the world's population. Along with that, the global Halal tourism market is forecast to exceed 350 billion USD by 2030, and may even exceed 500 billion USD by 2035.

"With its advantages of rich nature, diverse culture, rich cuisine , safe environment and friendly people, Vietnam is facing the opportunity to become an attractive destination for international Muslim tourists," Mr. Mieu Abbas added.

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Master Phan Buu Toan, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Tour Guide Association, Vice Principal of Saigon Tourism College, cited statistics showing that in 2024, Hanoi welcomed about 650,000 visitors from Muslim countries, Da Nang also recorded impressive numbers.

However, Mr. Abbas emphasized: “To turn potential into competitive advantage, Vietnam needs to develop a Halal-standard tourism infrastructure and services system, from hotels, restaurants, tours to a team of human resources knowledgeable about Islamic culture.”

According to Master Phan Buu Toan, experience from Thailand shows that, although not a Muslim country, thanks to thorough preparation, they have become one of the favorite destinations of global Muslim tourists. This comparison raises an urgent question: How can Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular effectively exploit the Halal market, which is an attractive "piece of cake", but also full of strict requirements?

Ms. Ngo Thi Quynh Xuan, Principal of Saigon College of Tourism, shared that the Halal tourism market is in a state of “demand greater than supply”, opening up opportunities for Vietnamese tourism. “However, for Vietnam, Halal tourism is still new, lacking in facilities, products to serve tourists, especially lacking human resources with knowledge of culture and religion to serve Muslim tourists”, Ms. Xuan added.

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Challenges of training human resources to meet Halal standards

Master Phan Buu Toan frankly pointed out that human resources serving Halal tourism are seriously lacking in both quantity and quality.

First of all, there is the language barrier. According to Master Toan, in nearly 10 years, Hanoi has only trained about 100-200 people who can use Arabic, Ho Chi Minh City has even less. Meanwhile, the number of tourists from Malaysia and Indonesia - Southeast Asian Muslim countries - is increasing, but the number of tour guides who know Malay is rare. "Just finding an Arabic-speaking tour guide among more than 9,000 tour guides in Ho Chi Minh City is a challenge," Mr. Toan emphasized.

The second problem is the lack of Halal-certified services. Although there are some restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City that have been granted Halal certification, many of them do not operate properly and even fail quickly due to a lack of understanding of the needs of the Muslim community. Even in tour design, finding a Halal restaurant within a 150 km radius of Ho Chi Minh City is a major obstacle. According to Master Toan, some travel agencies have to bring Halal-certified food from Ho Chi Minh City to Tien Giang to serve customers, which shows the confusion in the service system.

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Dr. Phu Van Han, Vice President and General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Ethnology and Anthropology, emphasized that training human resources for tourism is extremely urgent and necessary. Temporary solutions are necessary, but in the long term, sustainable tourism activities need to be associated with training.

Faced with that reality, Saigon College of Tourism has cooperated with Halal Vietnam to implement a joint program to train a generation of human resources with both tourism expertise and Halal certificates recognized by the international community.

According to Master Phan Buu Toan, the school is developing a training program on Halal tourism, and at the same time opening retraining classes for staff who already have experience in housekeeping, table service, kitchen, etc. to supplement their knowledge of Halal standards; cooperating with a number of language training universities to create a source of tour guides who know Arabic/Malaysian. This is considered a “fire-fighting” solution to meet the rapid growth of the Halal tourism market.

In the long term, according to Master Toan, it is necessary to make Halal tourism a compulsory branch subject in the tourism training program.

In addition, Master Toan said that the training program will provide Halal certificates, recognized by the Muslim community. “In reality, there are many Halal certification labels, but how the Muslim community can recognize them on those products is the problem,” Master Toan added.

Dr. Phu Van Han emphasized: “Halal certificates are only valuable when recognized by the Muslim community. Therefore, training cannot stop at theory or ‘chasing’ certificates, but must be associated with understanding of culture and religion.”

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