Orange County and Cape Town: Non-Muslim destinations fast catching up with traditional halal travel hotspots

Photo for illustrative purposes only. Muslims of Cape Town walk to a mosque in the city's historic Bokaap district, October 24, 2006, celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan. REUTERS/Garth Stea

DUBAI - New non-Muslim destinations are building their offering from scratch to capture the Muslim travel market, while traditional tourist hubs are behind and need to quickly catch up, according to Mamoun Hmedan, managing director of MENA & India at Singapore-based travel search engine Wego.

“We noticed over the past two years in the Middle East a noticeable increase in the demand for unusual non-traditional, halal-friendly destinations such as Japan, South Korea and South Africa since they started announcing their offerings to this audience and reaching out to them on social media,” said Hmedan during the Global Halal Tourism Summit on April 30 in Dubai.

Orange County in Southern California is one such destination. Already a tourist centre with iconic beach towns and Disneyland in its largest city Anaheim, “The OC” is home to an Arab-American enclave known as Little Arabia.