Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
101
3.7 United Kingdom
The UK is the second most visited destination by residents of the UAE with the number of visits
doubling in the last ten years. Leisure visits predominately take place in July to September.
London in particular is a popular destination for tourists- with shopping, entertainment and
dining being the main attractions. UK has over 2.8 million Muslim people which is a large
population for a non-OIC country. Table 28 provides the inbound tourism to the United
Kingdom between 2010 and 2020.
Table 28: United Kingdom inbound tourism from 2010 to 2020
Year (Inbound Tourism) 2010 2014 2020
Inbound Muslim Visitor Arrivals (Millions) 1.70 2.08 2.47
Inbound Expenditure by Muslim Visitor (US$ Millions) 2,442 3,312 4,058
Source: CrescentRating, 2015
Below are a few key points on Muslim tourist arrivals;
- The inbound Muslim visitors’ growth was at 3.0 percent. Muslim tourist prefers travel
to UK because it caters well to the basic needs such as Halal food and prayer facilities.
- By 2020 the total number of Muslim visitor arrivals will be 2.47 million. In 2014
Muslim arrivals were 2.08 million.
- By the end of this decade a Muslim tourist average expenditure will surpass the
US$1,642. This would be higher than the general tourist expenditure. Attraction,
sightseeing and shopping are the key activities for tourist traveling to UK.
- In the next five years as a percentage of total inbound Muslim tourist will account for
8.4 percent of total arrivals. This translates into almost one in ten tourist traveling to
UK would be a Muslim. Amongst all the EU countries this could be one of the highest
percentages. Tourists from the Middle East strongly favor travel UK.
Faith-based needs of Muslim Traveler
a) Halal Food
Halal food is readily available throughout the country. Most local Halal restaurants and
eateries in United Kingdom also maintain their own websites and have established a good
online reputation. Furthermore, a few online directories are also available, providing Muslim
travelers useful information on where to find Halal food. The two halal authorities are
mentioned below:
- The Halal Food Foundation (HFF), website ( ), is a non-
profit, registered UK charity. Their aim is to make the concept of ‘halal’ more accessible
and well known to the public through training schemes, workshops and educational
material.
- The Halal certification body is one of the main sources of information –
Halal Food Authority (HFA) is an independent, voluntary, non-
profit, organisation operating as a commercial wing of a registered charity under
Islamic supervision of halal inspection audit principle rules recognition registration
and certification its halal compliance.
Restaurants are beginning to display Halal logo to attract Muslims tourists.