Manila Marriott boosts halal tourism
The Manila Marriott Hotel has become the first premium hotel chain to be rated for its halal-friendly services to help accelerate the vision of the Philippines to become one of the world’s preferred destinations for Muslim tourists.
The five-star Manila Marriott has been recognized by CrescentRating, the leading authority in halal travel, with a rating of five for its halal-friendly services and facilities. Among other Muslim friendly services, the hotel has a halal food section in the Marriott Café.
CrescentRating of the hotels and resorts in the Philippines is part of a series of initiatives recently unveiled by the Department of Tourism (DOT) to create a longterm infrastructure across the country to diversify its visitor arrivals by attracting Muslim visitors, especially from the neighboring ASEAN region and the Middle East.
The MasterCard-Crescent-Rating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 revealed that in 2015, there were 117 million Muslim travelers representing 10 percent of the entire travel economy. The Muslim travel market is widely recognized as a key growth tourism sector projected to be worth more than $200 billion by 2020, according to the report.
“Marriott Hotel Manila is excited to be a leader in promoting halal-friendly services and offerings to the region and beyond. We look forward to extending not only our world-class Filipino hospitality to our local, regional and global customers, but also an environment of awareness, sensitivity and exemplary service expected from a multitude of discerning customers. We are thrilled to partner with the DOT in this important initiative,” Bruce Winton, general manager for Marriott Manila, said.
Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating, said, “We are delighted to welcome a prestigious brand such as Marriott as a member of Crescent-rated hotels.”
The DOT recently partnered with CrescentRating on a series of activities to increase awareness of the availability of halal food, mosques and other Muslim-friendly holiday experiences and facilities in the Philippines.
The Philippines’ close proximity to the large Muslim populations of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, coupled with its rich diverse culture, make the country an attractive destination for tourists keen to explore one of the most unique places in Asia.
The Philippines receives approximately 566,000 visitors from the Middle East, parts of ASEAN, as well as India and Israel annually.
Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said: “Our Philippine Halal Tourism project has been successful in generating awareness and creating a Halal consciousness among the Filipino people. It is important because it is a given in the Filipino culture that our best and most important welcome to any visitor is with food. And if we are not halal, there is a very important segment of society in the world that we are not extending a proper welcome to.
“We commend Manila Marriott Hotel for being the first premium hotel chain to be rated for its Halal friendly services and for joining us in making our brand of welcome special, through food that is proper and acceptable to our countrymen and friends around the world.”