Halal tourism is now a trend that occurs in various countries in the world today. They see the growing population and demographics of the world's Muslims making their own market opportunities for the growth of the world's halal business. Niche business is now beginning to be encroached by developed countries in Europe and Asia such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand in maximizing halal business with many producing various types of products and services. Following the world's halal industrial trends, Indonesia as a country that has the largest Muslim population in the world also should not be left behind, let alone Indonesia has its own uniqueness compared with other countries such as the wealth of destinations which is its own potential.
Tourism has evolved into one of the industries with a tremendous turnover of money, at least in the last decade. Travel fever has infected many people, no longer just those who have a lot of deposits and assets. Young people without clear work can travel whenever they want.
The rapid development of the industry and then bring up a variety of genres, buzz, theory or whatever the name. One of them is a kind of halal tourism or halal tourism. Middle Easterners prefer to call it family friendly tourism, family-friendly tourist activities.
This halal tourism emerges from the awareness of some stakeholders in countries with great tourism potential who see that the Muslim tourism market in the world is huge. The number of Muslims in the world is estimated to amount to 1.8 billion people, suppose twenty percent of them have the intention of traveling, imagine how much revenue can be diraup from the tourism sector.
Muslims who travel can not be separated from their beliefs. They need the certainty of halal food (far from unlawful meat and alcohol and processed according to the Shari'a), can find a comfortable place of worship, know the time of prayer and the direction of Qiblah and can enjoy the sights without fear of falling into kemudharatan.
Countries that are considered as big targets of this halal tourism include; Saudi Arabia which annually spends $ 17.8 billion on travel, Iran ($ 14.3 billion), the United Arab Emirates ($ 11.2 billion), Malaysia ($ 5.7 billion), Singapore ($ 2.3 billion) and even countries like Russia and Germany also contributed a small number of tours made by their Muslim citizens. Russia is estimated to spend $ 5.4 billion and Germany $ 3.6 billion.
That number is certainly tempting for many countries that have tourism potential. Some countries even since several years is serious about developing halal tourism or halal tourism. Singapore is ranked first in 2015 with an index value of 68.4 in terms of reaching Muslim tourists through their halal tourism program. Followed by Thailand with a value of 59.5 and British index with a value of 59.0.
Among the IOC member countries, Malaysia ranked first with an index score of 81.9, followed by United Arab Emirates (74.7), Turkey (73.9) and Indonesia fourth with index value of 70, 6.
These values are derived from several coefficients, including:
Although the concept of halal has become a lifestyle for most of Indonesia's population, but halal tourism is less developed in Indonesia due to facilitation, not easy to ensure halal food, halal certification, and less promotion. This is evident from the results of the research institute and the rating of the halal tourism industry Crescentrating with MasterCard, Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2015, Indonesia is ranked sixth world halal tourism destinations, under Malaysia and Thailand. Crescentrating assess Indonesia should try harder if you want to step over Malaysia and Thailand in developing halal tourism. Indonesia has not been so aggressive in promoting halal tourism such as neighboring Malaysia and Thailand. Indonesia has also not integrated the promotion of halal tourism into the national tourism program, and created a special package of halal tourism.
One of the areas in Indonesia that should have high selling value to the halal tourist destination is Aceh. Because aceh already have a high brand of mecca porch is very synonymous with the value of Islamic values. Aceh can learn to implement halal tourism in some areas that have enormous potential and are not inferior to what is in malaysia and thailand. Lamno for example, an area with a stunning natural panorama in aceh.
Easy access and also the many tourist spots available in Lamno in, should be a prima donna of halal tourism in Aceh. Lamno already have all the tourist spots that exist in other areas, and of course with a label mecca porch in Aceh will be more influential on the brand of halal tourism if carried in this area. Starting from the tourist spots of the mountains, hills, beaches, sea, small islands, food, culture, local products until the inhabitants become a towing for tourists, because the residents themselves have a uniqueness that is called with "simata biru (blue eyes)".
Truly the charm of this one area will never be endless if you want to be expressed into writing. But unfortunately, tourists in this area is still not as expected, so it takes the development of tourism, and halal tourism is a solution that must be realized in this area.
To make this blood become a halal tourist attraction, but there are some things that need to be paid attention by developer and local government. Within that framework, there are three things that are focused.
Promotion and marketing, including brand building (branding), communication strategy, and sales. Second, the development of destinations consisting of attractions, construction of facilities, and access to supporting locations. Third, institutions, businessmen, industry players and workshop training . This is done so that they understand how to serve tourists more professionally.
In addition, it is necessary to cooperate with the Provincial Government of Aceh to know what types of tourism can be developed. The ministry has prepared the framework and build cooperation with related institutions. Constraints such as facilities are still limited, do not be an obstacle to build a halal tourism business.
This is what should be the focal point of the government in developing the economic sector in the field of tourism. Halal tourism is a real solution in realizing a uniform economy to the whole society.
