Halal tourism market in the city of Porto

Abstract

alal tourists tend to look for tourism destinations where there is a Muslim
religious predominance, however, in recent years, they have developed curiosity about
regions with diverse cultural structures. Beyond being a market with a big demographic  expression, it is also one of the most important ones for the capital circulation. One of the
great beneficiaries of this movement has been the European continent, whose rate of
Muslim tourist visits has seen a progressive increase. Portugal must establish itself as an
interesting destination for the halal tourist, since it shares a cultural legacy left by the
Muslim community during the occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.
This study aims to understand if the city of Porto has the necessary conditions to
welcome the halal tourist. In that perspective, a set of services and products were listed,
especially related to food and accommodation, which serve not only the Muslim traveler
population, but also the local Muslim population. It also intends to find out if the
stakeholders associated with the tourism sector are aware of the concepts "halal" and
"halal tourism", evaluating the interest of the city towards the studied segment. The
limitations and obstacles that a Muslim traveler may feel when visiting the city of Porto
will also be outlined.
To ensure the evaluation of the proposed objectives, a qualitative methodology
was chosen, using as instrument of data collection the semi-structured interview. Ten
interviews were applied to representatives of the local Muslim community, hotel
managers, restaurant owners and agents from the local public entities. Despite the
existence of services and products that minimally meet the requirements of the halal
tourist, now the city of Porto is not able to accommodate a sudden increase in tourism
demand associated to the Muslim population. It is evident that there is no diversity of
supply in terms of restaurants that provide legal meat alternatives. In addition, it is not
feasible for the hotel units to present a roadmap of services that fully satisfy an Islamic
customer. If on one hand the lack of demand from the Muslim client is not motivating
public or private funding applied to the halal segment, on the other hand there is a
generalized awareness that the exploration of the market would be beneficial to the city,
both in terms of tourism demand and the local community. It is visible the responsive
posture of regional and local Destination Management Organizations (DMOS) in Porto,
adopting a dependent position on the motivations and interests of the halal tourist.