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The Al Meroz Hotel

Thailand looking to boost Muslim arrivals with first halal hotel

BANGKOK, August 30, 2016

Thailand is hoping to boost arrivals from the Middle East with the opening of a its first halal hotel in Bangkok.

Nearly 30 million foreign tourists came to Thailand last year but only about 658,000 were from the Middle East, according to industry data.

The four-star Al Meroz hotel in Bangkok, which opened in November, hopes to play its part in changing that, and to cash in.

"There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. It's a huge market," said the hotel's general manager, Sanya Saengboon.

"Just one per cent of that market is enough for us to thrive."

The Al Meroz, which boasts mosque-like architecture, has two prayer rooms and three halal dining halls.

Rooms cost from THB4,000 ($115.3) all the way up to THB50,000 ($1,442.2) a night, said Saengboon.

A guest at the hotel, Aamir Fazal, 28, a security officer from Australia, said access to a halal hotel was a comfort to Muslim travelers in Thailand where halal food can be hard to find.

"It's a really nice experience. It's the first halal hotel here and I find that amazing," said Fazal.

Eager to tap into a growing Muslim tourist market, Thailand launched a mobile application last year which helps tourists search for halal eateries and Muslim-friendly attractions.

Parts of Thailand's south, near the border with Muslim Malaysia, are majority Muslim.

Thailand saw a 10 per cent increase in arrivals from the Middle East in 2015 compared with 2014, data from the Department of Tourism showed. - Reuters




Tags: hotel | Thailand | Halal | tourist | Middle | East |

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