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MANILA:The Philippines has been recognized as a rising Muslim-friendly destination at this year’s Halal in Travel Global Summit, where one of the country’s officials and a Filipino hotel chain were also honored for their work in promoting halal tourism.

The Philippines stands among three other countries — Thailand, Ireland and Spain — in the Rising Muslim-friendly non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation Destinations in the latest edition of the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index.

The index is an annual report benchmarking destinations in the Muslim travel market.

At the summit in Singapore earlier this week, Philippine Tourism Undersecretary Myra Paz Abubakar was named Halal Travel Personality of the Year, while the country’s largest hotel operator, Megaworld Hotels and Resorts, won the Muslim-friendly Hotel Chain of The Year Award.

“This means that the DOT (Department of Tourism) is on the right track with our programs for Muslim-friendly and halal tourism. We have already done a lot but there is still so much to be done,” Abubakar, who was recognized for her “instrumental role” in advancing Muslim-friendly tourism in the Philippines, told Arab News on Saturday.

The archipelagic country, known for its white-sand beaches, diving spots and rich culture, has in recent years stepped up efforts to cater to Muslim tourists by ensuring that they have access to halal products and services.

“We have to continue moving forward and upward as the Muslim Market is a big market waiting to be tapped,” Abubakar said.

The Muslim travel market is on the rise, with international Muslim arrivals reaching 176 million people in 2024, according to the GMTI. The report estimates that the market will grow to 245 million arrivals by 2030, with their travel expenditure reaching $235 billion.

The index has noted the Philippines’ efforts to become a Muslim-friendly destination since 2021, and awarded the country the Emerging Muslim-friendly Destination accolade at the halal travel summit in 2023.

While the category has been removed for the 2025 edition, the GMTI covered the Philippines and its efforts to promote halal tourism, such as establishing more Muslim-friendly airports, to create a more inclusive travel experience.

The predominantly Catholic country — where Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the almost 120 million population — also launched last year a beach dedicated to Muslim women travelers in Boracay, the country’s top resort island and one of the world’s most popular.

Those efforts, part of the Philippines’ move to diversify its economy away from dependency on the declining Chinese market, have led to a recent surge in international tourism arrivals from countries in the Middle East and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

LONDON: King Charles III and other members of the royal family in uniform wore black armbands and observed a moment of silence during his annual birthday parade Saturday as the monarch commemorated those who died in this week’s Air India plane crash.
Charles requested the symbolic moves “as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy,” Buckingham Palace said.
An Air India flight from the northwestern city of Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. The plane was carrying 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. One man survived.
In addition to being Britain’s head of state, Charles is the head of the Commonwealth, an organization of independent states that includes India and Canada.
The monarch’s annual birthday parade, known as Trooping the Colour, is a historic ceremony filled with pageantry and military bands in which the king reviews his troops on Horse Guards Parade adjacent to St. James’ Park in central London.
The military ceremony dates back to a time when flags of the battalion, known as colours, were "trooped,'' or shown, to soldiers in the ranks so they could recognize them.
All members of the royal family in uniform wore black armbands. The moment of silence occurred while the king was on the dais after reviewing the troops.
Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, held a similar moment of silence in 2017 when Trooping the Colour took place three days after a fire ripped through the Grenfell Tower apartment bloc in west London, killing 72 people.