Predominately Buddhist Thailand has opened its first halal hotel as hopes to attract more Muslim visitors and boost one of the few bright spots in its economy.
\nNearly 30 million foreign tourists came to Thailand last year but only about 658,000 were from the Middle East, according to industry data.
\nThe four-star Al Meroz hotel in Bangkok, which opened in November, hopes to play its part in changing that, and to cash in.
\n\u201cThere are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. It\u2019s a huge market,\u201d said the hotel\u2019s general manager, Sanya Saengboon.
\n\u201cJust one percent of that market is enough for us to thrive.\u201d
\nThe Al Meroz, which boasts mosque-like architecture, has two prayer rooms and three halal dining halls.
\nRooms cost from 4,000 baht all the way up to 50,000 baht ($116 to $1,445) a night, said Sanya.
\nA 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.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a really nice experience. It\u2019s the first halal hotel here and I find that amazing,\u201d said Fazal.
\nEager 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.
\nParts of Thailand\u2019s south, near the border with Muslim Malaysia, are majority Muslim.
\nMany Malaysians pop over the border for short visits but a low-level separatist insurgency in the far south, that has included bomb attacks in border towns frequented by Malaysian tourists, has dented business there.
\nA series of bomb attacks in more mainstream tourist towns south of Bangkok this month, in which four people were killed and dozens wounded, has led to fears the insurgency is spreading.
\nThailand saw a 10 percent increase in arrivals from the Middle East in 2015 compared with 2014, data from the Department of Tourism showed.
\n(Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Prapan Chankaew; Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Robert Birsel)<\/p>\n
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