I read last year about a purda-fied beach in Italy, targeted at vacationing women from the Gulf. But wonder about the actual potential of this sort of tourism model, because while Saudis/conservative people might *claim* they want a halal vacation, vacations in lands of haram-ness seem to be their favourite safety valve, to get all the sinful shopping and boozing and cinema-watching and of course whoring done for the year. I'm not sure people will really vote with their feet on this one.

I am all for the market mate, so long as it is not the only choice, let "Halal" segregated hotels - maybe with footbaths so abulutions don't turn public restrooms into disgusting ponds.

I am for a free market as well. I think SP does have a point, however.

It is amazing with the amount of Saudis that come to live in the USA and take trips to shop here how you rarely run into Saudi females in hijab or any other sort of "Islamic" covering. Even at the Saudi Embassy here in DC most women do not cover.

Every once and awile you run into a niqabi Saudia at Tyson's Corner Mall, but this mainstay of shopping Saudis in the DC area sees mostly uncovered Saudis looking to shop, drink, party and have a regular good time that is not openly available in Saudi.

They tend to come here to avoid that sort of thing. "Down with this sort of thing" as Father Ted would say.

Anyway, the market will decide whether there is a niche for that or not. My suspicion is that much of this stuff will be used by Muslims already living in the West.

SP:
I don't doubt you when you say more Saudi tourists would claim to want a halal vacation than are likely to follow through on the same. I have heard amusing stories in this regard ("What do you mean we should pay for items missing from the minibar now that it is time for us to check out? We're good Muslims, are you daring to imply that we might have had something to drink?"), as well as assertions made that Dubai wouldn't get Gulf tourists if it were not for the ease of access to alcohol and women.

But that is why I spoke of a niche market, and one that isn't too crowded at that. Hundreds of thousands of Saudis visit Dubai every year, to say nothing of Muslims from other countries. In order for these hotels to turn a profit, only a small percentage of them need to be pious (or at least wish to convey this impression to conservative family members or business partners). Indeed, if the demand for rooms stays high, regular tourists will probably be happy to come in as well. After all, it's not as though the hotels' managers are going to care about what their guests do off their premises.

Yeah, I can see people using halal hotels to reassure conservative family members and business partners. Though I suspect what will happen is that these will become the "women and family" hotels, and men will not use them when travelling alone, because you can't bring your Rooseyya up to those rooms, can you.

While I haven't been there myself to scope out their clientele, even that is uncertain:

[The general manager] said the hotel is open to families and individuals, but it will not try to find out the relationship between a couple when they check in.

"We are not going to check on couples. We will just register their identities," he said.

First person to successfully bring to market a shari'a compliant whisky will become a billionaire.

"We are not going to check on couples. We will just register their identities," he said.

Sounds like an ex-BF of my mom's, an entrepreneurial sort who apparently made an absolute fortune as a hotel front-desk clerk near a major East Coast state university by renting out regular hotel rooms at hourly rates to "young married couples" who were "just passing through town and needed a couple of hours' rest," back in the days when all U.S. university dorms were single-sex, and opposite-sex guests had restricted visiting hours and requirements that doors be kept open during visits and all occupants' feet be kept on the floor. Plus ca change...