Tourism industry objects certification under the "Halal Friendly" program: The modern aspect

Over the past few years, the structure and scale of international tourist flows have undergone several significant changes, which affected the situation on the global tourism market. Economic and political events are the reason for changing the format of the structure and quantitative indicators. The article analyzes the current state and development trends of one of the most promising areas in tourism - halal tourism based on the current experience of serving this category of tourists in the world. The author present analytical data characterizing the steady increase in the flow of tourists, who follow Islam. On the base of the Global Muslim Travel Index-2016 rating (International Index of Muslim Travels) the author identifies the most and least friendly countries for this segment of tourists, and considers the specifics of the service of tourists following Islam in the countries that hold the leading positions of the rating. The information of the Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation and a number of authoritative expert assessments clearly demonstrate the increase in the flow of tourists from the countries of the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. Based on this data, the author analyzes the state, problems and development prospects for this direction of tourism in the Russian Federation. All this confirms the viability of implementing the tourism industry objects certification under the "Halal Friendly" program. The author examines in detail the essence and specific features of introducing the experience of certification under the "Halal Friendly" program based on the examples of individual Russian cities and regions. The author draws special attention to the fact that certification of a significant number of tourist facilities is still a debating issue and is actively discussed in various professional communities.