HOW A MUSLIMS-ONLY BEACH IN BORACAY CAME TO BE

The Philippines’ first Muslim-only beach is opening this month in Boracay. The beach is located inside Boracay Newcoast, the 150-hectare development of Megaworld Corp. 

"We are excited to open an exclusive cove for our Muslim sisters on the island!" the Malay-Boracay Tourism Office announced on its Facebook page. "Mark your calendars for September 10, 2024. We look forward to sharing this unique experience with you all."

Megaworld Hotels and Resorts (MHR), the company’s hospitality arm, says the initiative is part of its thrust of targeting the growing Muslim traveler’s market. Other plans in the pipeline include establishing halal-certified kitchens at its properties and providing in-room Kiblat pointers to Mecca for the devotees’ prayer periods.

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"The beach will also be open to Muslim guests not staying in the hotel," MHR Group General Manager Arturo P. Boncato Jr. said in an interview. It’s the same principle as everyone else. People can walk in to enjoy the beach and order [from our restaurants]." 

How the Muslims-only beach came to be

Besides Megaworld’s plans to provide more Muslim-friendly amenities and facilities, the idea of a private beach for Muslims came from one of the delegates of the three-day Boracay Diplomatic Visit and Business Forum held in the island last April. Ambassadors and other diplomats from ASEAN, Pakistan, Taiwan, and India who are based in Manila attended the forum.

Tourism Congress of the Philippines Vice President for the Visayas Peter Tay said this will be the first halal beach in the Philippines. "It’s something to look forward to" he said. "Perhaps we can get the Malaysia and Brunei market."

"Some Muslims can swim in public but other Muslims will prefer swimming in this [private beach]," Myra Paz Valderrosa-Abubakar, Undersecretary for Muslim Affairs at the Department of Tourism said recently in an interview. "And I'm sure those Muslims swimming in public, if they have a choice, [would also prefer it] because at present they don’t have a choice."

Some 1.37 million tourists visited Boracay from January to August 15, this year, DOT records show. Of this number, 1.08 million were domestic travelers, 281,218 were foreigners, and the remainder were overseas Filipinos. Unfortunately, there is no data on how many of the tourists identified as Muslim.

Muslim beaches around the world

There are several known Muslim-only beaches around the world, many, understandably in countries whose populations are majority Muslim. These include La Femme Beach, Marina in Egypt; Cherating Beach in Penang, Malaysia; Senggigi Beach, Lombok, Indonesia; Women Deluxe, Turkey; and Jumeirah Beach Park, United Arab Emirates.

Data from a MasterCard-Crescent Rating report said there were 110 million Muslim international travelers in 2022, accounting for 12 percent of all international visitors. This was equivalent to about 68 percent of prepandemic levels in 2019.

"We predict that Muslim traveler arrivals will…recover to the pre-pandemic levels of 160 million in 2024," the reports said. "Our projections are that Muslim arrivals will reach 230 million by 2028, with an estimated expenditure of $225 billion."

Data also show that, as of 2022, there are about two billion people in the world living in over 200 countries who identify as Muslims. Western Asia (Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates) and Northern Africa (Egypt/Tunisia) were the top destinations for Muslim travelers as of June 2023. 

The Philippines ranked seventh in a list of top Muslim destinations among non-Organization of Islamic Countries, and ranked 36th across all countries.

2024-09-04T02:15:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd