Singapore firm launches mobile app for halal foodies

A Singapore-based company on Wednesday launched a mobile application that enables Muslim foodies and travellers to share halal restaurant discoveries around the world.

The free "HalalTrip" app, available for Apple iOS and Android devices, enables users to take and upload photos of halal dishes, write comments and share them through social media.

Clicking on a photo gives details about the dish as well as the location of the restaurant. The app, which has English and Arabic interfaces, also uses a traveller's location to display photos of halal dishes served in nearby restaurants.

The term halal is used for food, products and services that comply with Islamic requirements.

"Halal food is one of the biggest drivers of tourism for the Muslim market," said Fazal Bahardeen, chief executive of HalalTrip, part of a Muslim-oriented business group called CrescentRating.

"When travelling, one of the main concerns of Muslims is halal food. What we did is to bring in a social media element into discovering halal food and making it more fun and more intuitive," he told AFP.

Fazal predicted the Muslim travel market would be worth $192 billion a year globally by 2020, up from $140 billion in 2013.