Dubai ranked world's most halal-friendly shopping destination

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) topped the list of the most halal-friendly shopping destinations for 2012, a report of Gulf News said. The list was based on surveys and traveller feedback compiled by Crescentrating, a Singapore-based company. According to the Commission on Overseas Filipinos, there are about 600,000 Filipinos in UAE.  Fazal Bahardeen, CEO and founder of Crescentrating, said in the Gulf News report, ""The top priority was that the city had to offer an amazingly varied shopping experience — from malls to markets and souqs. Second, it was important to note the availability of halal food in those malls, markets, souqs and shopping districts." "The third criterion was availability of prayer facilities in malls and shopping districts. The fourth criterion was availability of a family-friendly environment. And last, it was important for each of the selected cities to have halal-friendly hotels that do not serve pork or alcohol...," he added.  

Bahardeen said it took the company three months of polling and surveying to come up with  the list which includes:  

• Dubai,
• Kuala Lumpur,
• Istanbul,
• Singapore,
• Bangkok,
• Delhi,
• Johannesburg,
• Bali,
• London
• and Hong Kong