São Paulo – Authorities from Foz do Iguaçu, in the state of Paraná, want to turn the city into the first halal tourist destination in Latin America, and will count on the partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) and certifier Cdial Halal. The vice president for International Relations at the ABCC, Mohamad Orra Mourad, and the CEO of Cdial Halal, Ali Saifi, held meetings last week in the city and agreed with local authorities to draw up a work plan to take the project forward. Pictured above, the meeting at the City Hall.
“Foz do Iguaçu already has many attractions, and adapting to halal will be another one of them, which will make it possible to serve the population of Arab-Muslim origin, which represents almost a third of the world’s population,” said Saifi, in a press release by Cdial Halal. The certifier’s CEO understands the measure will also help increase the development and economy of Foz do Iguaçu, which will benefit the entire region.
Mourad also believes in Foz’s potential as a halal destination. “I don’t know a Brazilian city where the Arab and Islamic community is more integrated than in Foz do Iguaçu,” he stated. The vice president of International Relations mentions as a positive factor the good hotel structure, with hotels for all types of budgets, from the simplest to the most luxurious, and the interest of representatives from the tourism sector in participating in the halal project.
Transforming Foz do Iguaçu into a halal tourist destination means adapting the local tourist structure to receive Muslim tourists with excellence. Foz is already a well-established city in terms of tourism. Its main attraction is the Iguaçu Falls, a group of 275 waterfalls forming a grand spectacle of nature sought after by tourists worldwide. The falls are on the border between Brazil and Argentina. On the Brazilian side, they are within the protected area of the Iguaçu National Park, which maintains a rich diversity of fauna and flora.
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Mourad and Saifi’s trip to Foz do Iguaçu served to continue a memorandum of understanding signed between the Municipality of Foz do Iguaçu and the ABCC this month in the United Arab Emirates, aiming to increase Muslim tourism in the city. The memorandum, mediated by Cdial Halal and Invest Paraná, had its ceremony attended by the governor of the state of Paraná, Carlos Massa Ratinho Junior (PSD). The state carried out a mission to the UAE as part of Expo 2020 Dubai, a universal exhibition taking place in the emirate.
At the meetings in Foz do Iguaçu, Saifi and Mourad received a series of information from the local authorities reinforcing the city’s possibilities for halal tourism; Arabs and Muslims total 20,000 people in the city; it annually receives two million tourists, 20% being foreigners; the local hotels have a 35,000-room capacity; and of the 15 members of the City Council, three are Muslims. There is also a project to create an Arab neighborhood in the city. The mosque is the fifth most significant tourist destination in Foz, receiving around 100,000 tourists a year and being part of the City Tour offered to travelers.
Work plan
The representatives of Cdial Halal and the ABCC met with the mayor of Foz, Chico Brasileiro (PSD), the city’s director of International Affairs, Jihad Abu Ali; the secretary of Tourism and Strategic Projects, Paulo Angeli; and the president of the City Council, Ney Patrício (PSD), among other councilors. Mourad and Saifi gave an interview about the project to Rádio Cultura de Foz do Iguaçu.
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There were also meetings with the president of the Municipal Council of Tourism (Comtur), Yuri Benites; the president of the Economic and Social Development Council of Foz do Iguaçu (Codefoz), Felipe Gonzales; the president of the Brazilian Credit Cooperative System (Sicoob), Dimas Bragagnolo; the president of the Commercial and Industrial Association of Foz do Iguaçu (ACIFI), Faisal Ismail; the president of the mosque, Mohamad Rahal; and a representative of Recanto Cataratas. Team members from these institutions also participated in the meetings.
According to Cdial Halal, the authorities involved in the two days of meetings will nominate representatives for the working group responsible for implementing the project. The subsequent actions should be carried still in 2021, as there will be a presentation of the proposals at the Waterfalls Festival (Festival das Cataratas), which will occur in December.
*With information from Cdial Halal’s press office
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
