Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
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Chapter 4: Conclusion and Recommendations
While a few OIC destinations such as Malaysia, Turkey and the UAE have done relatively well
in recent years, the tourism industry continues to evolve and is becoming more challenging in
tourism sector for the Member Countries. The MFT market offers a huge opportunity for the
OIC member states. OIC destinations have unique inherent strengths to cater to this segment.
With the growth of the MFT market, these strengths can now be further productized to capture
a major share of the Muslim visitor arrivals. However, with increasing competition from non-
OIC destination, it is evident from the study that OIC member states need to accelerate the
strategy development and execution in order to be leaders in the MFT segment. The
implementation of the following recommendations will allow OIC member states to better
position them in the MFT market and gain a higher share of the Muslim visitor arrivals. These
recommendations cover areas which are directly related to MFT segment.
4.1 Setting an overall MFT market goal to encourage growth in the MFT sector in OIC
member states
64 million Muslims visited OIC destinations in 2014, which was around 33.8% percent of the
total arrivals to OIC Destinations. It is projected to reach 98 million by 2020. In order to
encourage the member states to make MFT one of the main segments of tourist arrivals to the
country, a new target at the OIC level can be defined (e.g. goal of attracting 100 million Muslim
visitor arrivals to OIC destinations in 2020). Achieving this will require closer cooperation
among the OIC member states in implementing the recommendations mentioned below.
4.2 Increasing awareness of the MFT market among the travel industry
stakeholders
As MFT is a relatively new concept within the travel sector, understanding the MFT market and
its key components is critical for the development of this segment in the OIC member states.
Currently, except for a few countries, awareness workshops and training of hospitality staff on
the MFT market has been very weak in the OIC destinations. This has also led to inconsistent
use of terminology and definitions to refer to the different aspects of MFT. In order to increase
awareness, the following actions are recommended:
 Standardize and publish a guide on the terminology used in the MFT segment in all the
major languages of OIC member states.
 At the destinations, roll out market awareness and customer service training programs for
the travel and hospitality professionals on all aspects of MFT.
 Develop an accreditation program on MFT for travel industry staff.
 Engage with local universities and educational institutions to develop MFT related
programs.
 Every citizen in the OIC member state is a potential tourism host and advocate, especially
given the increasing interest by visitors for local experiences. As such, awareness of MFT
market should extend as much as possible to the local communities through social media
and other traditional media such as radio, print and television.