Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
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More than 50 travel industry stakeholders were interviewed either by phone or face-to-face.
Face-to-face interviews were conducted at the location of the interviewer. The profile of
people interviewed included former ministers of tourism, C-level of executives, senior
management and line managers. The business or organizations are represented from tourism
ministries and boards, hotels, travel agents, tour operators, theme parks and amusement
arcades, restaurants and tour guides in more than 20 countries. The key topics covered in the
interview were:
 Does the government have any special initiatives or strategies to spread MFT awareness in
tourism sector on both demand and supply side?
 Are there any specific initiatives taken by the organizations in the area of MFT in the last
few years?
 Have there been workshops/seminars/training conducted on the awareness of
Halal/Muslim traveler needs to staff in your company?
 Are there any plans to take specific initiatives by your company in the area of MFT in the
next few years?
Two types of focused group surveys were conducted: One with businesses and the other with
consumers. The survey with related industry leaders and influencers from top OIC Member
outbound and inbound (non OIC) countries were conducted to identify the market landscape
and key local best-practices. There were 30 respondents for this survey.
The consumer survey was to understand the needs and choices they make when planning a
trip as Muslim travelers. There were total of 150 respondents. The types of questions asked
varied. Below are sample questions asked to selected people:
 What was your experiences visiting a Muslim country? Would you return again?
 What are your opinions/thoughts? Would you recommend a friend?
 What did you like the most/least?
 What is your overall perception? What is adequate: above or below expectations?
 Is there sufficient information on internet for your travelling?
 What is your recommendation/suggestion you would like to offer?
In addition, the study also used surveys conducted by CrescentRating during the last 3 years.
The total number of respondents of those surveys exceed 1000.
The field visits were conducted in Malaysia, Indonesia and Qatar. During these visits, in person
interviews were conducted as well as on-site visits, to hotels, airports, attractions, travel
agents etc.
Generally, religion is not identified at immigration when a visitor enters a country. The arrival
statistics available by UNWTO and by the tourism board of the country is by nationality. As
such the data for Muslim visitor arrivals is calculated based on CrescentRating’s calculation
model, which takes into account the percentage of Muslims population in the source country as
well as (when required) income disparity among different ethnicities in the source market.