Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
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At international terminals, these need to be provided both prior to immigration and after
immigration.
Transport services
Transport services include Airlines, trains, cruises and long distance bus/car travel.
For Airlines, trains and cruises, the key guidelines are the provisioning of the following:
 Halal food onboard
 For Airlines, catering food at the right time during Ramadhan
 Prayer space
 Wudhu facilities. This may be difficult for airlines to provide, but trains and cruises should be
able to provide them.
 Water-friendly toilets in trains and cruises
 Non–Alcohol seats on Airlines. Airline can allocate seats where alcohol is not served. As
airlines used to do for non-smoking seats.
For long distance bus/car travel, Highway stops should provide:
 Halal food outlets
 Prayer room with wudhu facilities
 Water-friendly toilets
For Cruises looking to target Segment A of the Muslims, the additional guidelines are:
 No Alcohol served in the cruise
 No gambling and night-clubs on the cruise. Some cruises operators are now allocating
specific areas of the cruise to accommodate the requirements of Muslims.
Accommodation services (hotels, resorts, etc.)
From the supply side, Muslim-friendly tourism has been mainly driven by the accommodation
sector with hotels, resorts and other accommodation providers taking initiatives to ensure that
Muslim visitors are comfortable.
Following are the guidelines for Hotels to cater to the “Need to have” and “Good to have”
services:
1) Halal food availability
2) Rooms marked with the Qiblah direction
3) Ability to provide temporary prayer rooms for meetings and events held at the hotel
4) Water-friendly toilets
5) Ramadhan facilities offered
Catering to the “Nice to have” services will also require the following:
6) No non-Halal activities (no alcohol, discotheques or casino)
7) Swimming pools and gyms that are either segregated or provide different timings for males
and females
8) For beach resorts, areas for males and females to enjoy in privacy.
There is also an emergence of “Shariah compliant” accommodation. They not only cater to all the
key needs of the Muslim travelers, but also strictly adhere to many other Islamic requirements.
This includes adhering to company governance and operations, which take into account various
Islamic requirements such as Halal non-interest based financing etc.