Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
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As for allocating a place in the Aircraft for prayers, Saudia is the first airline to do so. The
prayer “room” is located in the rear side of the plane. The airline has removed three middle
rows of economic class passenger seats to provide the space. Some Airlines such as Emirates,
Saudis, Qatar provide the prayer direction information on their In-flight entertainment system.
They also have dedicated channels to listen to the Quran.
Most OIC based Airlines do cater to the needs of Muslim travelers during the month of
Ramadhan, by announcing Iftar and Sahoor times as well as providing meals around those
times. Currently many airlines do not provide selection of a seat which could be next to a non-
alcohol drinking person.
Fawad Khan of Singapore Airlines (SIA) based in Jeddah Saudi Arabia mentions SIA has a
positive outlook towards Muslim tourist and would not discriminate against any religious
denomination. He did talk about islamophobia given the recent developments. However, he stated
that SIA are indifferent on the religious affiliation of the passenger.
Azman Ahmad, GM Product Management for Saudia, mentions that the Airlines have been active
in looking at providing Muslim friendly services to the passengers. Apart from the prayer space,
they have a dedicated channel for Quran reading/recitation. They are also looking at providing
prayer time information.
Jamel Gamra, former Minister for Tourism Tunisia commented that transportation service
providers especially in Tunisia continues to welcome the Muslim tourist. He further added that
more needs to be done to ensure the service providers offer Muslim friendly facilities. Tunisair
popular flight routes are Turkey, Morocco and Egypt. Airline provides Halal food to all its
passengers.
Bangladeshi businessman Kazi Shafiqur Rahman founded Firnas (airline), aims to provide full
halal services (no alcohol, halal food only etc.) to a number of Islamic destinations. Likely initial
destinations include, Sylhet in Bangladesh, Pakistani capital Islamabad, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia,
and Tehran. Firnas planning head Abdul Roqueb said in an interview, "incumbents had faced a
lack of competition in catering to the Muslim needs.
In December 2015, Malaysian airline Rayani Air was launched as the first Shariah-compliant
airline. Rayani Air took off from the capital Kuala Lumpur to the resort island of Langkawi.
“We are the first Malaysian airline to be Shariah-compliant based on guidelines by relevant
authorities.“ the company’s managing director Jaafar Zamhari told Malaysia’s Star newspaper.
“We are proud of this.”16
In OIC destinations, where there are long distance train services, generally there is no issue
with Halal food or prayers. However, in non-OIC destinations, there is still need for
development. Most OIC destinations do have prayer facilities and Halal food at Highway stops.
However, the quality and the cleanliness of the services in some places are not up to desirable
standards. Malaysia has been actively ensuring the Highway stops are provided with the right
services. As observed during the field visit to Malaysia as part of the study, some of the
features of Malaysian highways are:
16 Yahoo News (2015)