Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
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e) Islamophobia driven negative sentiments towards Muslim countries
The recent terrorist attacks has resulted a negative sentiment against Muslims.
f) Resistant from some travel stakeholders to develop MFT
Due to the negative sentiments portrayed by media when it comes to words such as Muslim,
Halal, Shariah and Islam, even local travel stakeholders in some Muslim countries are resisting
the development of MFT. The main concern comes from a misunderstanding of what MFT is
and the perception that it will destroy the traditional tourism in the destination. Better
education and awareness of MFT to these stakeholders should alleviate the fears of most of
them, if not all.
g) Limited availability of attractions including theme parks
A number of OIC member states does not have high quality tourism infrastructure. This has
hampered the growth of not only Muslim tourism but also tourism has a whole.
h) Low Air connectivity;
A number of OIC member states are not on major airline routes to major cities of the world.
This could be due to low passenger traffic.