Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
65
Chapter 3: Success Stories on MFT
Four desk-based case studies and three field-visit based case studies were conducted. The case
studies were selected based on the following criteria.
Table 16: Criteria for selecting case studies
Geographical
location
Countries located at different regions in the world. There would also
be a mix of OIC and non-OIC member countries.
Economic
development
The economic environment of the country affects its tourism market
and growth. Countries were selected based on the diversity of their
GDP and economic strength.
Tourist
attractiveness:
A combination of visitor arrivals, number of tourist attractions and
safety levels in the country. Case study countries selected to maintain
the diversity of these criteria.
Muslim friendly
infrastructure
The level of supply side key themes catering to the faith-based needs
of the Muslim travelers.
Halal awareness
These criteria evaluate the prevailing diversity in the levels of Halal
awareness and reach in the countries.
Malaysia, Indonesia and Qatar were selected for the field visit case studies. Whereas Singapore,
United Kingdom, UAE and Tunisia were selected for the desk-based studies. The following
tables rate the countries (1 for lowest and 4 for highest) based on the aforementioned criteria.
Table 17: Field-visit case countries and their ratings
Geographical Location
Indonesia
OIC country,
South East Asia
Qatar
OIC country,
Arab Group
Malaysia
OIC country,
South East Asia
Economic Development 3 3 3
Tourist Attractiveness 4 3 4
Muslim Friendly Infrastructure 3 4 4
Halal Awareness 3 3 4
Table 18: Desk-cased countries and their ratings
Geographical Location
Singapore
Non-OIC
country,
South East
Asia
United
Kingdom
Non-OIC
country, Europe
UAE
OIC Country,
Arab Group
Tunisia
OIC Country,
Arab group
Economic Development 4 4 3 2
Tourist Attractiveness 4 3 2 2
Muslim Friendly
Infrastructure 3 2 4 4
Halal Awareness 3 2 3 3