Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
71
Summary
The key and unique strength of Malaysian success story on MFT is the commitment of Tourism
Ministry as early as 2009 to identify the Muslim market as a priority market. This also led to
the creation of the Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC). It is a commitment that has been embraced
by many travel service providers. The country has made strong efforts in making the
destination a competitive holiday option for Muslims. Muslim tourism is not about changing or
creating new products and services. Instead, destinations would only need to make
adaptations and adjustments to fully accommodate the needs of Muslims. MFT is a concept
that Malaysia discovered earlier than others.
This commitment also has led to rolling out extensive education programs across the industry
and developing guidelines and standards for the key services. This has led to the
implementation of most basic services such as halal food, prayer rooms and water friendly
toilets across all facilities. They have been also very well maintained.
One of Malaysia’s advantages is visa-free access where Arabs and Gulf States nationals do not
require visas to visit Malaysia and they can stay for a maximum of three months in the country.
Most Arab and also Asian Muslim tourists also enjoy modern shopping environments in
Malaysia especially for luxury goods.
Key challenge facing Malaysia in terms of the MFT market is the growing competition for the
same source markets in the region. Malaysia could not rely solely on the current trend of
foreign arrivals as factors such as the changing tourists needs and other Asian competitors are
among challenges that need to be confronted to further empower the industry. This is crucial if
the desire to become the ultimate tourist destination in Asia is to be realized.
Based on research globally, ‘’new tourism’’ is beginning to take up the demand characteristics
such as quality products and experience, free and independent travelers (FIT) as opposed to
mass tourism, use of new technologies in information seeking and distribution, maximize yield
not volume, environmental concern and protection and direct marketing. Thus, Malaysia has to
enhance the tourism industry in the future in order to remain competitive and ensure what it
offers fulfils the global demand of the Muslim tourism industry.
The key lesson learnt in Malaysia’s success story is that a government led commitment is
required to activate the whole industry to make MFT a priority market for the destination. This
has led to it now becoming the best destination for Muslim visitors in the world with all
facilities, services aligning to cater to this segment. The other lesson from Malaysia is that it
was committed to promoting itself as a Muslim friendly destination.