Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Understanding the Supply and Demand Sides
In the OIC Member Countries
2
The percentage of Muslim visitors to OIC member states in 2014 was 33.8 percent of total
arrivals to OIC destinations, and this will increase to 39.1 percent by 2020. The GCC countries
remain the largest group of Muslim travelers contributing around 40 percent of the total
expenditure. South East Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore contributed
around 10 percent of the total. Iran and Turkey represent 16 percent of global Muslim tourism
expenditure. About 37 percent of the Muslim visitor arrivals was from non-OIC countries.
These include the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and the US. The top OIC countries in terms of
Muslim visitor arrivals are 1. Saudi Arabia, 2. Turkey, 3. Malaysia, 4.United Arab Emirates,
5.Kazakstan, 6.Tunisia, 7. Egypt and 8. Jordan.
Intra-OIC Muslim visitor arrivals in 2014 was 51 million. It accounted for 80 percent of the
total Muslim visitor arrivals to OIC member states. This is projected to increase to 79 million
by 2020 and account for 81% total Muslim visitor arrivals. In 2014, 69 percent of total Muslim
outbound visitors from OIC countries visited an OIC destination. In comparison, only 30
percent of Muslim outbound visitors from non-OIC countries went to an OIC destination. This
is an area that OIC member states should target; the Muslim travelers from non-OIC countries.
The growth of the Muslim travel segment has given rise to a number of terms that have been
used to refer to this segment. These include Islamic Tourism, Halal Tourism, Shariah compliant
tourism and services, etc. In this study the term “Muslim Friendly Tourism” (MFT) has been
used based on the analysis presented in Chapter 1. MFT is defined as “Halal conscious
travelers, traveling for any purpose, which is Halal (permissible).”
In order to help OIC member states for building a coherent strategy across the whole value
chain of travel services, a conceptual framework for MFT has been presented in the study. This
comprises of three components; faith based needs, demand and supply side themes.
Six faith based needs have been identified in the study. These are halal food, Salaah (Prayer),
water usage friendly toilets, Ramadhan services and facilities, facilities with no non-halal
activities and recreational facilities with privacy. This study presents a segmentation of the
Muslim travelers into 3 categories based on these needs; strictly practicing, practicing and not
practicing.
The key findings in the faith based needs area is the inconsistency in the way halal food outlets
are assured halal. Some countries such as Malaysia have a strong halal certification program,
which helps visitors to identify the Halal outlets through the display of the Halal logo.
However, this is not widespread in most other OIC member states. The recommendation of the
study in this regard is to develop and agree on a standard way to identify Halal food outlets in
the member states. The Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC) could
play a role in streamlining the identification of Halal restaurants across the OIC member states.
Salaah (Prayer) facilities are generally available in the OIC member states. However,
cleanliness, facilities for females and the level of upkeep of the prayer facilities in places such
as Highways, Shopping Malls etc. are not consistent across the member states. In most of the
OIC destinations, water usage in toilets is generally available. However to ensure an acceptable
quality for visitors, it is suggested that basic OIC wide guidelines are implemented for both
Salaah facilities and water friendly toilets at tourist hotspots.