Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
113
 Muslim-Friendly Travel Agencies
For a Muslim tourist looking for an alternative tourism package, the selection of their travel
agency is critically important for MFT products and services. Thanks to hundreds of travel
agencies, which are serving 1 million Turkish Muslim travellers for Hajj and Umrah market
every year, and the number of IATA membered A Class travel agencies which are 557 in
Turkey, it is estimated that more than half of them have a Halal perspective as they have MFT
experiences from the Hajj and Umrah market. 303
Almost 50 years old, Tura Tourism Holding based in Istanbul has a division for sensitive
Muslim travelers. This department of the Holding is mainly providing “Halal customized”
services for Muslim travel groups from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and China especially,
who want to have a holiday in Western countries like Switzerland and Spain.
Upon the request of the tourist groups who select a destination at a lakeshore in Switzerland
for instance, the travel agency contacts different hotels located in the region asking them if
they are ready to accept purification of their kitchen according to Islamic rules. If the hotel
accepts to hand over its kitchen to the travel agency specialists who are Muslim staff
responsible to purify any hotel’s kitchen, it performs the necessary cleansing and removes
alcohol, etc. All meats and food cooked, during the group’s accommodation at the hotel are
supplied from Halal certified companies across Europe.
This specialized service has created a new trend among boutique hotels located in Italy, Spain
and Switzerland. Some of those hotels converted to serve only Muslim travel groups as the
price doubles or more compared to traditional customers.304 Another way is establishing
different companies for MFT products and services separating mainstream business from
MFT ones, such as Tura Tourism Holding does. The Holding has subsidiary companies serving
different types of customers from the mainstream cruise to Hajj and Umrah travels.
Subsidiary travel agency, Berat Turizm, focuses on the Hajj and Umrah business that is owned
by Tura Tourism Holding.305
A small soap company called “More than Soap” is manufacturing vegetarian soap supplied to
hotels like Çırağan Palace Kempinski, Richmond Sapanca Hotel, Ramada İzmit Hotel, and Les
Ottomans Hotel. 306 Other Halal certified cosmetic firms in Turkey are also supplying Halal
cosmetic products.307 Most of the hotels were established by small and medium enterprises in
Turkey. As a local investment tradition, capital earned from textile, apparel and construction
sectors flows to the tourism market, building new hotels, resorts or thermals.
5. Distribution
Direct sales prevail over indirect sales in the MFT market, reaching 60-70 percent. Offline
sales still prevail over online sales in the MFT market, with almost a 70 percent/30 percent
split. Bera Alanya Hotels’ offline reservation office’s own website is a main distribution
channel, consisting of up to 70 percent of their total sales (30 percent coming from outside,
such as other travel agencies and other online reservation websites). The share of other
30 IATA Member List. TURSAB, 2016. Web.
304 From the interview with Mr. Akın Arıkan, Director of Planning and Product Development, Tura Tourism Holding, March
2016.
305 Ibid.
30 bout Us. More Than Soap Company, 2016. Web.
30 alal Cosmetics. GIMDES Halal Certified Companies, 2016. Web.