Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
115
Early reservation owners can get better prices and are mostly Turkish origin travellers from
Germany, Netherlands, and France making up 30% to 35% of total visitors. The leftover 65%
to 70% are from Turkey’s domestic market. Most of them like last minute reservations, which
costs them a higher price. Local MFT tourists are not accustomed to securing their
reservation months before travel.
Halal tourism hotels, mostly five star ones, charged 30 percent higher prices than their
conventional competitors in 2016. According to comparisons taken from online booking
websites, the price gap narrows when the stars reduce to four or three stars, with the Muslim-
friendly hotel prices becoming nearly the same or even less expensive than conventional
counterparts.
According to price searches and comparisons (please refer to the table on the following page)
all-inclusive prices for early reservation for two people for one night at one of the leading
MFT hotels on average are: EUR209 for July, EUR117 for August, and EUR78 for September
for the 2016 summer season. These figures are about 20 to 30 percent more than the rates of
traditional five-star hotels at similar locations with similar service levels.311 According to
sector professionals, MFT hotels charge 20 to-30 percent higher prices than conventional
hotels that are located at the same destinations and with the same number of stars.312 But the
real price differences come from the travel agencies.
Huge price differences can be seen for the same room in Turkey’s tourism industry. Nearly all
hotels including MFT ones sell at least 30 per cent of their rooms to giant international travel
agencies like Thomas Cook with a hugely discounted price of up to 50%-60% off 6-8 months
before the start of the tourism season begins. But local travel agencies do not have the same
financial power as foreign ones. While foreign travel agencies sell Turkish hotels from EUR
20-25 per night to Turkish tourists who are living in Germany, local travel agencies sell the
same room to local Turkish tourists for EUR 35-40. Therefore, this gap creates a conflict and
distrust among local tourists for hotels because they have to pay nearly double in comparison
to foreign tourists to stay in the same hotel.
Table 11: Turkey MFT Hotel Rates
311 Note: 20%-30% higher rate mentioned by several market professionals. It is confirmed by doing price search in
one of the mainstream booking website) comparing 5 star Islamic hotel prices with traditional
similar hotels located in Antalya/Belek region.
312 From the phone interview with Mr. Kemal Tozlu, Ex Consultant to Adenya Hotels.