Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
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along with a creative caption using the hashtag or a
chance to win a 3-day vacation in Langkawi.
For ‘social media’ promotion, best practices should be incorporated to develop
targeted two-way and engaging conversation with target source market audiences.
This means creating interesting content (e.g. live broadcast or sharing of events)
sometimes in source market languages and engaging the audiences. The key social
media platforms of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and others
should be considered.
Search engine optimization for MFT services for websites and mobile apps would
be a key basic priority.
Vblogging (video blogging) has gained popularity as a way of engaging with your
audience and keeping your product or service top of mind by producing videos that
provide tips and useful information.
 Friends and Family referral/recommendation promotions: Given that the top
influencer in choice of destination was ‘Friends and Family’
recommendation/referral (67% of survey respondents) this should be capitalized
on in promotions. For example, suppliers should encourage post-purchase social
media sharing by offering rewards or a contest. Travelers can also be incentivized
to share their experiences with friends and family by providing future discounts or
value added products and services.
 MFT credentials on online reviews, travel website listings: Given that ‘online
reviews’ was second biggest influencer in choice of destination (28% of survey
respondents) and given that a big majority (72% of respondents) said they
researched ‘Travel websites’ to check if destinations satisfy their religious needs, it
is critical for MFT service providers to highlight their MFT credentials on Halal
specific as well as mainstream travel booking, information or review websites or
mobile apps. Suppliers should encourage posting reviews on MFT booking websites
such as . Additionally, MFT reviews and curated content should
be featured on mainstream travel sites such as , Agoda, and
TripAdvisor. For example, TripAdvisor features special interest lists like ‘Best for
honeymooners’, similarly mainstream travel sites could also feature curated
content under the category ‘Best for MFT’.
 Familiarization Trips (FAM Trips): Many OIC countries conduct FAM trips to
which they invite travel agencies and media representatives from their targeted
source countries. OIC countries should conduct MFT credential focused FAM trips.
 Integrated campaigns: While Muslim travel brands do conduct campaigns across
social media platforms, there is a potential to seamlessly integrate offline and online
campaigns to develop innovative, engaging and fully integrated campaigns. This
should be coordinated with public-private MFT market promotion campaigns.
MFT ‘Mature Market’ OIC Countries
 Cross-promotion with other ‘Halal’ lifestyle sectors: MFT ‘Mature Markets’
should leverage the wider global ‘Halal’ economy ecosystem sectors of Islamic
finance companies, Halal food, Modest fashion, and Muslim-market media brands