Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
29
2. Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT)
Muslim Friendly Tourism, a term that owes its existence mainly to industry professionals 34
and media outlets 35, has been gaining ground recently in terms of being used in reference to
tourism offering products and services that accommodate Muslim travelers’ needs to varying
extents. While some may use the terms “Halal Tourism” and “Muslim-Friendly Tourism”
interchangeably, the term “Muslim-friendly” is used mainly to describe services and products
that seem to encompass the full spectrum of Shariah compliance. A hotel providing a prayer
area and limited Halal food options can label itself Muslim-friendly 36 without having to stick
to all the attributes of a Shariah compliant hotel. The label Muslim-friendly makes it more
feasible for tourism providers to appeal to Muslim travelers; however, this label remains
ambiguous in the absence of unified standards to measure the degree of Muslim friendliness,
let alone Shariah compliance of such providers.
Some researchers have proposed three levels, illustrated in the diagram below, for classifying
the services provided by hotels; core, actual and augmented services. In the framework of the
MFT product offering, the core services represent the primary benefits to hotel guests such as
a clean room, Qibla signage, and Halal food. While actual services would include additional
services such as separate recreation facilities for females and males and prayer rooms. As for
the augmented services, consisting of add-ons and guarantees, they would include offering
suhoor and breakfast meals, having staff wear modest uniforms, call to prayer at floor level,
offering Islamic tourism packages, and having separate male and female floors.37
Figure 10: Muslim-Friendly Hotel Product Levels
Source: Based on Concepts from Md Salleh et al
34 The term has been used widely by industry experts, international organizations as well as DMOs.
35 The term has been used in reference to services and products offered at destinations in a variety of news outlets and
providers including Reuters, CNN, etc.
36 Travel websites offering a list of Muslim friendly hotels show a myriad of offerings varying greatly in terms of degree of
Shariah compliance.
37 Md Salleh, Nor Zafir, Abu Bakar Abdul Hamid, Noor Hazarina Hashim, and Siti Zaleha Omain. ” The practice of Shariah
compliant hotel in Malaysia.” International Journal of Trade, Economy and Finance (2014) 5:26-30.
Separate Floors
Staff Modestly Clothed
Prayer Call at Floor Level
Prayer Rooms
Separate Recreational Facilities
Halal Food
Qibla Signage
Augmented Product
Actual Product
Core Product