Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
60
percentage they were willing to pay, more than a third of those who were willing to pay more
cited figures from 6-10%, close to a quarter of them were willing to pay more than 10% while
a similar percent was willing to pay only from 1-5% more and the rest were unsure how
much more they are willing to pay.
Figure 18: Willingness to Pay Extra for MFT Products and Services
“Would you be willing to pay more to receive services and products tailored to meet your
religious needs? If yes, please indicate in terms of a percentage how much more you are
willing to pay”
3.5 Promotion of MFT Products and Services
OIC government agencies and MFT products and services providers use a mix of traditional
and digital promotional tools to increase the visibility of their MFT sector and attract Muslim
travelers. There is an increasing utilization of digital promotional tools including the creation
of online content and mobile applications targeting Muslim travelers. The following examples
show a variety of government and private sector promotional activities;
Malaysia has been actively promoting itself as a Muslim friendly destination through the use
of a variety of tools. Tourism Malaysia has established overseas offices in a number of
countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Brunei and Iran. It has participated
regularly in the Arabian travel Market since 1993 as well as organizing regular familiarization
trips for Middle Eastern media and industry professionals. Malaysia implemented a
marketing campaign, “Visit Malaysia Year 2014” targeting the Middle East. The campaign
activities included organizing familiarization trips for journalists and travel agents as well as
launching online tour packages and a mobile application during the Dubai Arabian Travel
Market. The “Tourism Malaysia Dubai-App” provides travelers with information on tourist
destinations in Malaysia and enables them to book flights and hotels in addition to offering
special deals and packages from Dubai to Malaysia. 145 Malaysia also hosts the Malaysia
145 Shafaei , Fatemeh and Badaruddin Mohamed. “Malaysia’s branding as an Islamic tourism hub: an assessment.” Malaysian
Journal of Society and Space (2015) 11: 97-106.