Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
1
Executive Summary
With the rising numbers of the global Muslim population, businesses around the world have
started to pay attention to the needs of that growing and lucrative market segment. The travel
sector is no exception to that trend, giving growth to a variety of Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT)
products and services.
In acknowledgement of the importance of the MFT sector, many governments around the globe
are promoting themselves as Muslim-friendly destinations and in some cases are supporting the
private sector’s efforts in the development of Muslim-friendly products and services. While a
number of mainstream tourism providers have modified their offerings to accommodate the
needs of Muslim travelers, an increasing number of specialized providers, focusing only on MFT
products and services, have emerged in the past decade.
Study Purpose, Scope and Methodology: The purpose of this Study is to enable all Muslim
Friendly Tourism (MFT) stakeholders to develop high-impact MFT product development and
marketing strategies and initiatives. The scope of this study covers the current global landscape
of MFT products and services, trends in marketing MFT products and services, government
policies in support of MFT, survey-based input on current Muslim travelers behavior and
decision making, survey-based input on the preferences of Muslims travelers at various
touchpoints of their journey, country case studies on MFT products offerings and marketing, and
policy recommendations for effective MFT product development and marketing strategies.
The Study combines primary and secondary research tools and sources to fulfill its objectives.
Primary research used includes a global Muslim Traveler Survey that was conducted in 2016
from March 6th to April 20th to discover the preferences of the Muslim traveler, 25 in-depth
interviews were conducted in person and by telephone with MFT market stakeholders to
provide insights into the MFT market, and eight country case studies were selected to provide
insights into MFT products and services development and marketing strategies. The secondary
sources used include previous market studies, trade and sector reports, academic articles and
research papers, government, international organizations and press publications.
Global context: Global inbound tourism expenditure has reached $1.28 trillion in 2015, an
increase from $1.25 trillion in 2014, based on 3.6 percent compound annual growth,
extrapolated from UNWTO growth statistics between 2014 and 2015. Global outbound
expenditure is expected to reach $1.85 trillion in 2020, according to estimates using government
statistics, with 6.75 percent compound annual growth, which is faster growth than global GDP at
3.4 percent annualized. European and North American consumers accounted for an estimated
55.4 percent of global tourism expenditure; however, travelers from Asia, which includes MENA
based tourists, are estimated to increase their global share by 2020.
The global tourism industry is comprised of a vast value-chain of service providers ultimately
addressing the needs of the travelers who are driven by their travel needs or purpose. With the
growing sophistication of digitally driven marketing, a wide variety of traditional and innovative
marketing strategies are being employed to engage global travelers.
In order to best identify the MFT products and development and marketing practices, a wider
global tourism products/services and marketing strategies context was leveraged to identify and
address potential global best practices to consider for the MFT market.