Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
74
from Saudi Arabian tour operators in January, 2016. Another trip involved Egyptian
tour operators who visited Jakarta, Bandung and Bali from in March and April,
2016.189
 Indonesia has participated in travel shows to promote MFT in the country. Recent
shows included the Riyadh Travel Show in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Travel
Market in Dubai in April 2016.
 The government organized sales missions for Indonesian travel operators to meet
their counterparts in targeted Middle East countries. In November 2015, tour
operators from Indonesia met with Saudi buyers in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.190
 Plans to promote pilgrimage destinations are being looked into.
 Work is being done on improving MFT products. $75,000 has been allocated to
improve each pilgrimage destination, particularly in terms of maintaining public
toilets. 100 trainers will be deployed for each destination to train local guides and
hospitality staff. Choreographers will be engaged to improve cultural dances.
 Strengthening the ecosystem of Halal economy sector through taking the following
initiatives within the OIC:
 Hosting The 5th Extraordinary OIC Summit in March 2016 in Jakarta,
Indonesia
 Hosting Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group’s 41st Annual Meeting, in
May 2016 in Jakarta, Indonesia
 Hosting The 12th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), in August 2016 in
Jakarta, Indonesia
 The National Committee of Sharia Finance was formed in January 2016, with
Indonesia’s President, Joko Widodo, acting as the Chairman. This committee was
formed, not only to support the finance sector, but all of the Halal Lifestyle sector in
Indonesia, especially Halal tourism.
5. Distribution
Most travel sales in Indonesia are through offline channels. In 2013, only 10% of all travel
was booked online.191
For Sofyan hotels because their customers are mostly corporate clients, they book directly
with the hotel. Although the Sofyan hotels are on 18 online travel sites (OTAs), they only get
about 500 room nights per month from them.
6. Promotion
The destination marketing website stablished by the Ministry of
Tourism is aimed at mainstream travelers. It includes celebrity endorsements from actors,
supermodels, athletes and others.
189 Minggu. “Tourisim Ministry preparing trip program for Egyptian Tourism operators.” Web. 20 Mar. 2016
190 “Indonesia to intensify pilgrimage tourism promotion activities.” Web. 20 Nov. 2015
191 “Indonesia online travel arrived bang brace boom.” Web. 27 Jan. 2015