Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services
In the OIC Member Countries
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With its claims of having set up Malaysia's first fully Shariah-compliant private sector airline,
Rayani Air found a welcome reception within Malaysia but soon after found customers
complaining over delayed time schedules and poor operational capability.
One of the causes of failure discussed was Rayani Air’s prioritization of marketing above
commercial planning 222 . Other causes include Rayani’s poor financial and operational
planning. Keeping costs low, the company had purchased old airline carriers and suffered
cash flow difficulties with their pilots going on strike allegedly due to Rayani’s non-payment
of salaries.
5. Promotion
The role of promoting and marketing Malaysia as a tourist destination falls under the
responsibility of Tourism Malaysia. The promotion and marketing of MFT specifically, forms a
part of the overall effort made by Tourism Malaysia to promote Malaysia in its entirety as a
tourist destination. There is no specific body within Malaysia undertaking the sole task of
marketing Malaysia as an MFT destination.
Tourism Malaysia has established several offices worldwide that are primarily used for the
promotion and marketing of Malaysia as a leisure holiday destination and to understand the
needs of the respective market, it’s sensitivities, as well as its demographic profile. These
tourism offices do not directly promote Malaysia as a Muslim tourism destination. However,
seeing that Tourism Malaysia has established offices in the Middle East and in Central Asia
shows that there is a priority being given to the Muslim market.
The role of spreading awareness of MFT on the tourism supply side is predominantly
undertaken by ITC through seminars, courses, road shows and research collaborations with
institutes of higher learning within Malaysia.
Capacity building initiatives under ITC include:
 Regional Seminar on Islamic Tourism (ReSIT). ReSIT acts as a platform to share,
discuss, coordinate, plan and develop suitable Islamic tour packages and tourism
trails that showcase Malaysia’s Islamic tourism products to local and international
visitors.
 Mosque Trails in Malaysia can be seen as an outcome of such a platform. Following the
2010 Fatwa allowing for non-Muslims to enter praying areas within mosques in
Malaysia, JAKIM printed a booklet titled “Guidelines On Mosque Tourism” which
serves as a guideline in order to standardize the management of mosque tourism
among the different stakeholders involved in Malaysia.
 Islamic Tourism Masterclass – Muslim-friendly Hospitality Services Standard. This
capacity building program jointly organized with the Department of Standards
Malaysia aims to promote and guide the tourism industry players with the practicality
and adoptability aspects of the MS2610:2015 Muslim-friendly Hospitality Services –
Requirements standard.
222 Rivers, Martin. "How It All Went Wrong For Malaysia’s ‘Halal’ Airline." Malaysian Digest. N.p., 16 Apr. 2016. Web. 27 Apr.
2016.