Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
6
Additional lessons from other “Halal” sectors include; ensuring certification, accreditation,
and enforcement mechanisms are in place when standard is issued, requiring certifiers to
present “scheme document” or standard operating procedure for its inspections for
accreditation in new areas, adding new expertise to “Halal” certification, inspection,
accreditation, and standard-setting entities if missing, differentiating between accredited and
non-accredited certifiers especially in the non-OIC markets, and avoiding conflicts of interest
such as in the case of certifiers acting as consultants.
Basic Principles for MFT Accommodation Services and Standards -MFT Services and
Facilities: The following segmentation is used for recommendations for the OIC countries
with varying levels of MFT ecosystem development.
Country Segmentation - MFT Ecosystem
Source: DinarStandard
There are three practical MFT services that are important to Muslim guests, easy to
implement and have low impact on mainstream guests, which accommodation facilities in the
OIC countries with modest MFT ecosystems should incorporate. These three services are
offering exclusively Halal certified food (with a consideration to have the hotel kitchens Halal
certified), providing prayer mats in rooms, and accommodating for Ramadan meal timings
and menu items.
For countries with advanced ecosystems, an even higher level of MFT services and facilities is
recommended. For example, hotel kitchens must be Halal certified, no alcohol should be
available or allowed inside the hotel, Wudu-friendly facilities should be available in public
bathrooms and room bathrooms, congregational prayers should be held at the mosque
“musalla/masjid” including Friday prayers, and the call to prayer should be broadcasted on
the speaker system. In Ramadan, in addition to proving iftar and suhoor meals, shuttle
transportation should be provided to local mosques and halal certified products should be
extended to wellness products. In terms of leisure activities, there should be gender-
separated wellness facilities including gyms, pools, spas, and beaches, either by having
separate facilities, or by allocating certain hours for women. In terms of managing the
business, all financing should adhere to Shariah-compliant principles. The accommodation’s
employees should be treated fairly and receive a living wage and businesses should have eco-
friendly processes in place and have an environmental certification.