Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
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rating it as important (83% rated it as extremely important). Offering Ramadan services, such
as breakfast buffets, comes second on the list of important MFT services to be regulated, with
95% of respondents rating it as important, followed closely by having Qibla direction in the
hotel room, which was rated by 94% of respondents as important. However, it is worth noting
that more respondents rated having Qibla direction in the hotel room (61%) as extremely
important than offering Ramadan services (55%).
Including the presence of a separate gym for women, family friendly entertainment and
separate spa facilities for women in the Muslim-friendly accommodation standard were rated
as important by 92-93% of respondents. However, the inclusion of services for women on the
standard was rated by 58-61% of the respondents as being extremely important, compared to
only 51% of the respondents rating family friendly entertainment (51%). This can be
explained by the fact that 68% of the respondents are female. While both having a separate
pool for women and no alcohol being stocked in room (89%) come after having a bidet or
hand held sprayer in the bathroom (90%) in terms of importance of being included in a
Muslim-friendly accommodation standard, they were rated by more respondents as
extremely important than having the bidet.
Having staff wearing modest clothes and no adult channels in room were rated by 88% of the
respondents as important to include in a Muslim-friendly accommodation standard, followed
closely by having Jumaa (Friday) prayers in congregation (87%), dedicated pool timings for
women (86%), and no alcohol served in the hotel (84%). However, staff wearing modest
clothing had the lowest percentage of respondents rating it as extremely important (38%)
among the other services that had a similar importance rating (48-53%).
Including the presence of a separate beach for women in the Muslim-friendly accommodation
standard was rated as important by 80% of the respondents (and as extremely important by
49%). However, as mentioned earlier it is worth noting that 68% of the respondents are
female. The last item in terms of importance of being included in the Muslim-friendly
accommodation standard is the presence of prayer mats in the room, which was rated as
important by 76% of the respondents (only 31% rated it as extremely important).
Within the context of the government sector interviews conducted as part of this study, all
government sector interviewees agreed that it is important for an establishment seeking to
attract Muslim tourists to follow a Muslim-friendly accommodation standard. Even though all
interviewees except for one believed that the presence of multiple MFT standards could be
confusing to hotel guests and a cause for varied expectations, they were divided as to whether
have multiple regional or one global MFT standard, and whether the standard should have
one or different levels.
Results from the accommodation sector survey also indicated the importance of MFT
standards adoption. As the following graph illustrates, a large percentage of accommodation
sector respondents (80%) believe it is important for an establishment seeking to attract
Muslim tourists to follow a Muslim-friendly accommodation standard, with more than half of
them (51%) classifying it as very important.