Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
38
Figure 9: Importance of MFT Standard Adoption
Source: DinarStandard
Benefits of MFT Regulations and Standards
In the previous section on conventional standards, benefits of hotel standards were discussed.
The WTO list of benefits included standards assisting small and independent hotels in their
positioning efforts, serving as both expectation indicators and quality assurance for guests,
increasing destination attractiveness and guest satisfaction, facilitating comparability,
adding credibility to hotel offerings, motivating staff, increasing hotel rates and margins, and
being useful as a comparison tool for consumers.
Consequently, MFT standards and regulations can provide a number of additional benefits to
accommodation establishments. MFT standards provide a basis for hotels to direct their
investments based on the MFT characteristics that are measured by MFT standards and
valued by Muslim travelers. MFT standards and certifications also function as quality signals
indicating to consumers that the accommodation establishment has the MFT services they are
looking for as well as serving as a marketing tool to increase accommodation establishments’
recognition in the MFT market and help with marketing efforts.
MFT standards offer also a number of benefits for accommodation establishment guests,
including serving as an expectation indicator and a comparison tool. Muslim travelers would
have a way to know potential accommodations’ MFT features as well as to evaluate the MFT
services that are provided at different establishments so that they can choose the one that
meets their needs. Having an MFT certification also ensures a family-friendly environment for
both Muslim and non-Muslim travelers who would benefit from the adoption of several
family-friendly MFT features by hotels, including the banning of gambling and alcohol, as well
as having family-friendly entertainment. MFT standards also ensure MFT service quality;
Muslim travelers would be assured that the accommodation establishments’ claims of MFT
features are accurate and verified by a third party.
Very
Important;
51% Important;
29%
Neutral;
16%
Not Important; 4%