Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
44
3.4 Current MFT Standards/Regulations and their Components
As outlined in the previous section, MFT standards and regulations have been developed by
government bodies, private entities as well as local, regional and international organizations
in both the OIC and non the OIC countries. The following table summarizes the efforts of the
various bodies that have created MFT standards.
Table 11: Selected List of Current MFT Standards
Standard Country
Standard
Releasing
Body
Type of Body Criteria Measured
Examples of
Establishments
Implementing
Standard
MS 2610:2015 Malaysia Standards
Malaysia
Government Various MFT elements
(food, prayer,
wellness, training) at
hotels, tour operators
Grand Seasons
Mandarin Oriental
TS 13683 95 Turkey TSE (Turkish
Standards
Institution)
Government Various elements
beyond basic MFT
(management,
offerings, design,
operations, conduct)
Ikbal Thermal
Hotel (application
in process)
Rulebook of
Certifying and
Categorization
of Hospitality
Services, …
Croatia Center for Halal
Quality
Certification
NGO96 Various MFT elements
(food, prayer,
wellness, recreation)
Esplanade Westin
Crescent
Rating 97
Global CrescentRating Private 4 main criteria with
20 elements (related
to food, prayer,
Ramadan, and
recreation)
Grand Blue Wave
(Malaysia); Nouvo
City Hotel
(Thailand);
Aljawhara Gardens
(Dubai)
Salam
Standard
Global Lagitasu Travel Private More of a directory
with MFT attributes
than a standard
>10 k hotels, incl.
Archipelago Hotel
Group, chains98
Taiwan MFT
certification
Taiwan China Muslim
Association
Government-
backed, NGO-
run
(standard n/a; likely
elements are prayer
and food related)
Ambassador Hotel
Taipei99
Sofyan
Standard100
Regional
(from
Indonesia)
Sofyan Hotels Privately Full standard n/a, but
covers operation,
offerings
Radana (Bali)
Instituto Halal
internal
standard101
Spain Instituto Halal NGO-run Basic MFT elements
(Quran availability,
prayer rug, Halal food,
Qibla, prayer time
tables, prayer room)
Alanda, Hotel El
Palace, Tryp Meliá
Córdoba
Source: DinarStandard
95 Turkey. TÜRK STANDARDLARI ENSTİTÜSÜ. TURKISH STANDARD TS 13683: Halal Management System - Hotels. Ankara:
TSE, 2016. Print. ICS 03.080.30; 03.200.
96 Empowered by government to have exclusive authority on “Halal” issues
97 "CrescentRating Overview for Hotels." World's Leading Authority on Halal Travel – CrescentRating. Crescent Rating,
2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
98 "Muslim-friendly Hotel Standard Portal Goes Live." ITB Asia. TTG Asia Media, 29 Oct. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
99 "Dining and Accommodation for Muslim." Taiwan: The Heart of Asia . Tourism Bureau, Republic of China, 2 Sept. 2016.
Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
100 Telephone interview for MFT Standards.. 10 Oct. 2016.
101 E-mail interview for MFT Standards.. 27 Sept. 2016.