Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
52
MFHS covers the areas of Muslim-friendly accommodation, tour packages and tour guide
services.
There is an increasing interest in the Malaysian MFHS standard and in learning from the
Malaysian experience in the area of Muslim-friendly regulations. Many governments and
associations have approached ITC to help them create their own standards as many countries
consider adapting an existing standard like MFHS to their specific national needs. Currently,
ITC is officially assisting Korea with the development of a standard for Korean hospitality
businesses. .113
4.1.1 Standard Development Process
For the development of any standard in Malaysia, a technical committee needs to be
formed. 114 The MFHS standard was developed by the technical committee on Management
System from Islamic Perspectives, which comprised of the following representatives: the
Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), the Halal Industry Development
Corporation (HDC), the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, the International Islamic
University Malaysia, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Muslim Consumers
Association of Malaysia, the Research Institute of Standards in Islam, SIRIM QAS International,
Yayasan Ilmuwan (Education Foundation) and Sirim Berhad (which also formed the
secretariat).115
In addition to the members of the technical committee, representatives, from the industry and
associations in Malaysia are also consulted. Industry representatives and associations include
representatives from the Bumiputera Travel and Tour Agents Association of Malaysia
(Bumitra), the International Halal Integrity Alliance, the International Islamic University
Malaysia, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), the Malaysian
Association of Hotels (MAH), the Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (MAHO), the
Malaysian Tourist Guides Council, and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia
(represented by the Islamic Tourism Centre – ITC and TourismMalaysia).116
The technical committee and industry representatives had their first discussions in 2012.
Meetings ensued to outline the needs of the hospitality industry and to formulate the different
criteria of the standard. The initial standard was completed by the end of 2014 after a two-
month public comment period. An initial version of the standard was released in the
beginning of 2015. The official launch of the standard was in December 2015 by the Deputy
Minister of Tourism. The overall process of kick-starting the discussion, drafting and
publishing of the standard took approximately three years.117
MFHS was not modelled after any existing mainstream standards, but references were made
to a few existing Malaysian standards, like the MS1900:2014 (Sharia based quality
113 Interview conducted for the Malaysia case study, Islamic Tourism Centre, October 2016
114 Interview conducted for the Malaysia case study, Islamic Tourism Centre
115 MS2610:2015 – Muslim Friendly Hospitality Services – Requirements, Department of Standards, retrieved September,
2016
116 MS2610:2015 – Muslim Friendly Hospitality Services – Requirements, Department of Standards, retrieved September,
2016
117 Interview conducted for the Malaysia case study, Islamic Tourism Centre