Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
58
4.2 Turkey
Turkey is the sixth largest tourism destination, with 36.3 million foreign visitors in 2015. An
estimated 5.8 million of those tourists came from Muslim countries and spent a total of $31
billion.140 With 11 million domestic Muslim tourists, Turkey’s accommodation establishments
host more than 15 million Muslims every year. The 4,500 registered accommodation
establishments have a total of 1.2 million bed-capacity.141 In the early 2000s, there was less than
ten hotels identifying themselves as Halal across Turkey. Currently, there are nearly 140 hotels
identifying themselves as Halal or Islamic hotels, from beach resorts to green resorts, and
thermal hotels.142 However, there are no Halal certified hotels in the country. GIMDES, a private
Halal certifier based in Istanbul, mostly focused on food certification, has released its Halal
tourism standard several years ago. But no hotels have been certified by the standard yet.143
According to the Turkish Standard Institute (TSE), the interest in MFT standards was initiated by
the tourism industry, namely hoteliers. 144 In response to the industry’s interest, TSE launched its
MFT standard - TS 13683 Halal Management System-Hotels - in Feb 2016 after two and a half
years of preparation. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism was motivated by the fast
developments in MFT market both in Turkey and around the world to start to develop its own
MFT regulations this year. The Ministry has monitored the rise of the Halal tourism trend and
decided to meet the demands for MFT regulation coming from hotel entrepreneurs.145
4.2.1 Standard Development Process
The Turkish Standards Institution (TSE) has started to work on developing an MFT standard at
the end of 2013. The standard, TSE Halal Management System TS 13683, was completed in Feb
2016. The standard was developed with the help of an academic consultation committee,
consisting of 16 experts many of whom are professors from different universities, including
theology faculties. It is expected that İkbal Thermal Hotel will be the first hotel granted TSE’s
Halal Management System Certificate in the Spring of 2017. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism
started working on an MFT regulation in 2016. The Board of Tourism Controllers under General
Directorate of Investment and Establishments in the Ministry have started to work on an MFT
regulation for Turkey’s Halal hotels. There is a plan to establish a Halal certification mechanism
under the Ministry. This means that the Ministry will develop and implement its own
certification. The table below shows the development steps for TSE’s standard and the Turkish
TourismMinistry’s regulations.
140 Tourism Statistics. Turkstat. 2016.
141 Number of Registered Touristic Accommodations and Businesses from 1966 to 2014. TÜRSAB. 2016. Web.
142 “Muslim Friendly Tourism: Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services In the OIC Member Countries ”Report.
8th COMCEC TourismWorking Group. August 2016. Web.
143 "GIMDES Standards for Halal Travel." How Should It Become a Halal Hotel? GIMDES, 2005-2016. Web.
144 Interview conducted for the Turkey case study, September 2016.
145 Interview conducted for the Turkey case study, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, September 2016.