Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
59
Table 13: MFT Standard Development – Turkey
TSE’s MFT Standard Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Regulations
Steps  An Academic Consultation Committee is
formed.
 Committee prepares pre-draft standard
document.
 Pre-draft document is evaluated in Halal
Committee of TSE.
 Draft is sent twice to stakeholders
including, tourism sector associations,
hotels, and other government
departments.
 Academic Consultation Committee amends
draft based on stakeholders’ feedback.
 Final draft is evaluated by TSE’s Technical
Board.
 If draft is approved, it is officially put in
service by TSE management.146
 Conceptual definition of Muslim-Friendly
Tourism/Halal tourism sector was
conducted
 Meeting with stakeholders of tourism
sector were arranged
 Experts participated international meetings
on MFT.
 National and international standards on
MFT were examined
 Draft regulation was formed.
 Legal document was released.
 If the draft is released inspections will be
carried out by the Ministry.
Source: DinarStandard
4.2.2 Certification Process and Regulations
TSE, which has already developed its own MFT standard, has a Halal Certification Department,
which is responsible for implementation and certification. On the other hand, The Ministry’s
certification and implementation process will be carried on by the General Directorate of
Investment and Establishments. It should be noted that the Ministry has not set the
certification process yet for legislation on MFT. The five-star certification program that rates
the quality is carried out by the Ministry and, the ministry currently follows a specific set of
steps that are listed below, for this conventional certification process. Similar process can be
applied for MFT certification when the prepared draft is finalized and published in Official
Gazette.
146 Interview conducted for the Turkey case study, September 2016.