COMCEC Tourism Outlook-2016
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The implementation of these recommendations will allow OIC member states to better position
them in the MFT market and gain a higher share of the Muslim visitor arrivals.
The 8th Meeting will be held on September 1st, 2016, on “Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT):
Developing and Marketing MFT Products and Services.” An analytical study is prepared with the
purpose of enabling all Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT) stakeholders to develop high-impact
MFT product development and marketing strategies and initiatives.
MFT products and services are starting to multiply and diversify. New players have entered the
MFT market adding to the global supply of MFT products and services especially in the hotels
and restaurants area. Additionally, new product offerings have been created recently to
accommodate Muslim travelers’ needs including Muslim-friendly cruises, airlines and mobile
travel applications. The study analyzes the products and services in the segment of food and
beverage, accommodation, transportation, activities, travel services. Successful case studies are
presented to give insight to member states which want to improve themselves in developing
and marketing MFT products and services.
More and more businesses are willing to meet the demands for MFT products and services. Most
of them try to enable products and services to be enjoyed by everyone, i.e. both Non-Muslims
and Muslims and offer tourists from Muslim countries alternative choices of consuming MFT
products and services. However, there is a need to develop more Halal tourism products and
services to cater to dynamic and emerging market. For this aim, some airports are adding Halal
certified restaurants and prayer spaces to attract Muslims. Some airlines started offering Halal
Food on board at their flights. Furthermore, travel agencies and digital marketing platforms are
also evolving according to growing needs of Muslims. Provided the fact that many OIC countries
already have basic infrastructure and environment for catering to the requirements of the
Muslim tourists, they can benefit more from the MFT market.
Despite the importance of the growing Muslim-traveler market for the OIC Member Countries,
the report, as well as the Member Country representatives during the 7th Working Group
Meeting highlighted some major challenges faced by the member countries. One of the major
challenges underlined in this meeting was “Lack of unified and harmonized MFT standards”. In
this respect, “Developing basic guidelines for improving the basic MFT-related services” was
highlighted as a main policy recommendation in this meeting. For this reason, the upcoming
meeting will be held on theme of “Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT): Regulations for
Accommodation Establishments in the OIC Member Countries”.
In tourism sector, products, facilities or services are assessed according to their level of
conformity to identified requirements. These requirements are specified in various tourism
regulations, such as legal acts, standards or guidelines. In conventional tourism quality
standards, these requirements are determined in line with the tourists’ quality needs and
expectations. These standards facilitate improving the overall quality of tourism products and
services; promote competiveness within the industry and provide valuable and reliable
information on quality of products and services for tourists and travel industry. Moreover, when