Prospects of Halal Tourism. Fundamentals of Tourism

Table of contents

1 .Introduction

2. Objectives

3. Literature reviews

4. Methodology
4.1 Research design
4.2 Area of study
4.3 Source of Data

5. Components
5.1 Halal compliance hotel
5.2 Halal food
5.3 Halal Package
5.4 Halal Transport (Airlines)
5.5 Halal Finance

6.Opportunities
6.1 Muslim population growth
6.2 Attracting Muslim Tourists
6.3 Halal tourism accommodation
6.4 Halal food and beverage
6.5 Halal tourism agents

7. Challenges
7.1 Industrial revolution
7.2 Sustainability
7.3 Economies of scale
7.4 Lack of standards and rating on Islamic Hotels
7.5 Cost of implementation
7.6 Lack of knowledge
7.7 Losing Non-Muslim guests

8. Marketing Practices
8.1 Understand customer
8.2 Optimized website
8.3 Adjust with gadgets
8.4 Social media marketing
8.5 Word of mouth
8.6 Scripted service experience
8.7 Marketing control practice

9. Controlling Practices
9.1 Quality control practice
9.2 Law enforcement team activity
9.3 Cooptation and collaboration

10. Limitations

11. Consolations

References

Executive summary

The concept of halal tourism is getting populated day by day because of increasing number of Muslim populations, the development of middle class and increasing amount of spendable income. This concept is also talking about sustainability. Three different Islamic tourism concepts are shared through this study. Though this concept ensure sustainability businessmen may face some challenges and opportunities to earn profit by following this concept.

Keywords: Halal tourism, Islamic concepts, industry, Muslim & Non-Muslim population

Prospects of Halal Tourism

1. Introduction

Halal is one of the most popular Arabic words in Islamic word which means lawful. Islamic Council of Victoria define halal as free from any component that Muslim are prohibited from consuming and processing, making, producing, manufacturing and/or storing by using utensils, equipment and/or machinery that have been cleansed according to Islamic law (Islamic Council of Victoria, 2019). OIC define halal tourism as a tourism concept that target Muslim people and is organized over Islamic and Humanitarian values like fair pricing, peace, and safety, family-friendly environment, hygiene etc. (Diker, Yildirim, & Tabatabaeinasab, 2018). This concept is getting popular day by day because of the increasing Muslim population, the developing middle class and increasing amount of spendable income, the young population, the increasing of accessing opportunities for travel information, the Ramadan travelers and business travelers. According to OIC (2017), Saudi Arabia, Iran, The UAE, Qatar, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, Singapore, France, The USA etc. country have a good market share in halal tourism industry (Diker, Yildirim, & Tabatabaeinasab, 2018).

2. Objectives

There are several objectives to conduct this study. Main objectives are given below-

(i) To determine the components of halal tourism
(ii) To determine the opportunities and challenges of halal tourism
(iii) To recommend some marketing practices of halal tourism
(iv) To recommend some controlling practices applicable for halal tourism

3. Literature reviews

Halal means permitted and good for human being. Animal welfare, social responsibilities, environment friendly, stewardship to earth, economic and social justice and ethical investments etc. are promoted through halal industry development. Though halal is strongly connected with Muslim community, it is practiced all over the world to ensure sustainability (Azam, Abdullah, & Razak, 2019).

Al-Hamarneh and Steiner (2004) stated three concepts of Islamic tourism. They are economic concept emphasize on inclusion of new tourist markets and tourist destinations, cultural concept which includes vision and ideas that outline the inclusion of Islamic religious cultural sites in tourism programs with “pedagogical” and self-confidence building elements and religious conversation concept which emphasize conservative interpretation and understanding of Islam (Nurrachmi, 2019).

Halal tourism is not only dealing with food and beverage but also it is dealing with every aspect of tourism and hospitality sector. However, halal tours require separate pools, halal drinks, food and entertainment, prayer time announcing, prayer rooms, no music, and so on. The whole industry is working for this segment - food and cosmetics (Gabdrakhmanov, Biktimirov, Rozhko, & Mardanshina, 2016). Halal tourism has a relation Muslim tourist satisfaction, revisit intention, experiential values and Islamic attributes and destination. It maximizes the brand loyalty towards destination which maximize revenue (Yuliviona, Alias, Abdullah, & Azliyanti, 2019).

Halal tourism is a good business opportunity that could satisfy both Muslim and non-Muslim tourists' overtime. It promotes different cultural experience towards non-Muslim community. Non-Muslim community prefer halal tourism because ethical practices, cleaning concepts and some health issues. Sometimes, it is shown that, which is prohibited for Muslim community, it is also prohibited for other community. That's why; they prefer halal tourism concept. On the other hand, some non-Muslim has negative attitude towards halal tourism because they are looking for sex, alcohols, gambling and aggressiveness in a tourist area which is not available according to halal tourism concept. In most of the cases, both Muslim and non­Muslim community is looking for safety and security and some of the non-Muslim tourists believe that, Islamic countries has a image of terrorism which demotivate them to travel some places where halal tourism concept is followed (Battour, Hakimian, Ismail, & Bogan, 2018).

Halal tourism includes many components such as halal hotel, halal transportation, halal food premises, halal logistics, Islamic finance, Islamic travel packages, halal spa services tourism and there are life styles -cosmetics, textile etc. (Qaddahat, Attaalla, & Hussein, 2016)

4. Methodology

4.1 Research design

This study describes the prospects of halal tourism. As a result, it is a descriptive research. On the other hand, qualitative information is analyzed to conduct this research. So, it is a qualitative descriptive research.

4.2 Area of study

This study is applicable for tourism and hospitality sector specially to design accommodation solution, destination management, recreation management, transportation management etc. It will be helpful for both businessmen and policy makers.

4.3 Source of Data

Desk reviews has been conducted to collect data from various secondary sources. This includes different types of research documents, journals, periodicals, website and other sources. All information is collected from literature reviews, finding and other sections.

5. Components

There are many components of halal tourism. Major components are described below-

5.1 Halal compliance hotel

Accommodations solution is provided through hotel. According to halal tourism concept, hotels should have some special characteristics. Halal food and no alcohol must be served in the hotels. Prayer room, Holy book Quran, prayer mat and Qibla direction availability; separate salon, recreational facilities and swimming pool for men and women; separate floor for married and unmarried male & female guests; dress code of tourists and predominantly Muslim staffs with proper Islamic dress code give uniqueness to halal hotels (Ranea, Farouk, & Mahmoud, 2016).

5.2 Halal food

The Muslim believe that halal food and drinks are very much concern in Islam because their impact on their mind, heart and body. The preparations of halal food and hygienic accommodations will give an added competitive advantage to the hotel in attracting the local and foreign tourists, especially those from the Middle East, West Asia and other Islamic countries. There are seven basic requirements for the preparation of halal food (Ranea, Farouk, & Mahmoud, 2016). They are as follows:

(i) Sources of halal food and drinks should be halal animal and plant based not containing ‘najs'.
(ii) Does not contain any human parts or its derivatives.
(iii) Are not permitted Slaughtering for example halal and non- halal animals must never slaughtered together.
(iv) Product processing, handling and distribution should comply with halal Regulations.
(v) Product storage, display and serving for instance equipment's, machineries and other materials used must not be made of non- halal materials.
(vi) Hygiene, sanitation and food safety should comply with the concept of halal.
(vii) Packing and labelling must be carefully evaluated by JAKIM.

5.3 Halal Package

Akyol and Kilinc suggested to follow Islamic principles and include visits to the Islamic monuments, masques and promote event during the Ramadan. However, Othman et al observed that Muslim tour packages have to offer halal accommodation, food serves and should provide educational and religious value. They added that each Muslims travel include of tour destination with Islamic heritage and in some sectors the tour include visitation to the local Muslim communities and mosque. (Ranea, Farouk, & Mahmoud, 2016)

5.4 Halal Transport (Airlines)

Providing cleanliness, Halal food and beverages and publications that are coherent with Islam are the major indicators for Halal transport. (Nurrachmi, 2019)

5.5 Halal Finance

With every resources of Islamic tourism in line with Islamic principles, Islamic finance is the element for financing in Halal industry. Islamic finance requires participation in sharing the profit and loss among of all parties who involved in this finance enterprise and it also prohibits interest. (Nurrachmi, 2019)

6. Opportunities

6.1 Muslim population growth

The population of Muslim is growing day by day. In 2012, Muslim Population was 1.8 Billion. By 2030, the amount of Muslim population will go at 2.2 Billion which will be 26.4% of total world population. However, by 2050, the amount will go at 2.6 Billion which will be 30% of total population (Elasrag, 2016). On the other hand, disposal income is growing day by day. So, there is a need of halal tourism.

6.2 Attracting Muslim Tourists

As halal tourism concept guarantee halal products, it can attract new tourists (Lila Bismala, 2019). Ricky Alfanda and Pratiwi Dwi Suhartanti conduct a study where they found that, Muslim Friendly Tourist facility-based attractions attract Muslim tourist very successfully. They suggest proper infrastructures for Muslim tourists as well as Non-Muslim tourists (Alfanda & Suhartanti, 2018).

6.3 Halal tourism accommodation

the availability of accommodation in most of the hotels and other places to stay has applied sharia concept in their products, service, and management. Regarding product, the hotels' toilets have been provided with insulation between chambers and running water as well as toilet tissue; every room in most hotels has also been occupied with sajadah (rug), qiblah direction, no-porn access, no-alcohol in each room's mini bar, etc. In terms of service, hotels make a selection to couples who come to the hotels, no facilities to porn/nasty deeds, etc. Regarding management, all staff/employees wear a polite uniform; female employees generally wear veil/hijab, etc. (Alfanda & Suhartanti, 2018)

6.4 Halal food and beverage

Muslim gives higher priority on halal issue when they purchase food, buy meat of select restaurants (Soesilowati, 2010). As the amount of Muslim population is increasing, to ensure brand loyalty, halal tourism is the best option.

6.5 Halal tourism agents

Halal tourism agents can help Muslim by proving information about halal accommodation, halal destinations etc. They also have lists of food and beverage providers that provide halal and suitable food and beverage for Muslim tourists (Soesilowati, 2010).

7. Challenges

7.1 Industrial revolution

Azreen Hamiza Binti Abdul Aziz remarked that of Muslim friendly tourism (MFT) is challenged by technological advancement, economy development people & organizations. According to his explanations, industrial revelation 4.0 and use of social media, online and transparent information modernize the services of hospitality, accommodation and F&B. Most of the time, as MFT need to follow Islamic rules, they cannot cope up with their promotional strategies to attract tourists and travelers. As a result, investor do not want to invest on MFT projects (Aziz, 2018).

7.2 Sustainability

In addition, MFT projects face low accessibility towards sustainability development management. In the economy development, such issues of dependence upon the nation's economy, integration and globalization also plays an important challenge in MFT (Aziz, 2018).

7.3 Economies of scale

The growth of the Muslim travel market, Muslim-friendly tourism is an important marketing problem of the tourism industry. Islamic tourism is a niche market specifically intended to encourage reciprocal visits among Muslim countries ( Bismala, Tanjung, & Andriany, 2019). As organizations need to think about economies of scale, halal tourism product price is premium which is applicable for rich tourists. As a result, all classes of travelers cannot afford it.

7.4 Lack of standards and rating on Islamic Hotels

The absence of all-inclusive standard quality and rating frameworks comprise a significant hindrance for the advancement of the Islamic the travel industry. As a result, there is shortage of experienced inspectors, who are well versed in the accommodation sector, poses a serious challenge to implementing the Islamic tourism standards

7.5 Cost of implementation

A country that is willing to develop its Islamic tourism industry and has a goal to emerge as major destination in the world needs to realize certain investments and complete necessary steps. From the private sector perspective, hotels need to invest into their establishments in order to ensure that they meet all criteria for the ‘Halal certificate' including building up designated common prayer rooms, gender segregated pools, and all halal restaurants. from the public side, establishment of a unit responsible for the Islamic tourism industry in the Ministry, development of standards and certification bodies, setting the inspection and rating mechanisms require certain investments and human capital (Organisation Of Islamic Cooperation, 2017).

7.6 Lack of knowledge

Although the Islamic tourism industry has been recording significantly higher annual growth rates, this fact is not well-known among private sector players and policy-makers. However, the limited knowledge about the importance and potential of Islamic tourism industry sometimes reduces funding options for investment projects (Organisation Of Islamic Cooperation, 2017).

7.7 Losing Non-Muslim guests

Though there is a need of halal tourism because of population growth of Muslim, the non­Muslim tourist may decide not to travel to a particular destination in the absence of certain attributes (Battour M. I., 2015). Thus, halal destination investors may lose Non-Muslim guests.

8. Marketing Practices

Marketing strategy bridges plans to achieve marketing goals and objectives. However, tactics are highly practical marketing activities that we do every day. Both marketing strategy and tactics helps to craft marketing practices. Some marketing strategies are shared below which is applicable for tourism industry.

8.1 Understand customer

To understand customer, travel motive, reference group, preferred reservation process, disturbance etc. should be known (Darboe, 2019). Mostly, it is shown that, the major purposes of journey are medical, pilgrimage, leisure and business. Office space, corporate environment etc. may be helpful to attract business travelers. Based on these analyses, authority may design their services.

8.2 Optimized website

Optimized website helps to improve user experience and boost conversation rates. Performance and speed must be checked properly to design well function website. Expert opinion can play a vital role (Darboe, 2019).

8.3 Adjust with gadgets

In this digital service era, use of mobile phone is increasing day by day. Studies shows that, 33% of mobile users have negative perception of a brand if their mobile experience is slow. That's why; user experience should be get higher priority to design service (Darboe, 2019).

8.4 Social media marketing

Nowadays, people spend a lot of time in social media. To gain attention, social media marketing may be helpful. Social media helps to describing tour packages, prompt response, getting feedback easily.

8.5 Word of mouth

Word of mouth is more reliable than traditional marketing strategy. Reviews, blog plays a vital role to sprayed positive WOM. Marketing team need to analysis every customer insight properly. When they find any problem by tracking insight, it should be recorded properly and solve the problem as soon as possible.

8.6 Scripted service experience

Consumer service experience should be proper planned and scripted. As vision is shared, every employee is a part of this service experience. To design service, service quality should get higher priority. Service quality should test properly so that, it can be presented error free to the customer.

8.7 Marketing control practice

Marketing control practices consists of annual planning, profitability analysis, efficiency control and strategy control. Marketing team should control their marketing practices through different types of tools. Audit should be conduct to measure success rate and the reason of failure. marketing control practices play a vital role to match the marketing effort with marketing changes, delete of the deviation of performance, identify the responsibility of failure, organizational complexity, assist plan reformation. These practices are helpful to ensure organizational flexibility and sustainability.

9. Controlling Practices

9.1 Quality control practice

Healthy lifestyle by ensuring halal food and beverage is the key to success of halal tourism concept. That's why; according to Sariah law, total quality management (TQM) should be established and maintained properly. Solving the problem as soon as possible and keeping record will help quality control team to provide quality products.

9.2 Law enforcement team activity

Specialized law enforcement team should audit every incident according to Sariah law and they should take responsibilities to ensure safety and security of tourists.

9.3 Cooptation and collaboration

As many private and public organizations are working together in tourism sector, teamwork is mandatory

10. Limitations

Due to budget constrain, time constrain and health issues, survey on tourists, policy makers and practitioner is not possible. As a result, this research contains some assumptions which may not applicable in practical field. After conducting a survey, results may contain minor changes.

11. Consolations

To conclude, we can say that, halal tourism concept is one of the most popular marketing concepts which attract Muslim tourists. OIC suggested to national DMO to raise awareness on Islamic tourism, proper destination planning, development and controlling, proper certification according to sharia laws and food safety laws, managing financial investments, developing human capital. OIC is planning to promote halal tourism by promoting market potentiality through exhibition, tourism fair etc. organizing joint ventured programs, providing infrastructure funds and easing VISA policy (Organisation Of Islamic Cooperation, 2017). However, UNDP suggested to give more emphasize on capacity building and capacity development. Cooperation and collaboration between countries helps to promote Islamic tourism.

References

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