TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of travel motivation, Muslim-friendly amenities and lifestyle, cognitive and affective destination image and quality of service on Kuwaiti travelers’ intentions to visit Islamic tourism destinations. Design/methodology/approach– A self-administered questionnaire consisting of multiple-item scales was developed. A convenience sample of 224 Kuwaitis was surveyed. The hierarchical regression analysis tested whether and how much the influencing factors predicted a significant amount of the variance in travel. The analysis was controlled for the effects of demographic variables. Findings– Travel motivation and cognitive and affective image had the largest significant effects on the Kuwaiti travelers’ intention to visit Islamic destinations. Contrary to expectations, the findings suggested that Muslim-friendly amenities and quality of service did not affect Kuwaitis’ travel decisions. Originality/value– This study provides a starting point for future empirical research into Islamic tourism in the Middle East. It provides an understanding of the importance of travel motivation and destination image in attracting Kuwaiti travelers to Islamic destinations. VL - 9 IS - 1 SN - 1750-6182 DO - 10.1108/IJCTHR-10-2014-0088 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCTHR-10-2014-0088 AU - Nassar Mohamed A. AU - Mostafa Mohamed M AU - Reisinger Yvette ED - Dr Yvette Reisinger, Dr Omar Moufakkir PY - 2015 Y1 - 2015/01/01 TI - Factors influencing travel to Islamic destinations: an empirical analysis of Kuwaiti nationals T2 - International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 36 EP - 53 Y2 - 2024/04/24 ER -