Sharia motivation in Muslim tourism definition, is it matter?

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify the terminology that is in accordance with the reality of Muslim tourism market, especially from the perspective of Sharia motivation, between Halal tourism and Islamic tourism; provide information on the special needs of Muslim travelers based on the dominant motivational differences; and find the impact of Sharia motivation and the special needs of Muslim tourists to their satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

The target population in this study is Muslim traveler at least 18 years old who has been traveling throughout Indonesia. Paired sample t-Test, multivariate analysis of variance and the multiple linier regression are applied for data analysis.

Findings

This study finds that Sharia motivation is less dominant in encouraging Muslims to travel; Sharia motivation has no impact on the importance of Sharia transportation, generic transportation and generic activities; and the dominance of Sharia motivation does not affect Muslim tourist satisfaction. However, the dominance of Sharia motivation has an influence on the importance of Sharia accommodation and Sharia activities, where both variables have positive effect on satisfaction. In the end, this study concludes that it is better to use the concept of Halal tourism than Islamic tourism.

Originality/value

This paper investigates the term of Halal tourism and Islamic tourism that are still ambiguous; even some researchers consider that the definition of both is similar.

Citation

Usman, H., Sobari, N. and Sari, L.E. (2019), "Sharia motivation in Muslim tourism definition, is it matter?", Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 709-723. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-01-2018-0015