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This study aims to explore the country-specific understanding of Hajj, its experience and challenges between the pilgrims of Ghana and Uzbekistan.

Anchored on the theory of constructivism, this study explored and used the purposive sampling method in the context of qualitative research to select 97 Muslim pilgrims from Ghana and Uzbekistan of varying demographics for in-depth interviews.

Findings show that the philosophy of Hajj as the fifth pillar obligation set by Allah was common among the Muslim pilgrims of these two countries which support earlier literature. Interestingly, this study uncovered some distinctions in the construction of the understanding of Hajj; that is Ghanaian pilgrims have attached social status of respect and titles to Hajj in their societies. While Uzbekistan pilgrims are seen in their communities as spiritual role models that inspire others to live meaningful lives in the society.

The conclusion and the outcome of this study cannot be generalized as to represent the whole population of Ghana and Uzbekistan due to qualitative approach.

This study revealed country-specific understanding and experience of Hajj that can be used by the policymakers and marketers to create better travel package.

The outcome of this study advanced a cross-cultural Hajj understanding which is important to policymakers, businesses and spiritual tourism practitioners to have a better insight into Hajj in contexts.

This chapter presents findings from in-depth interviews with female pilgrims traveling from Turkey on their Hajj. The three main motives for the respondents were fulfilling one of the Five Pillars of Islam, visiting the center of the Muslim world, and seeing how others practiced Islam. For the majority of female pilgrims, the decision to go was made either jointly with their husbands or by others on their behalf. The long-lasting influences of this pilgrimage may include becoming more spiritual, peaceful, attentive, calm, tolerant, and careful. The experiences reported by respondents are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to provide comprehensive, theoretical and practical knowledge that will assist decision-makers in making informed decisions when promoting several religious sites in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Specifically, this study examines the popularity of several religious sites, the personas of prospective visitors and their intentions to visit.

The study uses several methodological approaches to fulfil its main objective, namely, Google Trends analysis, K-means cluster analysis and linear regression analysis.

The results reveal that several religious sites in the KSA are popular and have potential for further consideration by various stakeholders. In addition, four personas were identified which can aid decision-makers and marketing practitioners in designing suitable plans for prospective visitors based on the participants’ motivation and demographics. Furthermore, a significant association was observed among three motivational variables (self-esteem, relationship and physiological needs) and the participants’ intentions to visit.

This study makes an original contribution to the literature, as it examines several religious sites in Saudi Arabia in addition to the sites that are part of the practices of Hajj and Umrah. Furthermore, this study provides comprehensive knowledge in this area to assist both future researchers and practitioners.

This study aims to fill several gaps in the literature. First, it examines the Umrah industry from the supply side, investigating the pivotal factors for travel agencies’ performance. Second, it empirically investigates service leaders’ competencies specific to the hospital and tourism industry. Third, it clarifies whether there is a direct impact of organisational service orientation on business performance. Fourth, it explores the influence of network capabilities in a service context, specifically in travel agencies, which has rarely been discussed.

This is a mixed-method study with sequential explanatory research design. First, a quantitative approach was conducted with 150 authorised travel agencies in Indonesia, with two manager-level employees representing each agency. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling. A qualitative study was conducted to enrich the findings by interviewing the Director of Umrah and Hajj Development of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and three other respondents.

Service leaders’ competencies and resource capacity significantly influence organisational service orientation, leading to enhanced perceived service quality and performance. In addition, resource capacity influences network capabilities, improving performance.

This study identifies factors affecting the performance of Umrah travel agencies in an intensely competitive environment, which has rarely been discussed. This sheds light on how travel agencies can survive and succeed in this competitive industry. Moreover, this study provides evidence regarding the role of network capabilities in the tourism industry and the impact of organisational service orientation, both directly and indirectly, on performance.

Religious tourism is one of the oldest and fastest-growing segments. This study analyzes religious tourism through the pilgrimage of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca and has the following objectives: (1) establish the motivational dimensions of religious tourism; (2) identify the motivational dimensions that predict the satisfaction of religious tourism and (3) determine the motivational dimensions that predict return, recommend and say positive things about religious tourism applied to the pilgrimage to a sacred city.

The sample consisted of Muslim pilgrims who had visited Mecca. The sample was collected in Bahrain, a country located on the Persian Gulf, where most of its population is Muslim. A total of 380 valid questionnaires were obtained online. For the data analysis, factorial analysis and the multiple regression method enter were performed.

The results show that religious motivations are more important when visiting a sacred city than secular ones. Three motivational dimensions were found: religious, social and cultural and shopping. The three dimensions found have a significant relationship with satisfaction and loyalty. Likewise, it was found that the religious motivational dimension is the factor that most predicts satisfaction and loyalty in the behavior of religious visits to a sacred city.

The main limitation of the present study was the temporality in which the sample was taken because the demand may vary at another time of the year and therefore vary its results.

The authors of the study recommend that holy cities increase the religious motivations of these travelers by periodically researching their needs and organizing services to suit their desired spiritual experience. Also, to improve the social and cultural part, travel agencies and tourist companies to Mecca should promote social and cultural motivation among travelers in an appropriate way by providing service packages that involve visits to cultural and social sites such as museums and cultural centers.

This research will serve as a management guide for public institutions and private companies to develop more efficient planning in religious destinations and sacred cities.

This study is the first to analyze the construct of motivations in the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, to then establish what the main motivations are that predict satisfaction and loyalty in a religious city. Thus, its results provide important information for tourist destination managers and tourism service providers.

International relations are involved in an undesirable order at the present time. It is emphatically necessary to propound firm principles to regulate the relationships among states and nations, and new laws and regulations are to be enacted at the international level. The purpose of this paper is to enumerate some of the main guide stones for development of Islamic thoughts in the fields of international humanities.

The authors enumerate the principles of Sufi foundations of international relations in Islam by introducing the theosophical standpoints of Islamic Sufism.

The paper introduces 95 principles in three categories of public international law, foreign policy, and diplomacy.

As long as the essence of all religions has a unique root which is their spiritual paths and understandings based on their mystical views. To popularize and internationalize this proposition, comparative researches in other religions' Gnosticism will be essential.

Putting several principles forward, on the next phases, they can be used as the basis for many applied debates in the field and may be ended to a new international declaration/law.

Delicateness, truthfulness, and righteousness of Islamic Sufism, which is the gist of thoughts of humankind's elites who are divine messengers/guardians during millenaries, may turn the attentions of scholars and researchers to this viewpoint, and consequently a new set of thoughts/doctrines for regulating international relations to be defined and codified.

International relations scholars have not touched the topic from a Sufi point of view. This paper brings this approach to a new challenging arena for those who are engaged in international relations related subjects of laws, politics, institutions, and organizations.

This research aims to examine how consumer minimalism (CM), self-conscious feelings (such as consumer guilt (CG) and consumer pride (CP)) and the inclination to use rental services interact. It also looks at how attitudes toward pro-environmental advertisements affect these relationships as a moderator, recognizing the importance of pro-environmental advertising in influencing consumer behavior.

This study employed a quantitative methodology to investigate the aforementioned associations. Survey questionnaires are used to collect data, which is then analyzed using AMOS 25 and Process Macro to generate meaningful insights.

The findings indicate that the willingness to use rental services is directly associated with CM, while self-conscious emotions (SCEs) play the role of a mediator in this relationship.

It is essential to recognize the limitations of this study. There may be other variables at play, but the research focuses on SCEs (CG and CP) and their role as mediators. The findings must be interpreted based on the selected research methodology and sample size. Future research could investigate additional variables and enlarge the sample size to increase generalizability.

Targeted marketing can leverage CM, SCEs and willingness to use rental services. Recognizing the moderating effect of attitude toward pro-environmental advertisements can help create more effective campaigns promoting environmental behavior.

Underpinned by SCEs, the current study is one of the initial studies to explain how CM encourages responsible environmental behavior through access-based consumption models.

With growing mobility in a globalized world and an estimate of more than 300 million people going on religious pilgrimages every year, various researchers have been focusing on pilgrimage-driven travel services. In this context and within the Islamic religious tradition, the “Umrah” is used as a case study in this paper. In addition, this study also investigated the effects of Umrah SMM (promotion, place, people, product, price, process, physical evidence, marketing communication and after sale service) on customer satisfaction and loyalty toward Umrah travel agents in “Malaysia.”

Convenience sampling technique at four international airports in “Malaysia” was used to obtain data from Umrah travelers who had used Umrah services at least once. A total of 384 usable questionnaires were collected from this study and the data were analyzed using the partial least square.

The result indicated that the marketing mix has a significant positive effect on customer loyalty through customer satisfaction both directly and indirectly. This study will be of interest to the Umrah travel industry, for Malaysia and all the other countries, in understanding how marketing mix strategies are essential in maintaining a long-term relationship with customers.

The literature on Umrah travel services revealed that the traditional service marketing mix (SMM) of 7P’s is inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap and examine an innovative service marketing mix strategy for “Umrah Service” including marketing communication and after sales service. It investigates the effects of enhanced Umrah SMM on customer satisfaction and loyalty towards Umrah travel agents in “Malaysia”.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic review of halal tourism structure using bibliometric analysis. Halal tourism interest has increased due to the high demand for tourism products adhering to Shariah law. Furthermore, the vast Muslim population has increased the demand for halal tourism products and destination factors in this niche tourism segment.

A network visualization through bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis, this review presents a science mapping analysis to reveal the knowledge structure of emerging and future trends in halal tourism.

The current and emerging trends demonstrate three themes: the fundamentals of halal tourism, communication via word of mouth in halal tourism and Muslim tourist satisfaction and loyalty. At the same time, the co-word analysis presents the four themes primarily associated with halal tourism challenges: tourist satisfaction, service quality and Muslim travellers’ attraction.

The findings serve as crucial implications, contributing to halal and general tourism theory and application.

This review serves as crucial fundamental knowledge for future studies in halal tourism and its relevant themes for further development in tourism management. The most significant emerging theme in halal tourism is the intervention needed to increase Muslim tourist satisfaction and loyalty through halal-friendly service, customer-service quality, foods and beverages, facilities and privacy. The co-word analysis suggests increasing tourists’ engagement in halal tourism by invigorating the religiosity domain among tourists, improving service quality and perceived value and discovering new Muslim-friendly attractions. The most crucial finding from this study is to ensure that halal and Muslim-friendly tourism are at the same level, to the extent of better service according to Islamic practice. This approach would elevate the value and status of halal tourism as a trending product in Muslim and non-Muslim markets.

Marketing, Strategy, International Business.

Post-Graduates' classes.

This case focuses on the particularities of the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant run by the Americana Group in Mecca, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It allows students in the service industry, and especially those interested in the quick service industry to understand some of the challenges of operating in a market with high volume and other specific local market conditions. Perhaps, it will also allow those organizations wishing to enter into emerging markets to realize that globalization does not mean standardization of all practices but rather values.

On completion of utilizing the case study as an exercise, students should be able to develop: Case-specific skills: critically examine the importance of the international business and marketing strategy in the Middle East and demonstrate this by analyzing real regional/ world examples using complex theoretical frameworks; identify examples of best practice and explain the dynamics toward international business and marketing strategy with reference to a range of theoretical models; and apply these in a meaningful way to the Middle East North Africa region. Discipline-specific skills: synthesize and critically evaluate a corpus of academic literature and government reports on international business and marketing strategy; and link international business and marketing strategy concepts and theories to real regional/world examples. Personal and key skills: reflect on the process of learning and undertake independen/self-directed learning (including time management) to achieve consistent, proficient and sustained attainment. Work as either a participant or a leader of a group and contribute effectively to the achievement of objectives in the field of international business and marketing strategy.

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