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The purpose of this paper is to build a better understanding of the concept of Halal tourism as expressed by Muslim Jordanian tourists who want to comply with the Islamic law. The study also examines Jordan as a Halal tourism destination as perceived by those tourists. Implications of marketing Jordan as a Halal tourism destination are among the research questions.

The paper is empirical and quantitative in nature with a survey type. The sample of the study is Muslim Jordanians in the cities of Amman and Irbid. Respondents were chosen randomly in shopping malls, gardens and public places. A self-completion questionnaire was administered to collect the data for the research and 920 questionnaires were returned. The data were analysed using descriptive and reliability and explanatory factor analysis in addition to certain tests such as one sample t test and two samples chi-square tests.

Halal tourism in Jordan is established but needs more enhancements and promotion. Jordan was evaluated positively in 14 Halal services and was unsuccessful in ten others. The motives for Jordanian Muslim tourists who want to comply with the Islamic law, to travel to Halal destinations were destinations that offer Halal-friendly services; to know Islamic religious sites; and to learn about Islamic history. Jordanian tourists were knowledgeable of local and international Halal destinations (78.2 and 67%, respectively). More than half of the sample experienced Halal destinations in Jordan and only 26.4% abroad. From a marketing point of view, the results of this study reveal good awareness of potential Jordanian tourists towards Halal tourism and Halal services. The study revealed that Jordanian Muslim tourists who want to comply with the Islamic law showed significant positive motives to travel Halal tourism destinations. In addition, the study showed statistically significant knowledge and experiences in local Halal destinations, but not in foreign Halal destinations.

The lack of research on Halal tourism in Jordan gives limited in-depth discussion. In addition, the study sample was chosen from two major cities in Jordan; therefore, further research is needed to include a representative sample of the whole country.

The paper includes marketing implications on Halal tourism in Jordan. The authors suggest marketing strategies should be launched to emphasise the importance of Halal tourism and marketing Jordan as Halal tourism destination. The recommendations of this study provide positive and negative results on Jordan as a Halal tourism destination. The negative evaluation of Jordan in terms of Halal services should be redressed by the Jordanian Government and the Jordanian private tourism and hospitality sectors to build a positive image of Jordan as a potential competitive Halal destination for Muslim tourists who want to comply with the Islamic law.

The paper is among the first of its kind, which empirically examined the motives of Jordanian Muslims who want to comply with the Islamic law to travel to Halal tourism destinations as well as evaluating Jordan as a Halal tourism destination. This study fills the gap in literature about Halal tourism in Jordan and presents Halal tourism as one of the alternative forms of tourism of high potential for Jordan to compete in this market segment.

Halal and Islamic tourism is gaining attention in the tourism literature in recent years. This study uses bibliometric analytical techniques to explore all the publications indexed in the Scopus database in the broad subject of Halal and Islamic tourism from 2004 to 2021.

The authors found 238 publications that fit the function, subject and set criteria. The papers were analysed in terms of publication by knowledge area, number of studies published every year, contribution by countries, number of authors and most influential journals. VOS viewer was used to perform a visual analysis on co-occurrence of keywords and document citations.

According to the findings, the Scopus database includes 151 (34.40%) documents on business, management and accounting, and 89 (20.27%) documents on social science. It was reported that 29 documents were published in 2018, followed by 54 documents in 2019 and 56 documents in 2021. Malaysia has contributed 86 documents on Islamic tourism, whereas Indonesia has contributed 64 documents. The paper also discusses other interesting findings.

The bibliometric analysis carried out was confined to Scopus data. Other national and international databases were not taken into account for this research.

Between 2004 and 2021, this study examined relevant studies on Halal and Islamic tourism. The study presents a concise review of the literature accessible to researchers working in this area and provides recommendations for future research.

Muslim tourists participating in halal tourism activities represent a valuable niche market for global tourism industry. The purpose of this study is to clarify the concepts of halal tourism and Islamic tourism and to draw attention to some conceptual and practical challenges in the halal tourism industry.

The paper is based on a critical assessment of the literature in this field. To differentiate the concepts and to discuss practical and conceptual challenges, the authors found some references by reviewing the existing definitions in related literature and the primary source of the concepts which is Holy Book of Islam, Quran.

The terms “intention” and “Islamic motivation” can be used to differentiate Islamic tourism and halal tourism. The authors suggest calling hotels that provide good and services in halal tourism industry as “halal hotels” and tourists as “Muslim tourists”. One of the leading practical challenges in halal tourism is having lack of halal standards, especially for hotels. As the way Muslims understand and adapt their lives to Islam is quite different, which means this market is not homogenous, the authors suggest that halal hotels should be scaled through different qualifications in different countries.

This study is based on literature review, and it lacks primary research.

Current paper stresses the need for consistent use of Islamic-related tourism terms in industry. Hotel companies should have halal certifications that will provide assurance to customers. It is highly important for hotel companies to inform their target guests about the location of hotel before arriving at hotel. This is because halal hotels and other hotels are usually located in resort destination, especially in Turkey.

This paper is one of the leading papers that differentiates Islamic tourism and halal tourism concepts. It also provides several conceptual and practical issues in halal tourism industry.

This study aims to present the push-pull motives of Islamic tourism and how these provide the basis for promoting and developing Islamic tourism practices in Ghana’s tourism industry. As Islamic tourism is considered as a niche market with new needs and wants globally, this study makes the effort to identify the prospects of this form of tourism in a non-Islamic developing nation.

The study has used a convenience sampling approach in gathering data from 337 Muslim tourists, adopting existing scale instruments of push-pull motives, satisfaction, word-of-mouth of tourists and Islamic practices. The structural equation modelling was used to establish relationships and effects of the studied variables.

The results revealed the significant effects of push-pull motives of Ghanaian Muslim tourists on satisfaction as well as the significant influence of tourist satisfaction on word-of-mouth. In addition, the significant moderating effects of Islamic practices on the relationships between push-pull motives and tourist satisfaction were established.

The conclusion and recommendations of this study might not be consistent with factors that motivate Muslims tourists in other countries.

The results of the study validate the viability of Islamic tourism practices and possible spread of positive word-of-mouth among potential Muslim tourists for future Islamic tourism market in Ghana.

This paper provides the first insight into push-pull motives of Muslim tourists’ choice of Islamic destination in non-Islamic developing country context. The insight will be valuable to tourism authorities, industry, academics, businesses, managers and practitioners, as the results will enhance product and service delivery to Muslim tourists when they are on vacation.

Attributes of a destination do not only have a positive impact on a person’s selection of the travel destination but also influence the level of tourist satisfaction. In spite of this, the destination attributes related to Muslim tourism are yet to be explored. Moreover, each attribute impacts the satisfaction of tourists in different ways. This study aims to investigate the importance and performance of Islamic attributes in selection of travel destinations by Muslim tourists and to examine the overall tourist satisfaction (SAT) based on the Islamic attributes.

Thailand has been considered as the base for this study. A quantitative research method and convenience sampling technique was used for data collection. Factor analysis was used to determine the importance and performance of Islamic attributes on the choice of travel destinations. Composite delineated factors were applied as indicators in the regression analysis to evaluate the SAT.

The findings reveal five important Islamic attributes: Halal-friendly environment, Halal hotel (IMP2), Halal food (IMP3), Halal food preparation and washroom facilities. However, Muslim tourists were only satisfied with the performance of three Islamic attributes: hotel entertainment and facilities, Halal food and preparation and Halal-oriented recreation and quality services (PER3). This study also reveals that PER3 as well as IMP2 and IMP3 are significant factors for evaluating the tourists’ overall satisfaction.

The Halal tourism market has been growing rapidly. However, research on the satisfaction of Muslim tourists based on the importance and performance of Islamic attributes in non-Muslim countries is limited. Thus, the researcher draws upon the views of Muslim tourists to propose recommendations on the important Islamic attributes and those whose performances are effective. The findings suggest that the SAT is influenced by particular attributes. Additionally, this study fills the research gap on Halal tourism in Thailand and provides useful information regarding the satisfaction of tourists based on Islamic attributes for non-Muslim countries, to help them formulate effective strategies for developing Islamic tourism in their travel destinations.

The purpose of this study is to confirm that there is a great need for international Islamic accreditation body as a response of the growing number of the Islamic-friendly hospitals and Islamic practices among medical tourism providers across the globe, with a specific focus on the Malaysian industry.

This paper systematically reviews the content of medical tourism studies and international accreditation organizations for health-care providers from literature to meet its objective.

The establishment of international Islamic accreditation body becomes necessary nowadays as the response of the growing of Islamic medical tourism market. Creating standards based on Islamic laws and ethics may assess medical tourism providers when dealing with Muslim medical tourists. Furthermore, the most important benefit of Islamic accreditation is the development of uniform standards for Islamic medical tourism practices that combines health care and tourism services together.

An international Islamic accreditation body should be developed to assist practitioners and policymakers to use standards to select policies to improve Islamic medical tourism practices, which in turn may facilitate the identification of effective services that can meet Muslim medical tourists’ needs and expectations.

This study is the first that suggests the need to establish an international Islamic accreditation organization that assesses hospitals to offer Islamic medical tourism practices for Muslim medical tourists. It may contribute and add value to the body of Islamic medical tourism.

Worldwide growth in both the Muslim middle class and younger generation has resulted in Islamic tourism becoming a significant global market segment, and a key growth sector for the economies of Islamic countries. The 121 million Muslim tourists of 2016 were expected to be 156 million in 2020, whereas the total spendings of US $220 billion of Muslim tourists will reach in 2026, $300 billion. This chapter focuses on Iran as one of the important Muslim-friendly destinations. With Islamic principles already in place, Iran is aiming to become a world hub for Islamic or halal tourism, while meeting new challenges and pursuing creative alternatives.

Islamic tourism has developed rapidly since 2001, and Jordan has embraced this movement and encouraged the construction of important infrastructure around mausoleums. Based on an analysis of official speeches and on fieldwork with tourism specialists, the impact of Islamic tourism on political and geopolitical matters in Jordan will be considered. Leaning on different scopes and levels of analysis, it will be shown that the promotion of Islamic tourism in Jordan not only bears a major economic impact on the country, but also permits it to rewrite its national history for internal and international political purpose. Further, the discussion considers how other countries are being targeted by this new kind of tourism, and the limits of its potential development.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate ways in which Maldives could pioneer Islamic tourism on a befitting framework and financing structure as a leverage to develop its tourism industry.

The research uses qualitative approach whereby primary and empirical data on tourism practices as well as relevant laws and guidelines, issued in Maldives and in other Muslim jurisdictions of the Muslim, are analyzed. Doctrinal approach is used in analyzing secondary data on the subject.

The research reveals the potential of Islamic tourism in Maldives as well as the challenges that have constrained its development in the country. Certainty is needed in halal products, services and conducts. Codifying extant Maldives Halal Tourism Standards will establish legal framework for a standard Shariah-compliant tourism industry. Islamic financing structure enables mobilizing required funds and address financing constraints.

This research presents an insight into establishing and developing Islamic tourism industry in the Maldives. Harmonizing tourism regulations with Shariah shall bring about the required consciousness on Shariah compliance in target tourists and their desires. Private individuals can contribute in mobilizing the much needed Shariah-compliant resources to finance Islamic model resorts befitting an Islamic tourism industry.

The research puts forward proposal that identifies and recognizes a more viable Islamic financing alternative as well as Shariah-compliant regulations to pioneer the development of Islamic tourism in Maldives. The research recommends how to overcome related challenges helps government understand the proposed strategies for establishing Islamic tourism industry.

The purpose of this paper is to address the confusing use of terminology associated with tourism undertaken by Muslims and to identify key concerns associated with this type of tourism.

This is an exploratory study and adopts a critical review of literature following the evolutionary concept analysis method. Content analysis of popular UK media, UK-based tour operators’ websites and tourism strategies of destinations popular with Muslim tourists were conducted to examine the use of terminology.

There is no clear difference between the various terms (halal, Muslim friendly, Islamic, etc.) used. Overall, academia uses the term Islamic tourism, while the industry and media use various terms. Among destinations, however, there is no clear and consistent use of terminology. A key concern of Islamic tourism is the role of certification in assuring travellers and the lack of standardisation of halal certification.

The paper is based on literature review and secondary data analysis. It lacks primary research.

This study highlights the need for consistent use of terminology across industry. Another implication is the issue surrounding halal certification of food and the importance of trust in the seller/service provide. Another trend that industry providers need to consider is the growth of the Muslim millennial traveller and the needs of this market segment.

The paper highlights the importance of studying the Muslim tourist market and provides a starting point for further research. It highlights several issues such as the need to develop a typology of Muslim tourists. Of particular interest is the concern whether halal values in danger of being commodified in the absence of a universal agreed criterion for halal certification.