Study on Muslim Friendly Hotel in Malaysia: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

The tourism industry is one of the biggest economic drivers contributing to the world's economic advancement. The growth of Muslim travelers is a new emerging segment within the travel sector that affects the global tourism industry. Given the inherent strengths to cater to the Muslim travellers, Malaysia took this opportunity to gain a greater share of this growing segment and increase the overall tourist arrivals. Since Malaysia is a Muslim majority country and pioneer for the Halal industry, the increasing demand for Islamic products and services has led the hoteliers in Malaysia to provide more Islamic friendly hotel services to fulfil the Muslim tourists’ needs. However, it seems there are limited studies focusing on Muslim-friendly hotels, whereby in the past, most studies were focused on conventional hotel industry catering for travellers of different faiths. This study is very vital to promote a new field of Muslim-friendly tourism under the sector of faith travel. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a general framework in conceptualising the Muslim-friendly hotel in Malaysia that can be guided by the Islamic principles and teaching. The proposed framework may provide an insight into Muslim-friendly hotels in Malaysia by exploring the concept and the elements that enact the industry. The library research method was conducted to gather relevant information and materials on the subject matters to meet the objective of this study. This paper provides a new dimension to the hotel industry, specifically to the hoteliers, marketeers, businesses and other related agencies, by encouraging them to develop suitable products and services to cater to the needs of Muslim travellers. The outcome of this paper adds to the body of knowledge and may lead to new studies on the implementation of the Muslim-friendly hotel concept, elements and implementation in Malaysia.