CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 27 (1): 729 - 745 (2019) SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES Journal homepage: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/ Review Article Halal Tourism: Literature Synthesis and Direction for Future Research Nur Sa’adah Muhamad1, Syahnaz Sulaiman2, Khairul Akmaliah Adham2 and Mohd Fuaad Said3* 1Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor 43600, Malaysia 2Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan 71800, Malaysia 3Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor 43400, Malaysia ABSTRACT Halal tourism, which arises from the growth in the number of Muslim travellers world-wide and the rapid development of halal industry, is defined as the engagement of any object or action by Muslim travellers that conforms to the Islamic teachings and facilitates the practice of the religion. As such, the application of halal concept in tourism, including in its development and marketing, must be guided by the Islamic principles. With the purpose to understand the current state of knowledge and practice, we reviewed the literature on halal tourism that has been published in high-tier academic journals. Based on the review, we identified the emergent themes and the knowledge gaps for future research. Among others, we found that the industry is booming with increased participations from Muslim- minority countries. However, there seems to be variations in the practice, perhaps due to the complexity of the market needs. The implementation of halal tourism by Muslim- minority countries is the most pressing issue due to the need to ensure that the process and the service offered strictly comply with the requirements of Islamic teachings, while at the same time, to ensure that the countries are able to develop their halal sectors into competitive industries. Understanding the implementation of halal tourism is an important agenda for future research to ensure that the service provided addresses the fundamental ARTICLE INFO Article history: issue of Muslims’ obligations to adhere to Received: 10 November 2017 Accepted: 02 August 2018 the Islamic teachings in all aspects of their Published: 25 March 2019 lives including while travelling. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Nur Sa’adah Muhamad) Keywords: Halal, halal implementation, halal tourism, [email protected] (Syahnaz Sulaiman) [email protected] (Khairul Akmaliah Adham) Islam, Muslim, tourism, tourist, traveller [email protected] (Mohd Fuaad Said) * Corresponding author ISSN: 0128-7702 e-ISSN 2231-8534 © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press Nur Sa’adah Muhamad, Syahnaz Sulaiman, Khairul Akmaliah Adham and Mohd Fuaad Said INTRODUCTION providing halal foods, halal accommodation Halal tourism is one of the latest trends and relevant logistics to cater to the that arises from the growth in the number requirements of Muslim travellers. Lately, of Muslim travellers world-wide and the several Muslim-minority economies, such rapid development of halal industry. Halal as Japan and New Zealand, have started to tourism is dubbed as ‘the new billion promote their own brand of halal tourism dollar travel trend’. Its market worldwide (Henderson, 2016b; Razzaq et al., 2016). is recorded to increase at the annual rate of Halal tourism, in this study, is defined 5%, which is more than the normal tourism as the use or engagement of any object or industry growth of 4% (Context Consulting, action by Muslim travellers that conforms 2016). In a report on the state of the global to the Islamic teachings and facilitate the Islamic Economy of 2014/2015, which was practice of the religion (based on Battour & produced by Thomson Reuters and Dinar Ismail, 2016; Davids, 2014). Halbase (2017) Standard, it had been indicated that Muslim described halal tourism as the providing of tourists worldwide spent 140 billion US services in term of tour packages and travel dollars in 2013, and this figure excluded destinations that met Muslims’ requirements the spending on the same year on Hajj and and preferences. These can include a) halal Umrah, which were valued at 16 billion food served in hotels or in-flight while US dollars. Moreover, the amounts spent traveling, b) halal accommodation in regard by the Muslims constitute 11.5 per cent of to food and drinks served during the stay at global expenditure. Halal tourism segment the hotels, c) halal logistics, which means is expected to be valued at 239 billion US foods that are properly prepared, stored and dollars by 2019, which represent 13 per delivered, d) halal spa, especially, in regard cent of global spending. These impressive to having separated rooms or facilities for figures influence more hotels and other male and female clients and being served service providers to announce new plans by the same gender, as well as e) Islamic and strategies to draw interest of the Muslim finance, in which traveling is funded by halal tourists to their Sharia-compliant hotels, or Sharia-compliant means. restaurants, spas and travel packages. Therefore, the development and In term of travel destinations for halal marketing of halal tourism services tourism, Turkey tops the list in the latest must be guided by the Islamic teachings Global Muslim Travel Index, with Malaysia and principles, covering all aspects of and the UAE in second and third places, tourism activities. This study addresses the respectively (Pillai, 2015). fundamental issue of Muslims’ obligations As halal themes begin to influence to follow the Islamic teachings in all tourism industry, both Muslim-majority aspects of their lives including while they and Muslim-minority countries are seeking are travelling. The concept of halal tourism to capture the Muslim tourist market by has also attracts the interest of scholars, 730 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 27 (1): 729 - 745 (2019) Halal Tourism: Literature Synthesis and Direction for Future Research particularly from mid-2000s onward. In the remaining 13 are empirical. Table 1 shows last 10 years the field continued to develop the summary of all the articles included in more rapidly. However, to date, there is still this review. a lack of comprehensive evaluation on the The number of empirical articles literature in the field. This study intends to that utilised qualitative methodology is fulfil this gap. eight, exceeding that of five articles that The objective of this study is to analyse used quantitative approach. Seven of the the current state of knowledge and practice empirical articles in our analysis dealt of halal tourism. In achieving this objective, with consumer issues (of which the unit we reviewed the extant literature on halal of analysis is the tourist), including those tourism that has been published in high- in the USA, Malaysia, Turkey, India and tier academic publications. We conducted Indonesia. These studies are consumer the literature search on the SCOPUS behaviour studies, which can be categorised database using keyword “halal tourism”. under the field of marketing. Six articles The database generated 44 articles on that examined the issues of halal tourism the topic. Specifically, we analysed these from the providers or related agencies articles based on the dimensions of type perspective were conducted in Morocco, of article, contexts and subjects of study, Tunisia, New Zealand, Italy and Thailand. field of discipline, and major findings and Four of these articles utilised marketing themes. This information serves as the basis management as the framework, while two of assessing the main focus of the studies articles on Thailand and New Zealand and their overall position and contribution utilised geography and tourism as the to the field of knowledge in halal tourism. framework, respectively. As a whole, the Based on this analysis, the emergent themes topic of halal tourism is mostly studied from on halal concept as they relate to tourism are the marketing perspective. discussed and the knowledge gap for future research is identified. Halal Tourism over the Years The rise in the number of published articles ANALYSIS OF PUBLISHED on halal tourism can be seen toward the late ARTICLES ON HALAL TOURISM 2000s. The main focus of discussion at that Our search on the SCOPUS database yielded time was the Shariah perspective on tourism a total return of 44 articles. We excluded (e.g. Battour et al., 2010; Bon & Hussain, 15 articles from the original list that are 2010). Battour et al. (2010) defined halal not relevant to our topic of interest, as well tourism and emphasized the importance as those that are works-in-progress and of awareness and observance of Shariah publications of proceedings. From the list rules in halal tourism implementation, of 29 articles included in our analysis, 16 while Bon and Hussain (2010) highlighted are conceptual or review papers while the that availability of halal food determined Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 27 (1): 729 - 745 (2019) 731 Nur Sa’adah Muhamad, Syahnaz Sulaiman, Khairul Akmaliah Adham and Mohd Fuaad Said the choice of destination for Muslim Africa, which is a Muslim-minority country. tourists. These two studies are followed Backed by the long history of the presence by qualitative inquiries by Battour et al. of Islam and the Muslim community in (2011) who studied Muslim foreign tourists South Africa, the author concluded that the in Malaysia, Kurokawa (2013) who studied Islamic culture in South Africa has evolved the branding of Chiang Mai for serving and shaped by the country’s internal and Muslim tourists, and Halkias et al. (2014) external circumstances and regarded as a who studied family firms that provided halal valuable national culture and heritage. In food in Italy. While Battour et al. (2010) was the same year, Medhekar and Haq (2014) concerned with Muslim providers serving reported their findings of a case study Muslim tourists, Kurokawa’s (2013) and conducted on Muslim patients seeking for Halkias et al.’s (2014) studies focused on Shariah-compliant treatment in India.