Title: Islamic spiritual tourism: an innovative marketing framework

Authors: Farooq Haq

Addresses: Canadian University of Dubai, P.O Box 117781, Dubai, UAE

Abstract: This conceptual paper presents an innovative marketing framework to recognise Islamic spiritual tourism as a significant type of Islamic tourism. The presentation of the theoretical conceptualisation of Islamic spiritual tourism is based on the study of literature and observations of innovative tourism business practices. The literature on Islamic, spiritual and innovative tourism marketing was reviewed. The innovative marketing framework suggests that Islamic spiritual tourism is a subset of Islamic and halal tourism, while pilgrimage and Muslim religious tourism are its subsets. This unique study emphasises upon the acceptance of the market for Islamic spiritual tourism that is a combination of religious travels among Muslims such as Hajj, Umrah, Rihla and Ziyara. Tourism marketers could focus on this niche market of Muslim spiritual tourists to design their innovative marketing strategies. An empirical study of attitudes and behaviour of Muslims engaged in Islamic spiritual tourism is a palpable future research direction.

Keywords: Islamic tourism; Islamic spiritual tourism; Islam; halal tourism; innovative marketing; segmentation; religious travels; Muslims; niche market; Muslim spiritual tourists.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEI.2013.059320

International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2013 Vol.2 No.5, pp.438 - 447

Received: 01 Oct 2013
Accepted: 01 Oct 2013
Published online: 29 Apr 2014 *

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