CLEARING THE AIR ON MUSLIM-FRIENDLY TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip Haji Hasan, Director General of Islamic Tourism Centre explains about ITC’s roles and function during the filming of Persada Jurnal programme by JAKIM

PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA, 15 APRIL 2021: In TV JAKIM’s Persada Jurnal programme, aired on RTM TV1 11 April 2021, the Director-General of Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip Haji Hasan, was featured in a segment, defining Muslim-friendly tourism and hospitality while giving an overview of ITC and its roles, namely, research and training, capacity-building, and industry development.

Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip said: “With regards to Muslim-friendly tourism, what we are advocating for is all based on research. We make sure that our initiatives and course of actions are backed up by research, information and data.”

“Besides research, ITC is also focused on Muslim-friendly tourism development by providing training and capacity building. We need to provide this training and understanding (to industry players and all tourism stakeholders) of what it means to be Muslim-friendly. There’s just so much confusion about Islamic tourism packages, Muslim-friendly tourism packages, and the usual tourism packages.”

“With the right understanding of these concepts (and knowing the differences), only then can we properly and strongly brand ourselves. Only then can we truly understand how we can provide facilities and services for this market. For instance, the need to provide Muslim-friendly accommodations, Muslim-friendly rest or leisure facilities, Muslim-friendly theme parks, Muslim-friendly restaurants, etc. What defines a product or service as Muslim-friendly? Now that’s where ITC comes in and plays a role.”

In guiding tourism industry players towards understanding the Muslim tourist market, and thus, ensuring that their products and services meet the needs of the market, ITC realises that this responsibility is a heavy one. Hence support from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and tourism and hospitality industry players are necessary given that this niche segment of tourism is growing and gaining more attention with each passing day.

“Indeed, we realise the huge responsibility we are taking on, but our strength is that we are part of the government under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. We also see the  growing interest from industry players. We see that industry players are seeing the potential of this market, they are open to tapping into this market.”

Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip believes that there needs to be a strong branding for Muslim-friendly tourism and hospitality services in order for Malaysia to be a top-of-mind choice among Muslim travellers: “The Muslim-friendly branding can be a strong one but ITC cannot stand alone. We need the buy-in of the industry players.”

One of the ways ITC is establishing this branding is through its Muslim-friendly Accommodation Recognition (MFAR) programme. Recognising that Shariah-compliant accommodation is a vital feature in making Malaysia the top choice of destination in the minds of Muslim travellers, ITC developed the recognition programme in 2019 as a marketing tool for accommodation operators.

Catered to suit the growing demand of the Muslim travel market, MFAR consists of three categories of rating, namely, Silver, being the most basic, Gold, and the highest of all, Platinum.

“For the most basic rating (which is Silver MFAR), among the facilities or infrastructure that are necessary for qualification include direction of the qibla in hotel rooms, provision of Halal food and drinks, and signages indicating mosques and Halal restaurants,” Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip said.

He added: “For the next category, Gold – it involves an extension from the most basic (Silver MFAR) rating (requirements) such as swimming pools with a special time slot allocated for families and female guests.”

“For the highest category (Platinum MFAR), we consider it as almost completely Shariah-compliant, everything is in adherence to Shariah law. For instance, restaurants that are certified Halal by JAKIM or other relevant mandated authority, a big proportion of its staff being Muslims, and the existence of a staff who has been trained and certified as a Halal executive.”

There are currently 44 local and international brand hotels in Malaysia subscribed under ITC’s pilot MFAR programme. For the full list, visit https://mymuslimtrip.com/muslim-friendly-directory/ or scan the QR code below:

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Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) is an entity under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia tasked to develop the Islamic tourism segment for Malaysia. It advocates for Muslim-friendly tourism by offering research and market intelligence, training, industry development consultation, Muslim-friendly tourism and hospitality services standards and certification, and information exchange.

Malaysia was named top country in the region in Muslim-friendly tourism sector by the Global Islamic Economy Report (GIER) 2020/2021. The receipt of the award is added motivation for ITC to continue to strengthen its efforts in being a prime mover and leading institution to ensure Malaysia is at the forefront of Muslim-friendly tourism and hospitality (MFTH).

For further details, kindly contact:

Islamic Tourism Centre,
Level 13, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia
No. 2 Tower 1, Jalan P5/6,
Precinct 5, 62200 Putrajaya, Malaysia

Tel: 03-8891 7177 or via email itc@mymuslimtrip.com/v2