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International Journal of Accounting & Business Management

www.ftms.edu.my/journals/index.php/journals/ijabm

Vol. 3 (No.2), November , 2015

ISSN: 2289-4519 DOI: 10.24924/ijabm/2015.11/v3.iss2/133.144

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Conceptual Paper

Factors affecting Muslim Tourists Choice of Halal Concept Hotels and Satisfaction in Malaysia: Moderating effect of Religious Devotedness

Zubair Hassan

Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences International Islamic University , Malaysia

Zubai7@gmail.com

Abstract Key words: Islamic Tourism, Halal hotel, Satisfaction, and Religious devotedness 1. Introduction There are many researches done on Islamic Tourism around the world, especially on Malaysia. However only few or handful of studies focus on identifying and examining factors affecting the adoption of Islamic Hotels in Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of factors affecting the adoption of Islamic Hotels and its affects on tourist satisfaction and revisit intention According to the ASEAN Travel and Tourism competitiveness Report (2012) Malaysia is listed among the top 10 countries Malaysia where 25 million tourist visited Malaysia by the end of 2011 (BERNAMA, 2011). The below table shows the growth of tourist arrival on Malaysia from 2000 to 2013 indicating that Malaysia is one of the highly potential market for tourism in ASEAN market and around the world

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence Muslim Tourist preference

towards a Halal Concept Hotels in, particularly Malaysia. Based on the review of past

literature we found that there is very limited empirical research done to examine the factors

that affects the choice of Muslim Tourists decision to stay in Halal Concept Hotel. Numerous

researches based on Islamic tourism, Shariah Compliant Hotels or Tourism was examined to

identify the factors that influence Muslim Tourist preference and how it influences their

satisfaction. Based on the literature we found six variables that influence directly Muslim

Tourists preference of Halal Concept Hotels. These include availability and easy access to

Halal Food, Prayer facilities in the room and access to Masjids (mosques), Prohibition of

behaviours that violates General Islamic Moral behaviour, Muslim friendly tour packages-

which considers festive seasons, Religious affiliated sites and Religious devotedness towards

Islam. Past literature shows that these factors have direct or indirect influence on Muslims

Tourist Satisfaction. Also we concluded that selection and satisfaction of staying in Halal

Concept Hotel might be moderated by Religious devotedness of Muslim Tourist. Therefore a

survey must be conducted to collect Muslim Tourist perception on these factors to establish

the generated hypotheses. To do this a minimum of 500 Muslims tourists from Islam dominant

countries will ebb selected using Quota sampling.

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Since there are very few researches done on examining the determinants of customer preference towards Halal Hotel and how these factors influences the Muslim Tourists. The model we posited in here included religious devoutness as a moderating factor that influences Muslims to choice of Halal Hotel and satisfaction. Therefore the following research objectives are formulated

1. To examine the impact of Halal Food access and availability on Muslim tourists satisfaction

2. To examine the impact of Muslim Friendly Holiday packages on Muslims tourists satisfaction

3. To examine the impact of accessibility to prayer facilities on Muslims tourists satisfaction

4. To examine the impact of general Islamic morality practices on Muslims Tourists satisfaction

5. To examine the impact of accessibility to religious affiliated sites on Muslims tourists satisfaction

6. To examine the impact of religious devoutness on Tourists satisfaction 2. Literature Review Review of Islamic Tourism as a Concept Before begins to defining Islamic tourism or Halal Tourism, it is important to define tourism. One of the popular definition for tourism is proposed by WTO and define as “Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.” (Medlik, 2003). This means tourism has three basic aspects. These are the movement of people (demand side), industry or sector(supply side), interacting relationship s of people (Page and Connell, 2009, 65; Chadwick, 1994, 65). However when it comes to Islamic tourism /Halal Hotels, there are many ambiguities surrounding the concepts (Henderson, 2010). Henderson attempted to define the Islamic Tourism and distinguishes Islamic Tourism form Non Islamic Tourism and Un-islamic Tourism. Henderson (2009) argued that Islamic tourism is mainly conducted by Muslims. Although later Henderson (2010) defined Islamic tourism as an activity that all the marketing efforts and product development efforts are designed to attract Muslims only. However for some Muslim researchers define Islamic tourism as that strictly follows the Islamic values in their tourism activities(Hassan , 2007). According to Hassan (2004), Islamic tourism is a new ethical dimension of tourism and attempted to include as one dimension of ethics. Much emphasis on this, Ala-Hamarnesh(2011) argues that Islamic tourism is a conservative concept that emphasis on economic, cultural and religious form of tourism. In contrast Shakiry (2006) defined Islamic tourism as all forms of tourism except any tourism activity that is against Islamic values. This

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definition is considered more appropriate for Islamic Tourism. This definition becomes more acceptable among the researchers to draw a line between Islamic Tourism and general tourism. Therefore Islamic Tourism is an activity by Muslims for the purpose of relaxation and entertainment in hospitality organisation to attract Muslims to a particular destination by applying Islamic Principles (Dogan, 2010). Review of related Theories There are many theories that were proposed and discussed by various researches in the field of Islamic Tourism or Halal Tourism. One approach of examining what motivates or values drives Muslims to chose a particular destination. Many researchers attempted to apply motivational related theories to examine the choice of Muslim tourist. One of the widely discussed theory is Maslow’s motives model (1943), Plog(1974) and Pearce (1993). Maslow theory is cited in many travel and tourism literature such as Mill and Morrison (1998) focusing on the five needs such as physiological needs (relaxation), safety (security), belonging (love), Esteem (achievement), Self-actualization( be true to oneself) (Chan &Chang, 2008). Also many research focus on using Mill and Morrison (1998) model to examine the values and motives of tourists. According to Chan and Chang (2008) with reference to Mountinho (1987, cited in Chang and Chang 2008) the Maslow model indicate two key variables such as personality and habits. Also Mill and Morissison (1998) proposed several factors to determine the factors influencing tourist in choosing a particular destination such as motivations, perceptions, learning and attitudes; and these factors are influenced by personality, culture and society. Another group of researchers examine the travellers choice of a particular destination using values. This is another aspects of Islamic tourism. Some of the leading contributors on this area mainly focus on defining the behavours of tourists using transcend specific situations or evaluation of behaviour and events (Madrigal 1995).Rokeache’s value scale (RVS) is another instrument used by travel tourism researchers to examine the factors affecting travel tourism behaviour. Some of the variables include ambitious, broadminded, clean, loving, and polite. In terms of Islam, the Islamic values associated with Muslims are very important for those who really understand and practice Islam. Muslims endeavour to follow the path of ALLAH's, Sharia', derived from Qura'an and Hadith. According to Quran and Hadith, there are five basic obligations for Muslims and they are the belief in the oneness of God, praying five times a day, giving charity, fasting Ramadan and performing Hajj. Not only that Islam also emphasis on other values such as family, community, modesty and morality (Hodge, 2002). Similarly push and pull theory approach also tries to determine the factors that influences the travellers to choose a particular destination or a hotel (Battour, Ismail, and Battor, 20110; Kovjanic, 2014). Battour et al (2010 and 2014) mainly focus on Malaysia where the study emphasises on studying the pull and push motivators for the adoption of Islamic hotel or tourism services. This theory is very popular in tourism sector literature. Factors such as religions, regulations, and access to Mosque, prayer facilities presence of Azan announcements in public , halal issues dress code and displaying affecting are some of the pull factors (Battour et al 2010). Another popular theory used widely in Islamic and general tourism research to study customer behaviour and intensions is Brand Equity (Shafaei, 2015). Some of the related Islamic tourism factor are awareness about Islamic tourism and Halal hotels, image of Islamic destination such as Malaysia, perceived quality of Islamic/Halal Hotel and perceived value towards Islamic /Halal hotels being discussed and examined. Also some of the research on Islamic tourism and halal hotel have employed Theory of Leipers tourism system , which was published in 1979 to investigate the need and motives of Muslims travel journey such as spiritual, acquiring knowledge, leisure , financial and physical liability (Musa , Ali and Moghavvemi, n.d) Under this theoretical approach , they try to discover the factors that motivates Muslim tourist to adopt Halal Hotel including Halal Tour activities, Halal food, Islamic heritage in the country of destination, respecting Islamic values and Sharia Compliant hotel. (1 The Theory of planned behaviour and Congruent theory are also two popular theories in consumer behaviour studies. Similarly with the emergence of Islamic Tourism and Halal

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Concept, these both theories were being used to conduct research in understanding the reason for the adoption of Halal Hotel or Islamic tourism related service (Ab Rahman et al, 2011; Said and Hassan , 2014). Under Planned behaviour theory, factors such as attitude, religions and behaviour –where it was measured using level of knowledge, supplier and government support (Ab Rahman et al, 2011). While Congruent theory was used to study factors such as country of origin, consumer ethnocentrism and religiosity commitment/devotedness in adoption of a Halal Hotel(Islamic tourism). The table below shows the nature of the theoretical links with Islamic tourisms

Table 1: summary of Theoretical application in Islamic/Halal Tourism Authors Theory Islamic tourism related

factors Findings

Shafaei and Mohamaed (2013).

Push and Pull Motivators

Push Motivators: Relaxation, Spirituality, Family, Cultural, Activity, Knowledge, Loyalty and Economic Pull Motivators : Religious, Safety, Entertainment, Luxury and Local culture

The study showed that the push factor of Relaxation and the pull factor of Religion are the most important factors as perceived by Saudis.

Battour, Ismail and Battor (2010).

Push and Pull Motivators

Access to mosque, prayer facilities/room at tourism sites, Presence of loud public pronouncement of Azan Placement of Qibla stickers Provision of a copy of the Quran in hotel room Halal issues (food, alcoholic drinks, kitchen, gambling) Segregated services provided in hotels Islamic dress code Prostitutions, display of affection between sexes and general morality

The results show that mutual consensus is found regarding easy access to worship places (Masjid/prayer room), easy to find Halal food, availability of the Quran and the Qiblah direction pointer. Islamic toilets and Islamic entertainment were reported as highly prioritized tangible attributes

Shafaei (2015) Brand Equity Theory

Awareness about Islamic destination Image about Islamic destination Perceived quality of Islamic destination Perceived value about Islamic destination Loyalty towards Islamic destination

Results showed that all the five proposed hypotheses of the study were accepted. The strongest relationship was found between involvement and awareness, followed by involvement and quality, involvement and image, involvement and value, and involvement and loyalty.

Musa, Ali and Moghavvemi (n.d)

Theory of Leipers Tourism system

Travellers Generating region spiritual journey Spreading and acquiring

knowledge leisure motivation physical and financial

liability

To attract Muslim tourists, hotels and restaurants should serve halal meals, and managers should consider applying for halal certification, as this would instill

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Travelers destination region Sharia compliant hotel Halal Tour activities Halal food Attraction in Muslim

countries Respecting Islamic Manners

(dress code and behaviour)

confidence among Muslim tourists

Ab Rahman, Saleh , Ab Rahman and Hashim(2011)

Theory of planned Behaviour

Attitude subjective norm(Religion) behaviour(Lack of knowledge, Supplier and governance issues)

The finding shows that attitude and perceived behavioral control have significant relationship with behavior of non-compliance but subjective norm has no significant relationship with the behavior of non-compliance

Said and Hassan (2014)

Congruent Theory

country of origin Consumer ethnocentrism Religiosity commitment

Empirical research on Islamic/Halal Tourism Various researches were carried out to examine the Islamic concepts of tourism in Malaysia in terms of branding as a Islamic hub(Shafae and Mohammed, 2013), destination attributes of Muslims choice (Battour, Ismail, Battor, 2010, Battour and Ismail, 2014),demands and supply of Muslim tourism (COMCE, 2016), Muslims involvement in travelling to Islamic destination (Shafae, 2015), Islam and online imagery on Malaysian tourist destination websites (Hashim, Murphy and Hashim, 2007), Muslims tourist loyalty towards Islamic destination (Rahman, 2014),practice of Sharia compliant Hotels in Malaysia (Samori, and Rahman, 2013), attributes of destination influences Mulsim tourist motivation to visit Malaysia (Khan, Haque, Rahman, 2013), and factors motivates Muslim tourists to visits Malaysia (Kamaruddin and Ismail , 2012). Many other researchers have conducted similar researches among Muslim tourists around the world on similar areas examining the reasons for Mulims choices for a particular destination or hotel or reason for travelling. One of the key factor that influences Muslims choice is availability an convenience to access to Halal food (Shafaei and Mohammed, 2013; Battour et al, 2010; COMCE, 2016; Shafaei, 2015; Hashim et al, 2007; Idris and Wahab, 2015; Kovjanic, 2014; Musa et al, n.d; Rahman 2014; Salleh et al, 2014; Samori and Rahman, 2013). Availability and easy access to Halal food is considered to be one of the most important factors that influences Muslim tourist to chose a particular destination and its directly associates with satisfaction (Khan et al, 2013) and it is compulsory for more religious devoted Muslism tourists (Weidenfield and Ron, 2008; Kamaruddin and Ismail 2012) which influences satisfaction. Since Halal food is considered as one elements of quality of services provided by the hotels for the Muslims, service quality was found to have direct influence on tourists satisfaction (Khan et al, 2013). Shafaei and Mohammed (2013) found that access to Halal food influences Muslims tourists choice of Hotels in Malaysia, while Battour et al (2014) found easy to find Halal food plays an important role on Muslim Tourists’s choice of hotels. More religious devoted Muslims ensure that there are Halal food available everywhere in the country (A.M.T, 2015). Halal food availability and accessibility is considered to be one of the key Islamic attributes of Islamic tourist destination (Rahman ,2014). Such Islamic attributes of travel destination found to have significant influence on Muslims tourists satisfaction (Rahman 2014). Also Omar, Omar and karim (2014) found that there is significant relationship between Halal food availability and tourist choice of hotel and satisfaction. Therefore the following hypotheses are formulated H1: Availability and easy access to Halal Food positively influences tourist choice hotel and satisfaction

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Second most cited factor that influences the choice of Muslim tourists in choosing a hotel or tourism service is considered to be prayer facilities. Availability of prayer facilities in tourist spots and public premises are considered to be very important factors that influences Muslim tourists choice of country and in particular a hotel (Shafaei, and Mohammed, 2013; Rahman 2014;Samori and Rahman, 2013; Battour and Ismail, 2014). Some Muslim tourists prefer to have prayer facilities at room and at tourist sites(Battour et al, 2010; Rahman, 2014; Samori and Rahman, 2013) Also Qiblah direction should be indicated in the room or where prayer facilities are available (Battour et al 2010; Rahman 2014; Samori and Rahman, 2013; Weidenfeld and Ron, 2008 ). More religious devoted Muslims tourists prefer to stay in hotels where it is easy to access to Mosques so that they can hear the pronouncement of Azan from public Mosques (Battour et al, 2010). Prayer time indication and respect those times during the trip and in the Hotel is important for most of the Muslim tourists and it influences the choice of hotel (Hashim et al 2007). Qibla direction marks to Mecca, prayer mats and prayer beds are also important factors that influences Muslim tourist’s choice of hotels (Kovjanic, 2014). Islamic attributes such as Mosques accessibility, availability of prayer facilities, placement of Qibla direction has significant and positive impact on Muslim tourists satisfaction (Rahman 2014). Similarly Battour and Ismail (2014) found a significant and positive influence of worship or prayers facilities on satisfaction of Muslims tourist visited Malaysia. They also found religious devotedness moderates the relationship between pull motivators of Muslism tourist such as prayer facilities with Muslim tourists satisfaction. Therefore the second hypotheses should be H2: Availability and accessibility to Prayer facilities positively influences tourist choice hotel and satisfaction Third most important factor that influences Muslim tourists to choose a hotel is general Islamic morality related practices in the hotel or in the tourist sites or society (Battour et al, 2010; COMCE, 2008; Hashim et al, 2007; Idris and Wahab, 2015; Kovjanic, 2014; Razali et al, 2013; Salleh et al, 2014; Samori and Rahman, 2013; Battour and Ismail, 2014). One of the key factor that influences general Islamic morality is entertainments. Islamic entertainments were considered one of the important key prioritised tangible attributes that influences Muslim tourists choice of hotels or Sharia Compliant hotels in Malaysia (Battour et al 2010). Battour et al (2010) found more factors that influences general Islamic moral value of Muslims such as segregation of service provided by hotel to male and female, Islamic dress code, prostitutions, and displaying affection are considered by Muslim tourists. Muslims tourist are motivated to stay in hotels where there is no –non Halal activities or discouraged such activities and entertainments are carried out with privacy (COMCE, 2016). Dress code, conduct and non-Islamic conduct are considered to be key important factors considered by Muslim tourists visits Malaysia during festive seasons in choosing a hotel (Hashim et al, 2007). Non- use of alcohol and related drinks that might leads to misconduct or fornication were also found to be important factors for Muslim tourists (Idris and Wahab, 2015). Another factors that falls under general moral behaviour is dress code, which was found to be positively associated with Muslims tourists choice of Hotels (Idris and Wahab, 2013). Hashim et al (2007) found a positive relationship between Islamic moral values and Muslim tourist satisfaction. It was found that Muslim tourist with great religious devotedness prefer to stay in hotels that discourage or avoid missing both sexes in general and during recreation activities and associated with their satisfaction(Kovjanic, 2014). Also general Islamic morality has a significant ad positive influence on Muslim tourists satisfaction (Battour and Ismail, 2014). Also Muslims tourists prefer to stay at hotels where it is prohibits for unmarried couples to stay in one room, gambling , breaking fast during day light prohibits displaying affection and contacts with opposite sex (Ghadami, 2012). The third hypothesis is H3: The prohibition of activities that violates general morality of Muslims has positive impact on Mulism tourist choice of hotel and Satisfaction Muslim friendly holiday packages is found to have a significant impact on choice of hotels among the Muslim tourists (Shafaei and Mohammed, 2013; COMCEC, 2016; Idris and Wahab, 2015). ‘Muslim friendly’ holiday packages such as Ramadan, Eid-ul fitr and Qurban were considered as important factors that influences Muslim choice of hotel where they stay (Shafaei

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and Mohammed, 2013). According to COMCEC (2016), most of the Muslims tourists who visits Malaysia consider Ramadan service facilities are available or not before they choose a hotel if they are travelling during Ramadan season. Those Muslims who travelled to Malaysia considers Ramadan service and facilities available from the hotel before they book the room (COMCEC, 2016). Similarly Idris and Wahab (2015) also found Ramadan celebration or consideration by the hotel influences Muslims to choose a particular hotel during Ramadan. During Eid(Hari-raya), it was found more Islamic pictographic and narrative imagery was evident (Hashim et al 2007). Another aspect of Muslim friendly holiday package examine in the past was Halal tour activities (Musa et al, n.d) was found to have positive impact on Muslims tourist choice of hotels in Malaysia. High quality services are considered as important to create value for tourists which in turn leads to increases satisfaction and promote positive word of mouth or revisit intension (Zabkar el al. , 2010). Travel tips and guidance given to Muslims before and after they reach hotel is considered as important factors for Muslims in making a decision where to stay (Hashim et al, 2007) Islamic features such as consideration of festive season were found to have a moderating role in tourist satisfaction (Namin, 2013).Therefore it is assumed that Muslim friendly holiday packages offered by Hotels increases number of tourists stay in the hotel and also it increases the level of satisfaction(Khan et al 2013). Therefore fourth hypothesis is H4: Muslim friendly holiday packages available from the hotel has a positive impact on Muslim tourist choice of hotel and Satisfaction Lastly religious affiliated sites near hotel or as in the destination has a significant impact on Muslim tourist choice of travel destination and hotel (Shafaei, 2013; A.M.T, 2015; COMCEC, 2016; Hashim et al 2007; Musa et al, n.d; Kamarudin and Ismail, 2012; Poria et al, 2003; Weidenfeld and Ron, 2008). Rich Islamic artefacts around the hotel or travellers destination such as mosque, Islamic architectural beauty, and museums of Islamic arts (Shafaei and Mohammed, 2013) are consider important factors in choosing hotel. Religious and heritage travels are considered very common among the Muslism (COMCEC, 2016). Islamic arts and Architecture were found to have significant impact on Muslim tourists choice of Hotel and travel destination (Hashim et al, 2007). According to Musa et al (n.d) most of the Muslism travel to perform religious duty such a Hajj or any spiritual journey. Also attractions in Muslim countries were also found to play an important role in making a decision where to stay(Musa et al, n.d). This means that those Muslims who travel around the world, especially for religious motivation are very much concern about pleasure and blessing from Allah (God) and avoid wrong doings, and travel to those places to satisfy God and their recreations (Kamarudin et al, 2012). Also Muslim sites are considered as one of the key element for such religious based travellers (Weidenfeld and Ron, 2008). Therefore we hypothesis H5: Attractive religious sites or Islamic affiliated sites of destination attributes influence the choice of Hotel and Muslims tourist satisfaction It is important to note that the factors that influences Muslims tourists depends on the religious devotedness , which was found to have moderated effects on level of tourist satisfaction (Albughuli, 2011; A.M.T, 2015; Khan, et al, 2013; Poria et al, 2003; Omar et al, 2014; Ab Rahman et al, 2011; Said and Hassan, 2014; Shaari et al, 2013). Religiosity of the Muslims found to be one of the key moderating factor that influences Muslim tourist satisfaction (Albughuli, 2011). Also some studies found that Islamic elements such as religious awareness and religious commitment plays an important role moderating the level of satisfaction of Muslim tourists when Islamic attributes are evident in the hotel they stay(A.M.T, 2015). Similarly Khan found that religious motivation and service quality have a positive impact with tourist satisfaction on Islamic tourist destination. Also it was argued that actual relationship between a tourists religion and strength of belief need to be understood in relation to the site they visit (Poria et al, 2003). According to COMCEC(2015) Muslim travellers are divided into three categories namely Muslims whop practice , not practices and Muslims irregularly practices their religion. This means those who practices strictly their religion (considered very devoted) tends to have significant impact on Muslim tourists intention to consume Islamic attributed goods and services such as Halal Food(Omar, 2014). However, Ab Rahman et al (2011) found subjective norms such as religious devotedness has no significant impact on choice of Islamic hotel or

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Halal hotels. However Said and Hassan (2014), in contrast, argued that reigiousity commitment is congruent with what they buy and what they consume. This means that those who are more religiously devoted tend to be more satisfied with Halal concept hotels. Also Shaari et al (2013) found that religious devotedness has positive relation with Muslims tourist choice and satisfaction. Therefore we hypothesis that H6: Religious devotedness moderates Muslims Tourists choice of hotel and satisfaction. Therefore the following variables are being selected the study

Table 2: summary of past variables identified in past literature Halal Hotel

concept Related variables Sources

Halal Food Availability Salleh et al (2014) Easy Access Salleh et al (2014) Quality Khan et al (2013) Prohibition of Non-Halal Foods Idris and Wahab (2015) Halal certification COMCEC(2016)

Prayer facilities

Azan pronouncement in public Battour et al (2010) Qiblah direction Samori and Rahman (2013) Prayer facilities in the hotel and sites Rahman (2014) Prayer time indication Hashim et al (2007) Respect to prayer times COMCEC (2016) Easy access to Mosque Battour et al (2010)

General Islamic Morality

Entertainment activities Battour et al (2010) Segregation of service for Male and Female

Battour et al (2010)

Islamic dress code, Hashim et al (2007); Idris and Wahab (2013)

Displaying Affection Ghadami (2012) Mix of both sex Ghadami (2012) Prohibition of sharing room for unmarried couples

Ghadami (2012)

Prohibition of Drinking alcohol Idris and Wahab (2015), Muslims friendly Holiday Package

Festive seasons COMCEC (2016); Idris and Wahab (2015)

Halal Tour activities Musa et al (n.d) Breaks for prayers Zabkar el al. (2010); Musa et al

(n.d) Travel tips and Guidance Hashim et al (2007) Motive of Tour operator Khan et al (2013); Namin (2013)

Religious affiliated sites

Islamic artifacts Shafaei and Mohammed, (2013) Religious and heritage travels COMCEC(2016) Islamic arts and Architecture Hashim et al (2007) Museum to show Islamic culture Shafaei and Mohammed, (2013) Masjid(Mosque) which are very old or popular

Shafaei and Mohammed (2013)

Religious devotedness (moderator)

Religious awareness/knowledge A.M.T (2015) religious motivation and service quality

Khan et al (2011)

Strength of belief Poria et al (2003) Practice of Islam COMCEC(2016) Religious commitment Said and Hassan (2014)

Therefore we propose the following conceptual framework for this study

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Figure 1: Conceptual Framework Source: Author’s own development 3. Conclusion Islamic tourism and Shariáh compliant hotels or Halal Hotel concept have received lots of interest in travel tourism with the growth of Muslim population. The travellers from Middle east and other Muslim countries has indirectly and directly forced some of the leading tourism industries to consider what is Halal and Non-halal. Suppliers in the industry started promoting their hotels to attract Muslims signalling that they fully complies with religious needs of Muslims. Some of the factors that influences Muslims who really practices Islam and who really understand and wish to follow Islam, have been considered and their needs are being addressed by the tourism sector in the name of Islamic Tourism. The concept of Halal Hotel (services , financing and other activities design to attract and carried out comply with Islamic laws and regulations). Muslims tourist needs were being strictly addressed. However it is important to note that there is little or limited empirical research done to examine the factors affecting Muslims Tourist choices of hotel . In other word, what are the factors that influence Muslims Tourists preference of a Hotel or travel destination. Since Islamic tourism is about following all the Islamic rules and Shariáh in providing services that is more Halal in every aspects such as Halal Hotel. This means Halal food, prayer facilities, Muslim friendly tour packages, religious affiliated sites, and general morality. These factors seems directly influence Muslim tourists satisfaction. Reference Ab Rahman, I.N., Saleh, R., Ab Rahman, S and Hashim, D.M(2011) Factors Contributing to Non-Compliance of the Halal Standard among Restaurant Operators in Malaysia. 2011 2nd International Conference on Business, Economics and Tourism Management. IPEDR vol.24 (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore Albughuli, M(2011). Exploring Motivations and Values for Domestic Travel from an Islamic and Arab Standpoint The Case of Saudi Arabia. Master Thesis. University of Waterloo. Pp1-139 (ONLINE)

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