This chapter tries to contribute to the conceptualization of Halal tourism. For its reinforcement, a synthesis of the state of the art of the scientific research on this topic is included, mostly based on the papers contained in Web of Science and Scopus databases. In addition, in order to feed the conclusions, a consultation to international tourism experts was implemented to extract a better understanding of this phenomenon and a number of practical implications for the promotion and development of this market segment. Finally, the situation of Halal tourism in Spain is also presented, its importance and offer, a still very little explored niche within a very major tourism destination, and a country with a long history and an amazing heritage linked to Islamic culture.
TopIntroduction
When diving into this topic, the first problem a researcher finds is the confusion caused by a number of terms intended to designate the same concept (Islamic tourism, Sharia-compliant tourism, Halal tourism…), in addition to the lack of a single and shared interpretation on what Islam demands of tourism services in order to ensure its acceptance. As stated by Mazrui (1997, 118), ‘‘Islam is not just a religion and certainly not just a fundamentalist political movement. It is a culture or civilization, a way of life that varies from one Muslim country to another but is spirited by a common core’’. Taking, at least, this common core, this work will first of all try to make clear what Halal tourism is, as it seems to be the most appropriate term, having gained momentum among the experts in recent times. To do so, two lines of enquiry have been developed:
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A literature review on the scientific research on Halal tourism follows, based on the papers contained in Web of Science and Scopus databases.
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A tourism experts’ view of an exploratory nature, gathering primary data via an online questionnaire.
Secondly, the situation of Halal tourism in Spain is presented, a country and a major tourism destination with a long history and an amazing heritage linked to Islamic culture. Finally, some conclusions are synthesized.
TopConceptualization
To identify the phenomenon of tourism and hospitality services that adhere to the laws of Islam various designations have been used: ‘Halal tourism’, ‘Halal hospitality’, ‘Sharia tourism’, ‘Islamic tourism’ (Carboni, Perelli, & Sistu, 2014; Henderson, 2010). Therefore, it is quite evident in the literature that, around this concept, there is a lack of terminological consensus, which leads to a certain difficulty when trying to clarify and specify what is meant by Halal tourism.
Many nations, in the Islamic world and beyond, are capitalising on the rise in demand for Muslim-friendly tourist services (Pavlova, 2011). Henderson (2010) argues that the concept of ‘Islamic tourism’ is a recent one, although such a perspective is surprising given the significance attached to travel in Islam, both with regard to the duties of a Muslim with respect to pilgrimage as well as the importance that the Quran attaches to travel and knowledge of the world. Nevertheless, the terminology of ‘Halal tourism’ is even more recent in the academic literature, as will be shown later on. Prior to that, the common terminology was that of ‘Islamic tourism’.
There are definitional ambiguities about the terms ‘Halal tourism’ and ‘Islamic tourism’ (Hamza, Chouhoud, & Tantawi, 2012; Neveu, 2010), frequently used as synonyms; they commonly refer to travel undertaken by Muslims who seek to adhere to the faith's principles and practises when away from home (Carboni, Perelli, & Sistu, 2014; Henderson, 2009).
Nonetheless, confusion regarding the two terms exists. As a result both are often used interchangeably by researchers, which, for Battour & Ismail (2016), is questionable. In point of fact, a distinction can be made between the two terms. ‘Islamic tourism’ (some definitions are collected in El-Gohary, 2016) appears to primarily refer to travel undertaken for religious and pilgrimage purposes and is associated with acts of faith relating to the Islamic religion. The main example is the pilgrimage to Mecca. However, ‘Halal tourism’ is tourism undertaken for recreational, leisure and social purposes. They want to see the world, which is congruent with their faith as it is believed such travel enables them to better appreciate the wonders created by God. Although motivations for travelling are not necessarily spiritual, there is still a desire to behave in a manner deemed permissible, or Halal, in accordance with Sharia law. For this reason, in our view, the insertion of Halal tourism as a subcategory of religious tourism (as proposed, for instance, by El-Gohary, 2016) is not entirely accurate, at least from the point of view of the motivations for travelling, although Muslim travellers' behaviour is affected by their religion.