Debating Halal Tourism Between Values and Branding: A Case Study of Lombok, Indonesia
Abstract
This paper discusses the debate concerning the concept of “Halal” tourism by exploring the case of Lombok, Indonesia as a Halal tourist destination. Halal tourism has become a new trend in global tourism motivated by the growing number of Muslim travelers. This condition potentially brings substantial foreign earnings from tourism sector. Indonesia, as a country with the largest Muslim population in the world is also interested to follow the trend. In 2015, Lombok participated in the World Halal Tourism Summit held in Dubai and was awarded the “World Best Halal Tourist Destination” and the “World Best Halal Honeymoon Tourism.” This has motivated the local government to develop Halal tourism seriously. However, there is no concrete concept concerning the kind of Halal tourism to be developed. In the condition of “Halal tourism in the making” in Lombok, this research explores the available concept of Halal tourism in the literature, and tries to match the ideas with the practices of Halal tourism that is being developed in Lombok. This paper argues that Lombok tends to develop branding-based Halal tourism than value-based Halal tourism. Findings from the fieldwork research show that the success of Lombok to be acknowledged as Halal tourist destination is not yet followed by the development of tourism institutions and infrastructures, which are fully oriented toward Halal tourism according to Islamic values.
Keywords: Branding, Halal Tourism, Indonesia, Lombok, Values
References
[1] Dar H, Azmi N, Rahman R. Global Islamic finance report 2013. [Online] from http: //www.gifr.net/gifr_2013.htm (2013) [Accessed on 28 Mar 2017]
[2] Dinar Standard. Global Muslim lifestyle travel market 2012: Landscape & customer needs study. [Online] from http://www.dinarstandard.com/travel-study/ (2012) [Accessed on 28 Mar 2017]
[3] Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Major trends in the global islamic economy. [Online] from http://ehf.koreaexim.go.kr/File.down?file= /attach_file/bbs/BBS_2/%B5%CE%B9%D9%C0%CC_Major_Trends_in_the_Global_ Islamic_Economy.pdf (2014) [Accessed on 28 Mar 2017]
[4] Goeldner CR, Ritchie JRB. Tourism: Principles, practices, philosophies. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey; 2006. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/ Tourism-Principles-Philosophies-Charles-Goeldner/dp/1118071778
[5] Battour M, Ismail MN. Halal tourism: Concepts, practices, challenges and future. Tourism Management Perspectives 2015;19:150–154. http://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S2211973615000987?via%3Dihub
[6] Battour MM, Ismail MN, Battor M. The impact of destination attributes on Muslim tourist’s choice. International Journal of Tourism Research 2011; 13(6):527–540. http: //onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jtr.v13.6/issuetoc
[7] Aziz YA, Rahman AA, Hassan H, Hamid SH. Exploring the Islamic and Halal tourism definition. In: Innovation and best practices in hospitality and tourism research. Jamal SA, Radzi SM, Sumarjan N et al. CRC Press, London; 2016. http://www.worldcat.org/title/innovation-and-best-practices-in-hospitalityand-tourism research-proceedings-of-the-hospitality-tourism-conference-2015- melaka-malasia-2-3-november-2015/oclc/927159946
[8] Kamaruddin LM, Ismail HN. Muslim tourists’ typology in Malaysia: Perspectives and challenges. Tourism and Hospitality International Conference, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 23 Nov 2012. p.1–8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 303805265_Muslim_Tourists{%}27_Typology_in_Malaysia_Perspective_and_ Challenges
[9] Zamani-Farahani H, Henderson JC. Islamic tourism and managing tourism development in Islamic societies: The cases of Iran and Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Tourism Research 2010; 12(1):79–89. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10. 1002/jtr.v12:1/issuetoc
[10] Carboni M, Perelli C, Sistu G. Is Islamic tourism a viable option for Tunisian tourism? Insights from Djerba. Tourism Management Perspectives 2014;11:1–9. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22119736/11
[11] Islamic Tourism Centre of Malaysia. Introduction. [Online] from http://itc.gov. my/industry/introduction (2015) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[12] Kamali MH. Tourism and the Halal industry: A global shariah perspective. Global Islamic Tourism Organization and the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS), 12 Jul 2011. p.2–18. http:// www.iais.org.my/e/index.php/events-sp-1744003054/past-events/ 332-world-islamic-tourism-forum-2011.html
[13] Islam T, Chandrasekaran U. Halal marketing: Growing the pie. International Journal of Management Research and Review 2013; 3(12):3938–3948. https:// www.researchgate.net/profile/Uma_Chandrasekaran/publication/274067823_ HALAL_MARKETING_GROWING_THE_PIE/links/5513d0110cf283ee0834918b.pdf
[14] Salleh NZM, Hamid ABA, Hashim NH, Omain SZ. The practice of shariahcompliant hotel in Malaysia. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance 2014; 5(1):26–30. http://www.ijtef.org/index.php?m=content&c=index&a= show&catid=49&id=620
[15] Battour M, Ismail MN. Halal tourism: Concepts, practices, challenges and future. Tourism Management Perspectives 2015;19:150–154. http://www.sciencedirect. com/science/journal/22119736/19
[16] Battour MM, Ismail MN, Battor M. Toward a Halal tourism market. Tourism Analysis 2010; 15(4):461–470. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/8664/
[17] Shafaei F, Mohamed B. Malaysia’s branding as an Islamic tourism hub: An assessment. Malaysia Journal of Society and Space 2015; 11(1):97–106. http:// ejournal.ukm.my/gmjss/article/view/18433
[18] Ariffin AAM, Hasim MS. Marketing Malaysia to the Middle East tourists: Towards a preferred inter-regional destinations. International Journal of West Asian Studies 2009;1:39–53. http://ejournal.ukm.my/ijwas/article/view/14601
[19] Henderson J. Managing tourism and Islam in peninsular Malaysia. Tourism Management 2003; 24(4):447–456. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S0261517702001061
[20] Samori Z, Rahman FA. Towards the formation of shariah complaint hotel in Malaysia: An exploratory study on its opportunities and challenges. WEI International Academic Conference Proceedings, Istanbul; 2013. https://www.westeastinstitute. com/proceedings/2013-istanbul-presentations/
[21] Sripraset P, Chainin O, Rahman HA. Understanding behavior and needs of Halal tourism. Journal of Advanced Management Science 2014; 2(3):216–219. http:// www.joams.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=38&id=144
[22] Bangkok Post. The Halal dividend. [Online] from http://www.bangkokpost.com/ print/674992/ (2015) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[23] Fahmy M. Singapore gains Halal cred, top marks from Muslim tourists. [Online] from http://www.reuters.com/article/ travel-muslims-singapore-idUSL4N0W621620150304 (2015) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[24] Chan F. Singapore companies have the edge in Muslim tourism. [Online] from https://www.iesingapore.gov.sg/Partner-Singapore/Singapore IndustryCapabilities/Infrastructure-Hub/Singapore-Asia-s-Infrastructure Hub/Technicaland-Engineering-Services/Energy/Singapore-Sector Folder/SuccessStories/mc/News/2014/10/Singapore-companies-have-the-edge-in Muslimtourism (2014) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[25] Agence France-Presse. Singapore firm launches Halaltrip.com. [Online] from http://www.aquila-style.com/lifestyle/ singapore-firm-launches-Halaltrip-com/53367/ (2013) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[26] Agence France-Presse. Singapore firm launches mobile app for Halal foodies. [Online] from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2900052/ Singapore-firm-launches-mobile-app-Halal-foodies.html (2015) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[27] Antara News. Singapore to launch Halal travel guide book. [Online] from http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/99323/singapore-to-launch-Halal-travelguide-book (2015) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[28] Committee for Commercial and Economic Cooperation (COMCEC). Muslim friendly tourism: Developing and marketing MFT products and services in the OIC member countries. [Online] from (2016) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[29] MasterCard & CrescentRating. Global muslim travel index 2015. [Online] from https://newsroom.mastercard.com/mea/files/2015/03/GMTI_report_FINAL1. pdf (2015) [Accessed on 28 Mar 2017]
[30] Risen C. Re-branding America: Marketing gurus think they can help “reposition” the United States and save American foreign policy. [Online] from http://archive. boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2005/03/13/re_branding_america/ (2005) [Accessed 28 Mar 2017]
[31] Volcic Z, Andrejevic M. Nation branding in the era of commercial nationalism. International Journal of Communication 2011;5:596–618. http://ijoc.org/index. php/ijoc/article/view/849/544
[32] Taufan NI. Langkah pariwisata NTB menerobos pasar dunia [NTB’s steps in tourism to break through the world markets]. Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata NTB, Mataram; 2009. [in Bahasa Indonesia]. http://perpustakaan-seskoal.tnial. mil.id/index.php?ctn=YnVrdQ%3D%3D&id=18098/12