Islamic Tourism stands for respect of local beliefs and traditions.

It brings back values to the

central stage and encourages understanding and dialogue between different nations and
civilizations in an attempt to find out about the background of different societies and
heritages.

Definition of Islamic Tourism:

Islamic Tourism is defined as promoting tourism of and to Islamic countries. There are those who
oppose it and there are those who suppose it. These issues were discussed at the International
Conference on Tourism in Islamic Countries, held in Tehran, Iran, on March 2007, and a number of
recommendations were accordingly made relating to Infrastructure Development Management,
Foreign Policy & Tourism Development, and Media & The Development of Tourism.

What is Islamic Tourism?

 
It is the religious tourism and visits to the holy places at the various seasons throughout the
year. Does this tourism mean Islamic Tourism?
 
The firm answer is yes, but Islamic tourism is much broader; one cannot determine it through
one or two concepts. It includes all kinds of family tourism that respects religious principals;
as well as tourism aiming at the discoveries of old civilizations and their heritage, visiting
cities and countries to come to know them, to rest, or for recreation and treatment.
 
This conception of tourism, one finds it, more or less, in certain paragraphs of the
“international Code of ethical tourism” adopted the 1/10/1999 by the world Tourism
Organization, which is an organization of the UN. Tourism from the Islamic point of view is
integrated in the global vision of civilized and interdependent tourism, whose principal bases
are:
 
1. Respect of the noble human values and ethics which preserves for the human being his
dignity and pride
 
2. Respect for the natural and societal environment
 
3. Support for social solidarity by taking care to profit the local populations from the tourist
activity
 
4. Making the effort to give the right of travel to all people by offering services at suitable
prices to all the social classes
 
5. Respect for the families of various religions and various people who want to preserve their
values and the education of their children
 
6. Respects for people who observe the Islamic values; those prohibiting certain things
permitted by certain societies which adopt the principles of freedom and democracy, without
limits nor regulations.
 
 
From this point of view, tourism, due to the opportunities it offers people of different
religions and cultures to come to know each other, can play a major role in bringing people
together, providing mutual understanding and peace between the people of the whole world,
and not only between its rich persons.
 
Islamic tourism can be described in economic, cultural and religious terms:
 
- As an economic concept, it aims at the expansion of tourism within the Muslim world,
developing new tourist destinations and strengthening institutional and governmental
cooperation inside the Muslim world.
 
- As a cultural concept, it focuses on Islamic topics in the organization of tourist programs
and presents Islamic heritage sites, which Muslim tourists can visit. Religious tourism and
“touristic” interpretations of pilgrimage also come under the cultural concept of Islamic
tourism.
 
- As a conservative religious concept, it aims at the adjustment of the tourist industries to the
fundamental interpretations of Islam, including gender-segregated and alcohol-free venues as
well as “Islamically” financed and organized tourism. This conception further aspires to
“Inter-Islamic Community Tourism.”
 
Discussions about the forms and goals of Islamic tourism had just started, when terrorist
attacks devastated New York and Washington. The predicted collapse of the tourist industry
in the Arab and Muslim world after 9/11 did not eventuate, but the global flow of tourists
changed dramatically; the number of visitors from North America, Europe and Japan to the
Arab world declined, whereas more and more Arab tourists spend their holidays in Arab and
Muslim countries: especially Lebanon, Syria, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
 
At the same time cultural tourism started to decline. The “traditional” cultural tourist
destinations, which were very popular among European and American visitors, were not
generally regarded as attractive by the average Arab tourist. This has resulted in a still
ongoing reorganization of tourist facilities to cater for increasing numbers of Arab and
Muslim tourists.
 
New programs for package tours - now including “second-rank” mosques, shrines and other
Islamic monuments - as well as Arab/Muslim-oriented marketing strategies have been
developed. Co-ordination of tourist policies among Arab states and between Arab and other
Muslim countries reached unprecedented levels.
 
The Islamic Tourism Ministers Conference has been held regularly since 2000 and the first
Arab World Travel and Tourism Exchange in Beirut in 2003 was an enormous success.
Requirements of Islamic Tourism
 
The answer to this question requires studies and analyses of this tourism, the roots of which
extend into many centuries. It needs also actions in order to raise the level of its activity so as
to increase the participation of all the social classes aspiring to the various types of ethical
tourism which conforms to the human values and manners in understanding between people
and nations. It also requires the construction of the infrastructures (means of transport, hotels
and restaurants) respecting ethics, manners of family and Islamic tourism values. It requires
finally the development of programmes of travel and visits to the areas which plan to promote
their multiple products in accordance with the principles stated above, particularly the holy
cities, sites, places and the religious, historical or different festivities.