Understanding Islamic (Halal) Tourism Through Leiper’s Tourism System

Abstract

The increasing number of Muslim tourist creates the necessity to understand of their needs and requirements when travelling. Despite this fact, efforts to explain Islamic tourism remain fragmented, with a distinct lack of theoretical underpinnings explaining this emerging phenomenon. This paper examines the concept of Islamic or halal tourism, based on the theory of Leiper’s Tourism System (1979), by exploring the pertinent and crucial elements within the constructs of the tourism system. This intimate understanding allows service providers and policy-makers to consider the issues and challenges embedded within the industry to make way for proper planning and developments to gain a portion of this lucrative market, especially with regards to the Islamic nations worldwide.