The international journal of tourism research tập 13, số 06, 2011 11 + 12

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
Published online 30 November 2010 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.818

Segmentation by Genres: the Case of the
Aardklop National Arts Festival
Martinette Kruger1,*, Melville Saayman1 and Suria Ellis2
Institute for Tourism and Leisure Studies, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
2
Statistical Consultation Service, North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

1

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to
distinguish between genre supporters and
non-genre supporters at the Aardklop
National Arts Festival. This was done to
determine genre supporters’ individual
needs and wants so that effective marketing
strategies can be developed and the festival
programme can be designed to attract more
genre supporters. Previous research
indicated that the future of festivals is
dependent on the number of show tickets
sold and festivals therefore need to attract
more genre supporters. To achieve this goal,
a questionnaire survey (N = 495) was
conducted, where afterwards independent

t-tests were used to determine the
differences between visitors who attend the
different ticketed shows/productions and
those who do not. Results showed that
genre attendees and non-attendees differ
significantly based on socio-demographic
and behaviour characteristics, which gave a
comprehensive profile of the two types of
visitors at the festival. This method proved
to be successful especially in increasing
ticket sales. Marketing and management
implications for effectively targeting genre
supporters were also indicated. Copyright ©
2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

*Correspondence to: M. Kruger, Institute for Tourism and
Leisure Studies, School for Business Management, NorthWest University (Potchefstroom Campus), Private Bag
X6001, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
E-mail:

Keywords: genre segmentation; t-test
analysis; festivals; market profile.
Received 4 November 2009; Revised 18 September 2010;
Accepted 11 October 2010

INTRODUCTION

T

he aim of this research is to determine

whether there are significant differences
between visitors who attend the different types of shows/productions (genres) at the
Aardklop National Arts Festival (hereafter
referred to as Aardklop) and those that do not.
This will be done for the following two reasons:
first, launched in 1998, Aardklop is one of three
largest South African arts festivals. It is held
annually in the town of Potchefstroom, situated in the North West Province. The aim of
the festival is preserving and enhancing the
Afrikaans language and culture, as well as to
meet the need for an arts festival in the northern part of the country (Van Heerden, 2003, pp.
11–12; Van Zyl and Strydom, 2007, p. 127).
Second, from an economic point of view, an
estimated 100 000 people visit the festival
annually over five days in September, generating over R46 million in 2008 for the region
(Kruger et al., 2008, p. 29).
According to Quinn (2006, p. 288), festivals
such as Aardklop can provide an effective
vehicle for sustainable tourism as it reduces
seasonality by extending the tourist season
(Nicholson and Pearce, 2000, p. 237). The latter
is especially important in a country such as
South Africa, where the growth and diversity
in festivals creates high levels of competition
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


512

M. Kruger, M. Saayman and S. Ellis

(Nicholson and Pearce, 2000). However, the
ticket sales in 2008 show a slight decline (see
Figure 1) compared with previous years, indicating that Aardklop is moving into the decline
phase of its product life cycle. This has a serious
impact on the future profitability and sustainability of festivals in the country (Le Grange,
2003, p. 56). Koc and Altinay (2007, p. 228), Lee
and Beeler (2009, p. 17) and Uys (2003, p. 13)
stated that developing and sustaining competitive advantage in competitive tourism
(festival) markets largely depends upon understanding visitors in terms of who buys what,
when, why, where and how through the process
of market segmentation. According to Kruger
(2009, p. 3), to sustain the nature of the festival
it is important to identify and attract the visitors who attend ticketed productions/shows
since these visitors stay longer and spend more
than those who do not (Thrane, 2002, p. 281;
Saayman and Saayman, 2006, p. 220; Kruger et
al., 2008). To achieve the aim of this research,
the article is structured in the following
manner: a literature review is followed by a
description of the survey and a discussion of
the results and, finally, the implications and the
conclusions.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Market segmentation is widely considered to
be at the very heart of marketing (Morgan and

Pritchard, 2001, p. 153) and an indication that
markets and the individuals who make up
such markets, are not homogenous and therefore, no single market offering will satisfy all

individuals (Cooper and Wahab, 2001, p. 88;
Dibb et al., 2001, p. 205; Fill, 2006`, p. 329; Cook
et al., 2010, p. 39; Tkaczynski and RundleThiele, 2010, p. 6). Morgan and Pritchard (2001,
p. 153) and Thompson and Schofield (2009, p.
1) add that market segmentation maximizes
market demand by directing marketing efforts
at what is regarded as economically significant
groups of visitors. Added benefits of market
segmentation include an ability to predict
visitor behaviour, an improved ability to identify and exploit new market opportunities for
commercial benefit, and more focused ideas
for product development (Heok et al., 1996;
Jang et al., 2002, p. 20; Middleton et al., 2009, p.
98). Segmentation further enables marketers to
avoid direct competition in an increasingly
crowded marketplace because it provides
opportunities to distinguish their particular
product (festival), perhaps on the basis of price,
but more often through styling, promotional
appeal and festival programme/packages
(Morgan and Pritchard, 2001, p. 153; Cook et
al., 2010, p. 40). The process therefore allows
for easier choices about the most appropriate
visitors to serve, and making the best of limited
resources (Dibb and Simkin, 2001, p. 609;
Hoyle, 2002, p. 178).

94000
92000

91156

90000

88567

TICKET SALES

88000
86000

85532

84000

84559

82655

82000

81022

80000

79530

78000
76000
74000

72000
2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

YEAR

Figure 1: Porduct lifecycle measured in ticket sales
Source: Kruger, Saayman & Saayman. 2008:26
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Segmentation by Genre
According to research undertaken by Mayfield and Crompton (1995), festival organizers
do not undertake thorough visitor-orientated
research, believing in their own ability to know
what their visitors want, or are lacking in the

resources to do research. Frisby and Getz (1989,
p. 7) warn that all tourism products, including
events/festivals, go through successive stages
of growth, and therefore their programme/
product must also respond to changes in
demand. It is, according to Mayfield and
Crompton (1995), crucial to know and understand the underlying desires of the visitors to
attend a festival or event, if the festival programme is to meet their needs and wants. With
market segmentation, changes can be determined and this will assist festival marketers
and organizers in selecting the right target
market and providing a relevant programme
(Jang et al., 2002, p. 19). The more detailed the
knowledge of each visitor, the closer the festival marketers can get to a customized offering
that creates greater satisfaction and long-term
visitor relationships (Ali-Knight et al., 2004, p.
136).
According to Jang et al. (2002, p. 19), one of
the most common ways of identifying the right
target market is to profile the segments of
the total market, as profiling helps by distinguishing the attitudes, behaviours, sociodemographics, travel planning patterns and
trip-related characteristics of travel market
segments. Researchers have experimented
with a wide range of market segmentation
applications in an effort to define or profile
their target markets (Hsu and Crotts, 2006, p.
280). The most popular variables or bases for
visitor segmentation include the geographic
(nations, states, provinces, regions, counties,
cities or neighbourhoods), demographic (age,
language, family size, family life cycle, gender,

religion, race, generation and nationality),
socio-economic (income, education, occupation, and social class), psychographics (psychological/personality traits, lifestyle, travel
motivation or values) and behavioural characteristics (occasions, benefits, user status, usage
rate, loyalty status, buyer readiness stage, attitude and visitor expenditure) (Mouthinho and
Witt, 1994, p. 306; Dibb and Simkin, 1996, p. 14;
Youell, 1996, p. 138; Kara and Kaynak, 1997, p.
873; Burke and Resnick, 2000, p. 41; Cooper
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

513
and Wahab, 2001, p. 89; Horner and Swarbrooke,
2001, p. 159; Armstrong and Kotler, 2005, p. 54;
Fill, 2006, p. 329; Hanlan et al., 2006, p. 17;
Bothma and Burgess, 2007, p. 37; Page and
Connell, 2009, pp. 94–97; Cook et al., 2010, pp.
38–44).
Although these variables have been recommended as viable segmentation bases, researchers seem to agree that there is no single ideal
segmentation base that fits every situation
(Jang et al., 2002, p. 367; Morrison, 2002).
Authors such as Morrison et al. (1996), Loker
and Perdue (1992) as well as Jang et al. (2002,
p. 367) have suggested that behaviour or
benefit segmentation is one of the best segmentation variables. The rationale behind this segmentation approach is that benefits sought by
visitors are the fundamental reasons for the
existence of true market segments and they
determine the visitor’s behaviour much more
accurately than do other descriptive variables
such as demographic and geographic characteristics. It is therefore suggested that behaviour segmentation is used in combination with
other socio-demographic and geographic variables. Frochot and Morrison (2000) and Ahmed
et al. (1998) furthermore argue that benefit segmentation is most helpful in designing and

modifying facilities and attractions, vacation
(festival) packaging, activity (festival) programming and service quality measurement.
One of the most important behaviours of festino’s is the number of tickets purchased as
well as the type of shows/productions (genres)
attended. The reason being that research by
Kruger (2009) and Kruger et al. (2009) revealed
that ticket sales and the genres attended can be
used as an indicator of visitor interest in a festival and how successfully the programme
addresses and fulfils visitors’ needs. Ticket
sales are also directly linked to the product life
cycle of the festival (as shown in Figure 1) and
are furthermore the festivals’ primary source
of income. Therefore, it is crucial for the festival to sustain its growth in ticket sales by
attracting more genre supporters since these
‘festival junkies’ seem to be the most viable
and profitable target market (Saayman and
Saayman, 2006, pp. 218–219; Kruger, 2009).
Based on this, Figure 2 illustrates that there
are two possible types of visitor attending the
festival: those that buy tickets (ticket show
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


514

M. Kruger, M. Saayman and S. Ellis
Event/ Arts Festival

Ticketed show visitors

Non-ticketed show visitors

Attend a variety of genres:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Drama
Dance theatre
Word art & Poetry
Children’s’ theatre
Theatre discussions
Music theatre & cabaret
Classical music
Choir & Ensemble
Rock
Visual arts & exhibitions
Comedy

Contributes highly to the
sustainability of the festival

Attend a smaller variety of
genres. Will mainly attend
(free) music shows

Small contribution to the
sustainability of the festival

Figure 2. Event/Arts festival markets

visitors) and those that only attend free shows
(non-ticket show visitors). The ticket show
visitors attend a variety of shows/productions
at the festival and therefore contribute greatly
to the sustainability of the festival. The nonticket show attendees, on the other hand, are
limited in terms of what is free — which are
mostly music shows. From a marketing point
of view, it is important for the festival marketers/organizers to keep the main aim of the
festival (to preserve and enhance the Afrikaans
language and culture) in mind when targeting
these visitors. Considering the latter as well as
the importance of increasing ticket sales, this
study has three research questions: (i) is there
a difference between the profiles of ticketed
show visitors and non-ticketed visitors; (ii)
what are the differences; and (iii) how does this
impact on the festival organizers?
METHOD OF RESEARCH
For the purpose of this article, the data obtained
in 2008 will be used. The method of research

used will be discussed under the following
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

headings: (i) the questionnaire and (ii) data
analysis.
The questionnaire
The questionnaire used to survey visitors to
Aardklop in 2008 consisted of four sections.
Section A captured demographic details
(gender, home language, age, occupation,
home province and preferred accommodation)
as well as spending behaviour (number of
persons paid for, length of stay and expenditure of visitors on different spending components). The spending questions were detailed
by spending category, including accommodation, shows, food and beverages, shopping,
recreation and transport. Section B captured all
the information with regard to the festival
(type of shows at the festival, the number of
tickets bought, other festivals attended and the
number of years attended), while Section C
focused on the visitors’ specific motivations for
attending Aardklop, as well as the preferred
type of accommodation and media. Similar to
the spending questions, the type of shows
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Segmentation by Genre
(genres) at the festival were also categorized
and included: drama, dance theatre, word art

and poetry, children’s theatre, theatre discussions, music theatre and cabaret, choir and
ensemble, rock, visual arts and exhibitions and
comedy. Section D measured the respondents’
evaluation of certain aspects of the festival. For
the purpose of this article, the information
obtained from sections A, B and C was predominantly used. In total, 495 questionnaires
were completed over a period of five days (30
September to 3 October 2008) by means of
availability sampling. According to Cooper
and Emory (1995, p. 207), for any population
of 100 000 (N), the recommended sample size
(S) is 384. Because a total of 55 518 visitor groups
attended Aardklop in 2008 (Kruger et al., 2008,
p. 27), the number of completed questionnaires
is greater than the required number of questionnaires. All questionnaires were completed
at the Main Festival Grounds and various
venues in Potchefstroom, where fieldworkers
moved around to minimize bias. Microsoft©
Excel© (Microsoft Office Professional by
Microsoft) was used for data capturing.
Most questions have multiple choice
responses or were answered on a five-point
Likert scale. The socio-demographic and
behavioural determinants used in the analysis
are described in Table 1. Section C of the questionnaire measured visitor’s motives to attend
Aardklop. Nineteen items were measured in
the motivation section on a five-point Likert
scale and respondents were asked to indicate
how important they considered each item on
the scale (1 = not at all important; 2 = less

important; 3 = important; 4 = very important;
and 5 = extremely important). The motivation
factors, as indicated by Kruger et al. (2009),
included in the t-test analysis are also displayed in Table 1 below. Factor scores were
calculated as the average of all items contributing to a specific factor, and results indicated
that Escape was the most important motive for
visitors to attend Aardklop. This was consistent with research done by Lee et al. (2004, p.
66) and De Guzman et al. (2006, p. 864–865).
This was followed by Festival productions/shows
and Festival attractiveness. Family togetherness
and Exploration received the lowest mean
scores and were therefore not central motives
to attend the festival (Kruger et al., 2009).
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

515
Statistical analysis
The analysis of data in this study consisted of
two stages. First, a general profile of visitors to
Aardklop was compiled with the help of SPSS
(SPSS Inc., 2007). Second, independent t-tests
were used to compare the mean scores between
visitors who attend ticketed productions/
shows and those who do not. Each genre was
compared separately to determine whether
there are statistically significant differences
between show attendees and non-show attendees in terms of demographical variables (age)
as well as behavioural variables (group size,
number of people paid for, length of stay,
number of tickets bought, free shows attended,

expenditure per person, other festivals
attended and travel motives, as indicated in
Table 1). Cohen’s d values were also calculated
as a measure of the effect size as this will
provide an indication of the magnitude of the
differences between the two groups. Guidelines for interpretation of the effect size are
d = 0.2 indicates a small effect, d = 0.5
indicates a medium effect and d = 0.8 indicates
a large effect (Steyn, 2009).
RESULTS
The results will be discussed in two sections.
First, an overview of the profile of visitors to
the Aardklop National Arts Festival will be
presented. Second, the results of the t-test will
be discussed separately for each genre.
Visitor profile to Aardklop National
Arts Festival
Based on the results captured and displayed in
Table 2, more visitors are female, predominantly Afrikaans-speaking, with an average
age of approximately 41 years and they originate mainly from Gauteng and North West
provinces. Furthermore, the largest group of
visitors are in a professional occupation; on
average, are financially responsible for approximately two persons during their visit and stay
an average of approximately three days and
three nights in Potchefstroom. Visitors purchase an average of five tickets and mostly
attend comedy, drama and music theatre and
cabaret productions. Visitors are loyal to the
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
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M. Kruger, M. Saayman and S. Ellis

Table 1. Questions used and their descriptions
Category
Socio-demographics
Behavioural
characteristics

Travel motives

Question description

Coding

Variable

Age
Group size
Number of people paid for
Number of days
Number of nights
Number of visits to KKNK
Number of free shows attended
Factor 1: Festival productions / shows
Quality productions
Variety of productions
Ticket prices are reasonable

Factor 2: Family togetherness
To the benefit of my children
To buy arts
To spend time with family
Factor 3: Exploration
To explore the environment
To meet new people
Aardklop is different to other festivals
Factor 4: Escape
To relax
To get away from my routine
To spend time with friends
Sociable festival
Factor 5: Festival attractiveness
To support the food stalls
To support the stalls
To see well-known performers
It is primarily an Afrikaans festival
It is an annual commitment
It is the closest festival for me

Open question
Open question
Open question
Open question
Open question
Open question
Open question
Five-point
Likert Scale

Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Years attended
Free shows
Festival
productions

Five-point
Likert Scale

Family
togetherness

Five-point
Likert Scale

Exploration

Five-point
Likert Scale

Escape

Five-point
Likert Scale

Festival
attractiveness

Table 2. Aardklop visitor profile 2008
Category
Gender
Home language
Age
Province of residence
Occupation
Number of tickets bough
Most popular shows attended
Number of days
Number of nights
Number of people paid for
Expenditure per group*
Number of visits to festival

Profile of visitors
Male 42%; Female 58%
Afrikaans (94%)
Average age: 41.56 years
Gauteng (43%) and North West (32%) Provinces
Professional (31%)
Average of 5.2 tickets
Comedy (48%); Drama (44%) and Music theatre and Cabaret (40%)
Average of 3.10 days in Potchefstroom
Average of 3.25 nights in Potchefstroom
Average of 2.31 persons
R2799.97

Average of 4.26 times

* Expenditure per group was calculated by adding the spending of the respondent on the various components asked, and
subtracting transport cost to the festival from the value obtained, since the inclusion of transport cost would automatically
cause a bias for visitors further away from Potchefstroom.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Segmentation by Genre

517

festival, indicating that they have visited Aardklop an average of four times.

on travel motives. Drama attendees are more
motivated by the Festival productions and are
therefore more likely to attend productions/
shows at the festival, while non-drama attendees are motivated more by Exploration. Drama
attendees also represent the second largest
group of respondents.

Results from the independent t-test
Independent t-tests were done for each genre
to determine whether there are significant
differences between the visitors who attend a
specific genre against those who do not.
The significant results for each genre will be

discussed separately in this section.

Dance theatre. Table 4 indicates that Dance
theatre attendees only differ significantly from
non-attendees based on their travel motives.
Similar to drama attendees, visitors who attend
dance theatre productions/shows are more
motivated by Festival productions at Aardklop.

Drama. As shown in Table 3, there is a significant difference between drama attendees and
non-drama attendees based on age, number of
days spent in Potchefstroom, number of tickets
bought, number of years attended, some of the
travel motives and spending per person.
Drama attendees are considerably older (an
average of 46 years) and purchase significantly
more tickets (an average of 8) compared with
non-drama attendees (who are an average of
38 years old and only buy an average of five
tickets). Furthermore, they stay longer at the
festival (an average of 3.3 days) and spend
noticeably more per person (R1674.71 compared with R944.37). It is also clear that attendees are loyal visitors and have attended the
festival an average of 4.6 times. Attendees and
non-attendees also differ significantly based

Word art and poetry. Word art and poetry attendees differ significantly from non-attendees
based on age, number of tickets bought,
number of years attended, some travel motives
and spending per person (see Table 5). Attendees are in their late 40s (average age of 49 years)
which is significantly older than non-attendees

who are in their early 40s. Significantly more
tickets are also purchased by attendees (an
average of 10 tickets) and it is therefore not
surprising that these visitors are mainly motivated by Festival productions. Attendees spend
more per person (an average of R1729.74) compared with non-attendees and have attended
the festival an average of six times. Compared

Table 3. t-Test results for drama
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

46.17
3.79
2.35
3.30
3.29
8.05
3.82
4.63
3.93
2.65
2.53
3.74
3.46
1674.71

13.61
3.40

1.43
1.43
1.50
7.11
3.52
3.00
0.79
1.17
1.05
0.96
0.90
1606.90

214
214
211
213
173
204
112
201
210
203
207
212
210
212

37.94
3.51

2.28
2.95
3.21
4.57
4.73
3.96
3.33
2.59
2.78
3.80
3.46
944.37

15.53
2.64
1.67
1.55
1.68
3.95
4.06
2.94
1.08
1.19
1.03
0.85
0.90
1044.88

272
273

268
275
180
171
182
252
270
265
266
274
274
268

6.12
1.06
0.49
2.57
0.46
5.71
−1.95
2.38
6.70
0.57
−2.60
−0.75
−0.02
6.01

0.0000*
0.2917

0.6247
0.0105*
0.6472
0.0000*
0.0524
0.0178*
0.0000*
0.5694
0.0095*
0.4551
0.9880
0.0000*

SD, standard deviation.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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M. Kruger, M. Saayman and S. Ellis

Table 4. t-Test results for dance theatre
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for

Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

39.62
3.57
2.15
3.33
3.30
7.52
3.93
4.98
4.08
2.88
2.88
3.94
3.67
1316.73

15.83
2.57
1.28
1.47
1.79
7.03
2.32
3.42
0.90
1.29
1.20
0.96
1.04
1081.03

55
54
54
54
46
52
30
49
52
51
53
54
52
54

41.81
3.64
2.33
3.07
3.24
6.30
4.43
4.17
3.53
2.59
2.64
3.75
3.43
1260.62

15.19
3.05
1.60
1.51
1.57
5.96
4.02
2.92
1.00
1.16
1.03
0.89
0.88
1403.68

431
433
425
434
307
323
264
404
428
417
420
432
432
426

−1.00
−0.15
−0.81
1.19
0.25
1.34
−0.67
1.79
3.72
1.66
1.54
1.47
1.79
0.28

0.3159
0.8796
0.4193
0.2327
0.8023
0.1821
0.5060
0.0739
0.0002*
0.0976
0.1232
0.1413
0.0737
0.7772

SD, standard deviation.

Table 5. t-Test results for word art and poetry
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Freeshows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

49.44
3.92
2.34
3.31
3.44
9.68
4.82
6.34
4.02
2.58
2.46
3.53
3.32
1729.74

13.52
3.44
1.74
1.26
1.39
7.14
4.94

3.00
0.68
1.19
1.11
1.12
0.82
1536.87

39
39
38
39
32
38
17
35
38
35
37
38
38
38

40.88
3.61
2.31
3.08
3.23
6.10
4.35

4.09
3.56
2.62
2.69
3.79
3.47
1227.15

15.22
2.96
1.56
1.53
1.62
5.90
3.82
2.92
1.02
1.18
1.04
0.88
0.91
1349.59

447
448
441
449
321
337
277

418
442
433
436
448
446
442

3.40
0.63
0.13
0.89
0.70
3.47
0.48
4.39
2.73
−0.19
−1.28
−1.74
−0.97
2.18

0.0007*
0.5285
0.8992
0.3756
0.4849
0.0006*
0.6290

0.0000*
0.0066*
0.8507
0.2010
0.0823
0.3337
0.0299*

SD, standard deviation.

with the other genres, word art and poetry
attendees have attended the festival the longest
and are therefore Aardklop’s most loyal
visitors.
Children’s theatre. Table 6 shows that there is a
significant difference between Children’s
theatre attendees and non-attendees based on
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

the number of people paid for and travel
motives. Attendees pay on average for more
people during their stay (an average of three
persons compared with two) as they most
likely travel with children to the festival. It is
therefore not surprising that these visitors are
more motivated by Family togetherness. Children’s theatre attendees also represent the
smallest group of attendees.
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
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519

Table 6. t-Test results for children’s theatre
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Freeshows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

40.66
3.65
3.06
3.37
3.21
7.19
3.54
4.66
3.87
3.43
2.70
3.87
3.48
1084.02

14.06
1.25
1.26
1.35

1.27
7.85
2.11
3.07
0.73
1.13
1.27
0.88
1.01
969.16

29
31
31
30
19
31
24
29
29
29
29
30
30
31

41.62
3.63
2.26
3.09

3.25
6.40
4.46
4.23
3.58
2.56
2.67
3.77
3.46
1279.56

15.35
3.08
1.58
1.52
1.61
5.95
4.00
2.98
1.02
1.17
1.03
0.90
0.89
1393.69

457
456
448
458

334
344
270
424
451
439
444
456
454
449

−0.33
0.02
2.78
0.99
−0.11
0.69
−1.11
0.74
1.52
3.86
0.16
0.62
0.12
−0.77

0.7413
0.9806
0.0057
0.3218

0.9135
0.4910
0.2698
0.4620
0.1292
0.0001
0.8743
0.5366
0.9041
0.4428

SD, standard deviation.

Table 7. t-Test results for theatre discussions
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

48.12
3.48
2.53
3.48
3.33
7.33
5.86
4.55
3.96
2.86
2.87

3.81
3.53
1543.50

14.04
2.43
1.95
1.28
1.56
6.36
4.50
3.02
1.04
1.37
1.17
1.11
1.04
1105.54

34
33
32
33
30
33
21
31
34
33
34

34
34
32

41.07
3.64
2.30
3.07
3.24
6.38
4.27
4.24
3.56
2.60
2.66
3.77
3.46
1247.18

15.25
3.04
1.54
1.52
1.60
6.10
3.82
2.98
1.00
1.17
1.04

0.88
0.89
1386.22

452
454
447
455
323
342
273
422
446
435
439
452
450
448

2.61
−0.29
0.82
1.51
0.30
0.85
1.82
0.56
2.22
1.24
1.13

0.24
0.45
1.18

0.0093*
0.7700
0.4126
0.1311
0.7634
0.3954
0.0705
0.5782
0.0269*
0.2141
0.2574
0.8094
0.6521
0.2377

SD, standard deviation.

Theatre discussions. Based on the results reflected
in Table 7, theatre discussion attendees are in
their late 40s (average age of 48 years) which
is significantly older than non-attendees
(average age of 41 years) and are more motivated by Festival productions.
Music theatre and cabaret. Music theatre and
cabaret attendees are older (average age of 45
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

years) than non-attendees, who are in their
late 30s, and spend more days at the festival
(an average of 3.3 days) (see Table 8). Attendees purchase more tickets for productions/
shows (an average of eight) and are therefore
more motivated by Festival productions. As
a result, attendees spend significantly more
per person (an average of R1635.58) than
non-attendees.
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
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520

M. Kruger, M. Saayman and S. Ellis

Table 8. t-Test results for music theatre and cabaret
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration

Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

45.39
3.67
2.29
3.33
3.24
7.68
4.62
4.56

3.89
2.58
2.57
3.79
3.47
1635.58

14.47
2.49
1.67
1.37
1.46
6.84
4.59
3.12
0.81
1.15
1.06
0.87
0.89
1546.66

191
193
188
192
156
185
112
178

193
183
184
191
189
189

39.09
3.61
2.32
2.95
3.26
5.29
4.24
4.07
3.39
2.64
2.73
3.77
3.46
1027.51

15.27
3.29
1.51
1.57
1.70
5.08
3.38
2.88

1.07
1.20
1.04
0.92
0.91
1185.22

295
294
291
296
197
190
182
275
287
285
289
295
295
291

4.53
0.21
−0.21
2.75
−0.13
3.84
0.81
1.73

5.54
−0.52
−1.62
0.25
0.15
4.86

0.0000
0.8305
0.8361
0.0063
0.8992
0.0001
0.4162
0.0837
0.0000
0.6060
0.1053
0.8017
0.8809
0.0000

SD, standard deviation.

Table 9. t-Test results for classical music
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for

Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

50.87
3.16
2.35
3.46
3.49
10.47
4.90
5.58
3.97
2.70
2.49
3.64
3.52
1860.02

14.38
1.93
1.31
1.36
1.55
9.54
5.15
3.40
0.83
1.23
1.15
0.94
0.88
1820.40

62
62
60
61
51
57
30
57
61
59
60
61
61
60

40.20
3.70
2.31
3.05
3.21
5.75
4.32
4.07
3.54
2.61
2.70
3.79
3.45
1182.21

14.92
3.12
1.61
1.52
1.60
4.98
3.72
2.87
1.02
1.17
1.03
0.89
0.90
1273.78

424
425
419
427
302
318
264
396
419
409
413
425
423
420

5.28
−1.33
0.20
1.98
1.17
5.58
0.77
3.62
3.16
0.56
−1.47
−1.22
0.55
3.63

0.0000
0.1856
0.8377
0.0480
0.2443
0.0000
0.4406
0.0003
0.0017
0.5757
0.1435
0.2235
0.5852
0.0003

SD, standard deviation.

Classical music. As shown in Table 9, Classical
music attendees are the oldest visitors at the
festival (average age of 51 years) and purchase
the most tickets (average of 10). These loyal
visitors have attended the festival an average
of six times and stay longer at the festival than
non-attendees who are younger, purchase significantly fewer tickets and stay fewer days.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Similar to other genre supporters, classical
music attendees are also more motivated by
Festival productions and therefore also spent
significantly more per person (R1860.02) than
non-attendees.
Choir and ensemble. Similar to classical music
attendees, visitors who attend choir and
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
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521

Table 10. t-Test results for choir and ensemble
Attendees
Variables
Age

Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

50.22
2.94
1.94
3.69
3.42
10.12
4.24
5.72
3.96
2.67
2.58
3.80
3.66
1662.61

17.61
1.63
1.21
1.18
1.32
10.13
5.23
3.46
0.85
1.26
1.23
0.88
0.85

1140.82

36
35
35
35
33
34
17
32
35
35
36
36
36
35

40.90
3.68
2.33
3.06
3.23
6.11
4.39
4.15
3.56
2.61
2.68
3.77
3.44

1235.49

14.87
3.08
1.59
1.52
1.62
5.47
3.80
2.92
1.01
1.18
1.03
0.90
0.90
1384.60

449
451
443
452
319
340
276
420
444
432
436
449
447

444

3.57
−1.41
−1.42
2.39
0.66
3.70
−0.16
2.89
2.25
0.29
−0.53
0.20
1.42
1.78

0.0004
0.1601
0.1556
0.0174
0.5113
0.0002
0.8698
0.0040
0.0247
0.7719
0.5986
0.8430
0.1565

0.0761

SD, standard deviation.

Table 11. t-Test results for rock
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

Effect size

31.32
3.63
2.28
3.59
3.48
6.01
5.05
4.05
3.60
2.38
2.80
3.83
3.35
1303.82

12.52
2.72
1.81

1.29
1.45
6.61
3.79
2.97
1.07
1.19
0.99
0.94
0.94
1220.63

94
91
90
93
81
87
58
83
93
91
92
93
92
90

44.02
3.63
2.32

2.99
3.18
6.60
4.22
4.31
3.59
2.67
2.64
3.76
3.49
1258.42

14.84
3.06
1.51
1.53
1.63
5.98
3.90
2.99
0.99
1.17
1.06
0.89
0.89
1403.92

392
396
389

395
272
288
236
370
387
377
381
393
392
390

−7.67
−0.02
−0.22
3.52
1.49
−0.79
1.47
−0.72
0.06
−2.15
1.32
0.66
−1.36
0.28

0.0000
0.9829
0.8238

0.0005
0.1359
0.4297
0.1422
0.4737
0.9503
0.0320
0.1872
0.5127
0.1739
0.7773

−0.86
0.00
−0.02
0.39
0.18
−0.09
0.21
−0.09
0.01
−0.25
0.15
0.07
−0.15
0.03

SD, standard deviation.

ensemble productions (Table 10) are the oldest

visitors at Aardklop (average age of 50 years),
purchase an average of 10 tickets, have visited
the festival an average of six times and are
more motivated by Festival productions. Nonattendees are also very similar to the non-classical music attendees based on their age,
number of days spent at the festival, number
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

of tickets bought, years attended and motivation (see Table 9).
Rock. As indicated in Table 11, rock attendees
are the youngest visitors at the festival (average
age of 31 years). Their younger age could
be explained by the fact that these visitors
are mostly students and, compared with
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
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522

M. Kruger, M. Saayman and S. Ellis

non-attendees, these visitors stay longer at the
festival (an average of four days) and are
unsurprisingly motivated less by Family
togetherness.

Attendees purchase on average more tickets
(eight compared with six) and have attended
Aardklop more often (an average of six times
compared with four times).

Visual arts and exhibitions. Visual arts and
exhibition attendees differ significantly from
non-attendees based on the number of
tickets bought and years attended (Table 12).

Comedy. Based on the results depicted in Table
13, comedy attendees represent the largest
group of attendees, spend more days at the festival, and purchase significantly more tickets

Table 12. t-Test results for visual arts and exhibitions
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

Effect size

42.00
4.06
2.31
3.49
3.69
8.10
5.17
5.74
3.69
2.67
2.65
3.70

3.26
1559.98

15.08
2.73
1.43
1.50
1.64
8.12
4.86
3.35
0.93
1.03
1.08
1.00
0.92
1378.60

50
50
49
51
39
49
30
46
50
50
50
51

51
49

41.51
3.58
2.31
3.06
3.19
6.22
4.29
4.09
3.58
2.61
2.67
3.78
3.48
1233.62

15.30
3.03
1.59
1.50
1.58
5.74
3.76
2.90
1.02
1.20
1.05
0.89

0.90
1367.02

436
437
430
437
314
326
264
407
430
418
423
435
433
431

0.21
1.06
−0.02
1.95
1.84
2.01
1.17
3.59
0.72
0.33
−0.13
−0.64

−1.69
1.58

0.8313
0.2876
0.9815
0.0520
0.0659
0.0449
0.2427
0.0004
0.4710
0.7382
0.8985
0.5220
0.0923
0.1143

0.03
0.16
0.00
0.29
0.30
0.23
0.18
0.49
0.11
0.05
−0.02
−0.09

−0.24
0.24

SD, standard deviation.

Table 13. t-Test results for comedy
Attendees
Variables
Age
Group size
People paid for
Days
Nights
Tickets
Free shows
Years attended
Festival productions
Family togetherness
Exploration
Escape
Festival attractiveness
Spending per person

Non-attendees

Mean

SD

n

Mean

SD

n

t-value

p

Effect size

42.42
3.75
2.33
3.29
3.13
7.81
4.44
4.55
3.85
2.63
2.55
3.77
3.45
1577.53

14.53
3.32

1.46
1.28
1.43
6.88
4.00
3.02
0.86
1.16
1.08
0.88
0.91
1256.39

232
235
230
235
188
227
140
216
232
225
227
232
232
230

40.78
3.52

2.29
2.93
3.38
4.41
4.33
4.00
3.35
2.60
2.78
3.77
3.47
981.19

15.89
2.67
1.67
1.67
1.76
3.94
3.78
2.93
1.07
1.20
1.00
0.92
0.89
1410.49

254
252

249
253
165
148
154
237
248
243
246
254
252
250

1.19
0.83
0.26
2.66
−1.46
5.46
0.23
1.98
5.68
0.23
−2.39
0.03
−0.19
4.87

0.2362
0.4082

0.7958
0.0081
0.1440
0.0000
0.8181
0.0478
0.0000
0.8162
0.0175
0.9780
0.8462
0.0000

0.10
0.07
0.02
0.22
−0.14
0.49
0.03
0.18
0.47
0.02
−0.21
0.00
−0.02
0.42

SD, standard deviation.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Segmentation by Genre
(an average of eight compared with four).
Attendees have attended Aardklop more times
and spend significantly more per person than
non-attendees. As expected, attendees are motivated more by Festival production, while nonattendees are encouraged more by Exploration.
FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS
The results from this study indicate that there
are clear differences between genre attendees
and non-attendees at Aardklop. These differences are mostly based on socio-demographic
and behavioural characteristics which give a
comprehensive profile of the two types of visitors at the festival. In general, genre attendees
are older and characterized by purchasing
tickets for a variety of shows/productions at
the festival with drama, comedies, and music
theatre and cabaret being the most popular
genres. As expected, genre attendees also
spend more days at the festival and, as a result,
spend significantly more money during the
festival. These visitors are also loyal visitors
who have attended Aardklop more often and
are thus mainly motivated by the Festival productions. It is interesting to note that classical
music, choir and ensemble, and word-art and
poetry attendees seem to be Aardklop’s most
ardent genre supporters — even though these
genres attract a small number of visitors. This

result is surprising, as these types of genres are
not main elements in the festival programme
and rarely feature mainstream and contemporary artists or are included in marketing efforts.
Non-genre attendees, on the other hand, are
characterized by their younger age, shorter
stays, fewer years attended, fewer tickets purchased and lower spending.
This information provides useful insights
into the profiles of the different genre attendees at the festival. Based on this, the following
important marketing implications can be
identified:
First, from a marketing and sustainability
point of view, Aardklop’s marketers and organizers should focus their marketing efforts on
attracting and retaining more genre supporters
as this will ensure that the festival grows in
visitor numbers (especially loyal visitors) and,
at the same time, gain a competitive
advantage.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

523
Second, Aardklop needs to increase its ticket
sales and this can be achieved on two levels:
(i) in accordance with the first implication, the
festival must attract more genre attendees; and
(ii) Aardklop needs to convince non-attendees
to purchase tickets supporting the festivals
shows/productions. Genre attendees are
mainly motivated by Festival productions which
cover the variety, quality and affordability of
genres. These aspects should therefore be

incorporated into marketing efforts to encourage visitors to purchase more tickets. The different genres at the festival should furthermore
be more visible in marketing efforts, and
award-winning, exclusive and popular productions should be the prominent features. To
encourage non-attendees to purchase tickets,
these aspects should be combined with the
motive Escape, as this will promote the festival
as an all-inclusive package. Because nonattendees are mainly motivated by the free
shows and socialization at the festival, Aardklop’s marketers/organizers could also consider special festival packages, which include
discounts on food and beverage items if, for
example, three or more tickets are purchased.
Third, the length of stay of both the genre
attendees and non-attendees needs to be
increased. This can be achieved with special
festival packages that include local attractions
and discounts for ticket prices and accommodation. This will not only entice visitors to
spend more days at the festival but also to
attend more ticketed shows/productions.
Lastly, genre attendees are already in their late
40s and early 50s and this has serious implications for the future sustainability of the festival. Therefore, younger visitors need to be
attracted to the festival and should be targeted
with a customized festival programme which
incorporates the different types of shows/productions together with the unique theme and
vibe of the festival. Aardklop could also consider more shows/productions aimed at the
youth: for example, productions from different
universities and schools as well as popular
rock and contemporary music artists. The
attendance at these shows could be linked to a
competition held during the festival, where
young visitors who attend these shows/productions stand a chance to win various prizes
such as free tickets, free merchandize, and

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 511–526 (2011)
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524
backstage passes to name but a few. This will
encourage younger visitors to attend more
shows/productions during the festival.
CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this article was to determine
whether there are significant differences
between genre and non-genre attendees at
Aardklop. This was the first time that visitors
were segmented based on the type of genre
attended at a national arts festival in South
Africa. From a methodological point of view,
the results indicated that this type of segmentation can be successfully applied to arts festivals. In fact, this method is the only type of
segmentation that effectively distinguishes different markets based on attendance of different
genres and is thus invaluable for future
researchers to apply to other festivals and
events. From the research, the following advantages of this type of segmentation are as
follows:
(1) This approach separately profiles each
genre and non-genre attendee at the festival, allowing festival organizers to customize the festival programme to attract
more genre attendees and encourage nonattendees to support the ticketed shows/
productions. For example, the results show
that classical music, choir and ensemble,
and word art and poetry supporters purchase the most tickets at the festival and,
as a result, are also the highest spenders at
the festival. However, the current festival

programme only offers limited productions of these genres. As a result, only a
small number of visitors support these
genres. Festival organizers view these
small attendance figures as a lack of interest in these genres and therefore do not
include them as main features in the festival programme. Because of this, the festival loses out on potential ticket sales.
Results from this study clearly show that
Aardklop’s festival programme should
include more of these types of shows/productions, as they are supported by the high
spenders and visitors who attend the festival for the arts. This will not only result in
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. Kruger, M. Saayman and S. Ellis
a greater economic impact of the festival
but will allow Aardklop to stay true to its
main aim i.e., preserving and enhancing
the Afrikaans language and culture.
(2) Potential festival markets can therefore
also be identified more easily, and possible
gaps in the festival programme can be
determined as mentioned above.
The aforementioned will ultimately lead to
an increase in overall ticket sales and result in
a more competitive and sustainable festival.
This research therefore emphasizes the importance of market segmentation, especially its
continuous implementation. This type of segmentation research should also be applied to
other arts festivals in the country to compare
results and to expand the body of knowledge.
It is furthermore recommended that a cluster
analysis is preformed to enhance the understanding of the profile of genre attendees.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)
Published online 5 December 2010 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.824

The Impact of Destination Attributes on
Muslim Tourist’s Choice
Mohamed Battour1,*, Mohd Nazari Ismail1 and Moustafa Battor2
Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2
Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

1

ABSTRACT
The success of marketing destinations for
Muslim tourists could be guided by
observing Islamic teachings in tourism
activities. This study is a trial to explore
which Islamic attributes of destinations
could be used a base for tailoring Halal
tourist packages. Qualitative data were
collected by conducting two focus group
discussions and fifty three interviews in
Malaysia. Two major aspects are identified
which may attract Muslim tourists. Some
suggestions are also presented to satisfy
Muslim tourists. Copyright © 2010 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keywords: Islamic attributes; destination
marketing; Muslim tourist; Islamic tourism.
Received 2 March 2010; Revised 26 October 2010; Accepted 3
November 2010

INTRODUCTION

L

iterature on tourism and destination

marketing research is rich with key
themes that seek to explain why people
travel and select specific destinations. Many of
the studies are based on the theory of pull and
push motivations (Jamrozy and Uysal, 1994;
Hanqin and Lam, 1999; Jang and Cai, 2002;
Bogari et al., 2004; Yoon and Uysal, 2005; Jang
and Wu, 2006; Kim et al., 2006; Correia et al.,
2007). The theory posits that tourists are pushed

*Correspondence to: Mohamed Battour, Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
E-mail:

by internal desires or emotional factors to
travel as well as pulled by external factors in
the form of the attributes of various destinations. While many studies have been conducted to investigate the various types of
destination attributes, there has been a lack of
research on the religious attributes of the destination and its impact on tourist’s choice as
well as satisfaction. Moreover, when it comes
to Islamic religious attributes, the lack of study
is more noticeable and profound. The objective
of this study is to investigate whether there
exists a basis for segmenting the tourism
market by Islamic religious attributes through
studying the views and opinions of tourists
visiting Malaysia.
The Muslim tourism segment may consider
a target for destination marketers. Assuming
religion represents one of important factors in

the decision-making process with regard to
travel destinations (Collins and Tisdell, 2002),
it is important to ensure that Islamic religious
attributes are available in those destinations.
This may lead to tourist satisfaction as well as
encourage multiple return visits. Muslims are
well ordered to follow Islamic teachings which
directly and indirectly impact on their decisions concerning leisure and travel plans
(Zamani-Farahani and Henderson, 2010). In
this regard, plans to market destinations for
Muslim tourists should be guided by Shariah
(Islamic code of life) rules specifically those
that pertain to tourism activities.
In recent years, it has been observed that
there is a growing interest in new tourism concepts such as ‘Islamic tourism’. Another
concept is ‘Halal hospitality’ which is akin to
the concept of ‘Halal food’, a concept already
recognized in many countries including those
in the Middle East (World Travel Market
[WTM], 2007). Newspaper articles consider
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


528
this to be a new phenomenon in the United
Arab Emirates and Middle Eastern countries.
Islamic tourism has attracted many tour packages entirely based on what they term ‘Islamic
culture’ (Javed, 2007), which is defined as a
type of religious tourism that is in conformity
with Islamic teachings regarding behaviourisms, dress, conduct and diet (WTM, 2007).

Heyer’s (2008) elaboration on the rapid largescale development of ‘Shariah-compliant
hotels’ is but another expression of the existing
trends towards increased Islamization of activities, which in the past focused more on
banking, insurance and finance. Thus, tourism
is generally encouraged by Islamic law as following the religion entails etiquettes, mannerisms, rules and regulations regarding conduct,
dress, food and prayer (Zamani-Farahani and
Henderson, 2010).
Islamic tourism operators target families
from the Persian Gulf known for their conservative interpretation of the teachings of Islamic
Shariah. The WTM report (2007) shows that
Islamic tourism has the potential to develop
into a resilient market. Promising market potentialities cause it to be targeted by industry operators and market researchers. Focus on this
market is further increased by a forecasted
increase in growth, whereby tourist income for
the Middle East is expected to grow 108% to a
staggering US$51 billion while domestic
tourism is expected to grow by 82% to reach
US$24 billion by 2011. Much of the forecasted
growth is due to increased numbers of Middle
Eastern Muslim tourists that underlines the
need for tailored Islamic tourism packages
offering services catering to Muslim needs.
The negative side of western tourism causing
Islamic tourism to be increasingly popular
among some conservative Muslims are issues
that have a negative impact on the Muslim
community such as the consumption of alcohol,
prostitution, inappropriate dressing, kissing in
public and open affection between sexes in
public (Sindiga, 1996). In addition to that, the

traditional Arab and Muslim choice of USA
and Europe destinations has changed since the
September 11 attacks with Middle Eastern and
Muslim countries becoming increasingly
popular destinations for Muslim tourists (Henderson, 2003). As a result, intratourism in the
Middle East and Muslim countries has boomed
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. Battour, M. N. Ismail and M. Battor
remarkably (Al-Hamarneh and Steiner, 2004).
In response to this, the current study is an
attempt to greater understand the new concept
of ‘Islamic tourism’.
Muslims constitute a global market of 1.82
billion potential customers (Muslim Population Worldwide, 2009). Islamic religious
attributes are bound to be very important considerations when a Muslim decides to travel
abroad. Given the potential problems expected
from non-Islamic tourism, the Muslim tourist
may decide not to travel to a particular destination due to the absence of these attributes.
According to Uysal et al. (2008, p. 413), a study
of the particular attributes of any given destination would provide clues and/or insights
that destination marketers could use in developing and promoting their tourism destinations. Bogari et al. (2004) claim that destination
attributes and issues pertaining to Islamic
culture were not sufficiently covered by
researchers. In effect, the study focuses in the
Islamic attributes of destinations that could be
used as a base to attract Muslim tourists in
destination marketing programmes.
The marketing of Islamic destinations is certainly not an easy task (Henderson, 2008b)
because of the variance between the demands

of western tourists and the Islamic teachings.
Therefore, exploring Islamic attributes may
help destination marketers to tailor products
and services that satisfy Muslim tourists that
may increase the number of inbound tourists
and improve economic growth. Marketers may
also use Islamic attributes in promotional programmes. In addition, this study attempts to
offer insights into the tourism expectations and
experiences of followers of the Islamic religion.
Muslim tourists could be influenced by religious aspects in their destination choice. Thus,
the research question of this study is what
types of Islamic attributes of destination satisfy
Muslim tourists. Therefore, the objective is to
explore which Islamic attributes of destinations such as worship facilities and Halal food
that may be important to the Muslim tourist;
especially in the Muslim world.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Religion plays a large influence on many people’s behaviour as customers (Essoo and Dibb,
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Marketing Travel Destinations to Muslim Tourists

529

2004). In the context of tourism, religion may
influence the choice of destination and tourists’ product preferences (Weidenfeld and Ron,
2008). According to Poria et al. (2003), the
effects of religious belief on behaviour come

from two main sources. The first is the explicit
and clear guidelines on acceptable and unacceptable behaviour or practices. Examples
consist of the religious rules prohibiting
Muslims from consuming pork, or Hindus
from consuming beef. The second means by
which behaviour is influenced is the fact that
religion shapes the culture, attitudes and
values of society. This is supported by Grigg
(1995) whose research provides evidence on
the influence of religion and religiosity on
dietary habits. Further support is found in
Essoo and Dibb (2004), who demonstrated the
influence of religion on consumer behaviour
by identifying the differences in consumer
spending between Muslims and Hindus.
Although the relationship between tourism
and religion has been addressed in the literature on tourism, there remains a shortage of
theoretical publications in the area of tourism
in the context of Islam. Religion and religiosity
are acknowledged factors influencing behaviour according to various social settings. In
spite of this widely acknowledged fact, research
that explores relationships between religion,
behaviour and tourist destination choice
remains highly limited (Din, 1989; Rinschede,
1992; Fleischer, 2000; Howe, 2001; Poria et al.,
2003; Weidenfeld, 2006; Weidenfeld and Ron,
2008). Din (1989) argues that social scientists
have tended to overlook the importance of religion in tourism studies. Its importance is
emphasized by Weidenfeld and Ron (2008)
who underline the general importance of the

relationship between tourism and religion. For
this reason, Heo et al. (2004) recommend more
related studies that identify and discuss special
tourist requirements and preferences. Although
neglecting to mention religion specifically,
Meng et al. (2008) conclude that tourists are
more likely to choose destinations believed to
best satisfy tourist ‘push’ needs and preferred
destination attributes.
Studies conducted in this area include Weidenfeld (2006) that investigates the religious
needs of Christian tourist in the hospitality
industry, and Fleischer and Nitzav (1995) that

investigates the religious needs of Christian
pilgrims in the tourism industry. Likewise,
Hoffmann (1994 cited in Weidenfeld, 2006)
conducts research on Jewish ultra-orthodox
tourism segment. In addition to this, some
papers complement the aforementioned
research by discussing the religious requirements in the tourism food sector. For example,
Dugan (1994) presents the religious necessities
in food supply for Muslim, Christian, Jews,
Hindus and Buddhists.
When it comes to the relationship between
tourism and religion, particularly Islam, the
lack of literature is more obvious, especially
regarding Islamic religious attributes and their
impact on tourist needs in general and Muslim
tourists in particular. Very few studies available typically focus on the needs of Muslim pilgrims’ (when they visit Makkah for the Hajj)
(Ahmed et al., 2006; Memish, 2007; Shafi et al.,

2008) rather than the needs of tourists.
However, Weidenfeld and Ron (2008) forecast
increased number of religiously minded tourists who join dynamic multi-purpose packages
especially from developing countries many of
which are Muslim countries.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Religious attributes
What does the term ‘religious attributes’ of
destinations really mean? There are many
aspects that can constitute ‘religious attributes’
of destinations. The following sections present
the literature on the matter:
Hotels meeting the religious needs of patrons.
Additional religious services and provisions in
hotels may result in attracting new markets
and improved hotel rates (Weidenfeld, 2006).
A study in Israel conducted by Mansfeld et al.
(2000) recommended placing ‘Makkah stickers’ or ‘Qibla stickers’ (stickers with ornamented arrows pointing towards the city of
Makkah in Saudi Arabia for prayer directions)
as well as placing a copy of the Quran in every
room occupied by Muslim visitors. Din (1989)
found that hotels in Kuantan, Malaysia, catered
to Muslim needs in the hospitality industry by
requiring first-class hotels to provide prayer
rooms fully equipped with prayer mats, the
Quran, Suruh Yasin and Tasbih, plus Qibla
stickers.
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)

DOI: 10.1002/jtr


530
Weidenfeld (2006) presented a number of
suggestions to improve the religion-friendliness of hotels. The suggestions begin by simply
providing a bible in hotel rooms along with
providing information on religious activities
and institutions. This keeps religiously minded
tourists in direct contact with scripture and
informed of available services. Employment of
Christian workers creates a religious atmosphere in the hotel. The hotel may choose to
organize its own religious activities. It should
provide a place of worship within the hotel
itself or be in close proximity to a church.
Christian symbols within a hotel such as a
cross and images of the Virgin Mary help to
provide a religious environment and décor.
Religious values play a role in catering to
religious needs. For example, Collins-Kreiner
and Kliot (2000) hypothesizes the Protestants’
need for a bible in hotel rooms based on their
belief in direct communication with God.
Fleischer (2000) compares between Catholic
and Protestant pilgrims in terms of the peculiarities of their tourist needs. The study reveals
that Protestants appreciate religious symbols
and opt for religious-sensitive tourist packages
more so than Catholics. Moreover, Weidenfeld
(2006) recommended catering to such Christian needs in the hotel room as that may
increase the satisfaction of Christian tourists.

Empirical studies on the impact of catering
to Islamic religious needs and the level of satisfaction of Muslim tourists are very few. Some
of the studies discuss services of this nature
that may include Muslim religious restrictions
such as activities of vice and forbidden entry
for unmarried couples (Din, 1989; Henderson,
2003; Zamani-Farahani and Henderson, 2010).
They also found that hotels may provide religious information such as the location of
nearby mosques or prayer times and nearby
Halal restaurants (Henderson, 2003). Furthermore, as Muslims avoid free mixing between
the sexes, hotels could offer separate swimming pools and recreational facilities (Henderson, 2003; Al-Hamarneh and Steiner, 2004;
Timothy and Iverson, 2006). Hashim et al.
(2007) suggested that availability of Halal food
and a list of nearby Halal restaurants on hotels
would satisfy Muslims in their holidays.
Timothy and Iverson (2006) also suggested
that hotels should educate their staff on crossCopyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. Battour, M. N. Ismail and M. Battor
cultural communication to allow them to treat
Muslim tourists with respect and consider
recruiting religious staff. In addition, it may be
better if there are staff hostels for men and
women (Henderson, 2003).
Places of worship. The five daily prayers are of
great importance to practising Muslims. Therefore, the mosque (a Muslim house of worship)
or prayer room is considered to be one of the
most crucial facilities for Muslims (Syed, 2001;
Al-Hamarneh and Steiner, 2004). Weidenfeld
(2006) suggests that proximity to a mosque

may influence Muslim tourist preferences
when making hotel reservations. Mohsin
(2005) conducted a study to assess Peninsular
Malaysians attitude towards choosing the
Northern Territory of Australia for a holiday as
a tourism destination and found that Muslim
respondents were concerned about the availability of mosques.
Mohsin and Ryan (1997) recommend that
the ease of access to Islamic services are important when they explored the attitudes of Malaysian and Indonesian business people towards
the possibility of holidaying in Australia. It is
also suggested that Middle Eastern countries
take concrete steps to develop Islamic tourism
internally by having prayer rooms at tourism
sites (WTM, 2007). Syed (2001) also suggested
that the availability of mosques at tourist destinations may increase satisfaction levels. The
mosque itself may be considered a tourist
attraction if they are unique and outstanding
(Henderson, 2003).
Availability of Halal food. Dugan (1994) presented findings on food service requirements
by Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and
Christians. Evidence from Brown’s (1996)
ethnographic study shows the influence of
religious prohibitions on determining their
expectations regarding services provided by a
hotel such as appropriate ingredient choice and
preparation. This is further supported by
Williams (2002) who identified the role of the
Jewish Kashrus (Jewish religious requirements)
in prohibiting certain foods and regulating
compliance procedures for food preparation.

For Muslims, the issue is centred on the
concept of Halalness. Halal food refers to
food that can be lawfully consumed when
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)
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Marketing Travel Destinations to Muslim Tourists

531

conditions for Islamic food preparation are
met. Food that is unlawful to Muslims includes
pork, pork-derived foods including lard and
bacon and meat and other products from carnivorous animals or those that feed on carrion.
Consumption of any food or drinks with alcoholic content is also prohibited (Dugan, 1994).
One important distinguishing feature of the
Halal label is that animals must be slaughtered
in a specific way and with the person carrying
out the slaughter reciting the name of Allah
(God).
There are many studies that show the importance of the availability of Halal food to
Muslims in choosing their tourist destinations
(Mohsin and Ryan, 1997; Syed, 2001; Mohsin,
2005; Weidenfeld, 2006; Weidenfeld and Ron,
2008). The importance of this to some Muslims
is reflected by the fact that even when served
Halal food, many are still concerned over
whether the food is genuinely Halal. Henderson (2003) found that some firms in the Western
tourism industry are concerned over this issue.

Some Muslims ask about the ingredients the
meal is made up of because pork and alcohol
in all its many forms are forbidden. Therefore,
meals which are provided to Muslim have to
be alcohol- and pork-free, and the utensils
have to be uncontaminated by these two elements (Dugan, 1994).
Catering to Muslim tourists’ needs in terms
of providing Halal food in any particular destination may increase their overall satisfaction
and loyalty. Mansfeld et al. (2000) gives explicit
recommendations for providing food which
complies with Shariah laws. Therefore, a caterer
who is aware on how to satisfy Muslims or who
offers religious groups’ dietary needs will attract
more Muslim customers (Dugan, 1994).

‘Alcohol is the mother of all evils and it is the
most shameful of evils’ (Ibn Majah, 2004). It is
also not permissible for Muslims to visit places
where alcohol is consumed and gambling is
practised (Din, 1989; Henderson, 2003, 2008a;
Al-Hamarneh and Steiner, 2004; Hashim et al.,
2007; Zamani-Farahani and Henderson, 2010).
Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Bangladesh and Pakistan implement very
restrictive policies on public consumption of
alcohol and gambling. However, in some other
Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Turkey,
the situations are not so restrictive. For
example, in most states in Malaysia, alcohol is
freely available although Muslims can be punished for drinking in public (Aljazeera, 2009).

Banning of alcohol consumption and gambling.
According to Islamic Shariah, it is completely
forbidden for Muslims to drink or sell alcohol.
Muslims are also prohibited from gambling
and being involved in the gambling industry.
It is stated in Holy Qur’an: ‘O ye who believe!
Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of)
stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an
abomination, — of Satan’s handwork: eschew
such (abomination), that ye may prosper’
(Holy Qur’an, 5: 90). Moreover, the Prophet of
Islam, Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sexual permissiveness. The Shariah expressly
forbids Muslims from engaging in fornication
or adultery. Activities deemed conducive to
sexual permissiveness are not allowed to take
place in public. This is based on many verses
in The Holy Quran including like: ‘Nor come
nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and
an evil, opening the road (to other evils)’ (Holy
Qur’an, 17: 32).
Many Muslim scholars take the view that it
is Haram or not permissible to visit, for the sake
of tourism, places where sexual permissiveness is rampant. Their opinion is based on the
principle that Islam came to impede all roads
leading to evil. If some tourist activities result
in the facilitation or the commission of sins,

then it is not permissible for Muslims to be
involved in such tourist activities (Rasma,
2008).
Most Muslim countries including Malaysia
prohibit adultery. The Malaysian licensing
policy prohibits prostitution and behaviours
such as public or indecent displays of affection
(Din, 1989; Henderson, 2003, 2008a; ZamaniFarahani and Henderson, 2010). Moreover, in
some Malaysian towns, municipal enactments
for lodging establishments explicitly forbid
unmarried couples from being in close proximity (Din, 1989). Many Muslim authorities frown
on tourism in general due to the perception
that tourism is associated with sexual permissiveness (Din, 1989). Therefore, some Muslim
scholars prohibit sex tourism as practised by
some Arab Muslims from the Middle East in
travelling to Europe or Bangkok (Din, 1989).
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)
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532
What is more, using sexually provocative
images in marketing tourist destinations to
Muslim customers is also frowned upon.
According to Shariah, promotion techniques
must not use sexual appeal in international
marketing (Saeed et al., 2001). Female images
are therefore not featured in tourism promotion in some Malaysian states like Terengganu
(Henderson, 2003). Mohsin (2005) is of the
opinion that the use of sexually provocative

images of bikini-clad girls to promote a destination will not attract Muslim tourists.
Dress code. According to Shariah, Muslim
women must not expose their hair and body.
The Holy Quran states: ‘O Prophet, tell your
wives and daughters and the believing women
to draw their outer garments around them
(when they go out or are among men). That is
better in order that they may be known (to be
Muslims) and not annoyed . . .’ (Holy Qur’an,
33: 59). Men are supposed to cover their thighs
(Timothy and Iverson, 2006).
In deciding tour destinations, Muslims look
at the local dress codes in that particular region
of the world being considered. Such considerations are to gauge the level of conformity to
Islamic dress norms in order to determine if
they will or will not be comfortable visiting
that particular destination. This is particularly
so for Arab tourists who have to observe strict
dress codes in their native countries and prefer
not to expose themselves and families to environments that may threaten their sense of
proper dressing.
Hashim et al. (2007) demonstrates the Malaysian Tourist Board’s awareness of Islamic dress
sensitivities by restricting their marketing campaigns to present only traditional Malay Muslim
dress codes. Women with headscarves and men
wearing Songkoks — a black rimless hat worn
by Malay men usually for praying — were
depicted on advertising billboards and home
pages. Some conservative Malaysian states
enforce appropriate dress norms prohibiting
people from disturbing cultural norms by

wearing revealing clothes such as bikinis. Furthermore, western tourists are expected to adorn
the Islamic attire when visiting religious places
like mosques (Henderson, 2003).
Zamani-Farahani and Henderson (2010)
claim that Shariah laws prohibit improper
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. Battour, M. N. Ismail and M. Battor
dressing. Al-Hamarneh and Steiner (2004)
assert that considerations of the religious conservatism of any particular region including
prescribed dress codes should be respected.
Such cultural considerations are expected more
so of tourism operators in all aspects of the
tourism industry as they are interacting directly
and regularly with foreign tourists (Weidenfeld and Ron, 2008).
METHODOLOGY
The objective of this study is to explore Islamic
religious attributes that may be important to
Muslim travellers. In order to achieve this objective, focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted and were followed up with interviews
to explore opinions and travel experiences in
more depth. This combination of the FGD and
the interviews has its advantages. First, in identifying a range of Islamic religious attributes
from the FGD. Second, to explore in depth, by
conducting interviews using a relatively wide
range of participants in order to discover more
Islamic attributes and to check the conclusions
with the FGD (Morgan, 1996). The FGD and the
interviews are research techniques pertaining to
qualitative research (Myers, 2009, p. 121).
The aim of the FGD is to collect information

through group interaction but the interview is
considered an opportunity to discover new
information from individuals (Cavana et al.,
2008, p. 138). The advantages of FGDs in this
research are to generate a broad range of information, insight and ideas related to Islamic
attributes of destination and to cover the topic
in flexible way, while the disadvantage of the
FGDs is that the lack of structure may make the
results subject to the interviewer’s influence.
Semi-structured questions were designed in
this study for the purpose of conducting interviews and FGDs. The participants were asked
about the Islamic attributes they would require
when travelling in a Muslim country or a nonMuslim country. They were then asked specifically about these attributes when visiting
Muslim countries. This was followed by
probing questions that sought to explore in
detail specific attributes generated from FGDs.
The semi-structured questions were related to
some attributes such as access to mosque,
prayer facilities/room at tourism sites,
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Marketing Travel Destinations to Muslim Tourists

533

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.
Two FGDs were conducted in June 2009. The
participants of these focus groups were international PhD students currently studying in
Malaysia in different areas of research. The
method used was ‘convenience sampling
method’ and this was carried out by contacting
students in the PhD programme. All of them
are Muslims and most of them are religious
based on their own assessment of themselves.
The participants of FGD 1 consisted of eight
males from Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Mauritania, Oman, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and Sudan.
The duration of FGD1 was one and a half
hours. The participants of FGD 2 consisted of
seven females from Egypt, Libya, Yemen,
Nigeria, Oman, Turkey and Algeria. The duration of FGD 2 was one hour and fifteen minutes
and the participants did not agree to record the
session digitally. The reason for this may be
culturally related. The FGDs were broken
down into two groups according to gender
because many/some ladies from some Middle
East countries may be more reserved if they are
in the presence of men, and this may affect
their response to questions, especially if the
issue involves special needs of women tourists.
All FGD participants had overseas travel experience for various purposes such as tourism,
business, learning and visiting friends.
A total of 53 interviews were conducted with

tourists in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of
Malaysia, 27 interviews in July 2009 and 26
interviews in October 2009. The interviewees
were patrons of international hotels in Kuala
Lumpur around the ‘Golden Triangle Area’
where many international chain hotels are
located. The respondents were chosen by using
convenience sampling method. Two researchers approached as many Muslim tourists as
possible at these hotels and requested them to
participate in the study. Thirty-eight tourists
did not accept to be interviewed. The duration
of most interviews was between 35–45 minutes.
Forty-one interviews were recorded digitally.
The rest were unable to be recorded due to

objections from the interviewees who were
females from the Middle East. The interviewer
transcribed both the FGDs as well as all interview sessions. Some interviewees from the
Middle East preferred to communicate in
Arabic while the rest were conducted in
English. The interviewer adopted the probing
technique during the session to encourage the
participants to provide more details. All participants (FGDs and interviewees) were asked
to describe themselves whether he or she is
secular, mildly religious, religious or very religious. Some demographic information was
also gathered. The digital recording of the
interviews was changed into text. The data
was organized for easy categorization and systematic data analysis.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

FINDINGS
The results of the two FGDs indicate that there
are differences between the attitudes of female
and male respondents. Female respondents
focused more on privacy and segregation of
gender on entertainment centres while male
focus more on worship facilities and Halal
issues. Nine participants (FGDs and interviews) were secular, 22 participants were
mildly religious, 26 were religious and 11 were
very religious. According to the demographic
profile of the interviewees, 30 of them were
males and 23 were females. Twenty two
interviewees were between 18 and 29 years
old, 19 interviewees were between 30 and 39
years old and 12 were above 40 years old.
Thirty nine of the interviewees were married
and 14 were single. Regarding the educational
level, six interviewees were intermediate, 31
interviewees were university degree holder
and 16 were post graduate.
Results of the analysis were categorized into
two major aspects which are tangible and
intangible. The tangible aspect consists of
Islamic religious facilities such as worship
facilities and Halal food.
Tangible aspects
Prayer facilities
Mosque. All interviewees were concerned
about the availability of Mosques (Masjid) or

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


534
prayer rooms for their tourist destination. Easy
access to a mosque/prayer room is considered
a vital aspect for Muslim tourists and should
not be ignored by tourism planning but should
be considered a necessary service. This can be
shown in the following response:
. . . Masjid or prayer room must be avail-

able in the streets and public places. In
other words, a prayer room should be
available in all places which I may visit in
the destination such as hotels, shopping
malls, and airports. Even in the airplane
to destination, it should allocate a place
for prayer. (FGD No. 1)
Masjid is available in most of the places
in the destination during my journey, in
shopping malls, highways . . . and of
course in the hotel. (Int. No.1, USA)
It is noticed from the previous responses that
Muslim tourists expect easy access to a Masjid
and/or prayer room to be a primary requirement in Muslim countries. They also highlighted that they expect to find prayer facilities
readily accessible during tourist activities.
Quran and Qiblah direction pointer. All interviewees emphasized the importance of the provision of Qurans and Qiblah direction pointers
in hotel rooms. Some proposed that one or two

simple Islamic books to be provided in hotel
rooms and in aeroplane seat pockets.
. . . It will be fine if I find Quran book in
hotel room, some Islamic leaflets in the
airplane seat pocket, Makkah direction
pointer, Sejadda for prayer (prayer mat),
simple Islamic book in hotel room . . .
(FGD No. 1)

. . . I need the Holy Quran book inside the
hotel room, some Islamic books which I
can read; I don’t want any statue or sculpture like a Buddhist. I found that in India
when I was there. Also direction of Qibla
is important to me . . . (Int. No.15,
Djibouti)
The Quran is the holy book for Muslims.
Muslims are highly encouraged to read the
Holy Quran. Although some conservative
Muslims have a soft copy of the Quran on their
hand phones, the hard copy represents the
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. Battour, M. N. Ismail and M. Battor
preferable option for reading. Moreover, since
praying towards Makkah is a basic requirement of Muslims’ prayers, the Makkah direction pointer is a basic demand of Muslims
when they perform their prayers away from
home or at places where they are unsure of the
exact direction towards Makkah. Some hotel
industry practitioners, even some hotels in
non-Muslim countries, already provide Qiblah

pointers inside their hotel rooms but some participants report that they did not find it in
some hotels in Muslim countries.
Muslim toilets. Thirty-six interviewees who
have travelled to western destinations complained about the bath room because they
could not perform ablution (Muslim mandatory washing before performing prayers).
There is no such facility inside airport toilets
and hotels. Therefore, they requested Muslim
toilets to be provided in all airports, hotels and
public places.
Muslim toilet is very important in airport
because the regular toilets provide only
tissue. As Muslims, we need water supply
inside the toilet. It should be found in
public places because in the hotel you can
find water but in public it is difficult. (Int.
No.14, Thailand)
I will be very happy if I find . . . and Bidet
in the bathroom. (Int. No.2, Canada)
Muslim followers must do ablution before
prayers. They are required to clean themselves
with water when using the toilet. Some countries adopt modern toilet designs which do not
enable users to wash themselves using water;
providing only tissue. However, some Muslim
countries have modified this style and have
adopted a Muslim design for their bathrooms
that provide water. From previous participant
responses, they find it satisfying when water
facilities are made available in toilets.
Halal food. All interviewees reported that the
availability of Halal food is a basic need for all

destinations. It is noticed that all interviewees
need Halal meals in flights to their destination.
Moreover, they recommended that hotels and
restaurants in the destination should provide
Halal meals free from pork and alcohol. Some
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 527–540 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr