Perceived Inconveniences and Muslim Travelers’ Loyalty to Non-Muslim Destinations

Heesup Han, Amr Al-Ansi and Hyeon-Cheol Kim
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Heesup Han: College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143–747, Korea
Amr Al-Ansi: College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143–747, Korea
Hyeon-Cheol Kim: School of Business Administration, Chung-Ang University, 84 HeukSeok-Ro, DongJak-Gu, Seoul 06974, Korea

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Muslim travelers’ growth is an emerging sector of the global tourism industry. Yet, little has been discovered about their behaviors and perceived inconveniences in a non-Muslim destination. The present research was an attempt to identify international Muslim travelers’ loyalty generation process for the non-Muslim destination by considering the effect of inconveniences that they possibly perceive while traveling to the non-Muslim destination. An empirical approach comprising a field survey method was used to collect the Muslim travelers’ views in a non-Muslim destination (Korea). Our result revealed that halal-friendly image, emotional experiences, and desire played a significant role in building Muslim travelers’ loyalty. In addition, a moderator test result of Muslim travelers’ perceived inconveniences at the non-Muslim destination significantly weakened the effect of desire and halal-friendly image on loyalty. The comparative importance of emotional experiences at a destination was identified. Our findings help non-Muslim destination marketers to develop effective attraction and retention strategies for international Muslim travelers.

Keywords: Muslim tourism; perceived inconveniences; halal-friendly image; emotional experiences; loyalty; non-Muslim destination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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