Omar Al Serhan

Islamic Hospitality & Tourism in the UK Omar Al Serhan

Islamic hospitality is a recent trend in the hospitality and tourism industry that has emerged as the need to cater for the specific religious requirements of Muslims has grown. This research has focused on a specific business niche in the UK hospitality sector that has not been investigated in previous studies. It also examines the hotel preference of UK Muslims and of Muslims visiting the UK from abroad. The work shows very clear similarities in Muslims' attitudes toward Shariah-compliant hotels (SCHs) when choosing a place to stay. Across all groups, SCHs received a very favourable response from a large percentage of participants. The findings reconfirm that religious affiliation influences travellers' behaviour, which is in turn motivated by internal factors, such as level of religiosity and whether travelling with the family or on business, and by external factors, such as SCHs' attributes, design and compliance with Shariah standards.