Discovering the importance of halal tourism for Indonesian Muslim travelers : perceptions and behaviors when traveling to a non-Muslim destination

Purpose: This research aims to identify halal attributes for Indonesian Muslim tourists that can create a destination image, revisit intention and recommendation intention. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world and their Muslim tourists who frequently visit non-Muslim countries. This is a great opportunity for non-Muslim countries to improve halal tourism services. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected through a panel of recruited online sampling on 268 Indonesian Muslim tourists who had visited non-Muslim countries. Structural equation modeling analysis is used to investigate the impact of halal tourism attributes on destination images and behavioral intentions. Findings: This study found the five halal tourism attributes that had a positive and significant impact on affective destination image, overall destination image, revisit intention and recommendation intention. Practical implications: Halal tourism attributes can be used as a basis for marketing strategies of tourism bureaus to create a destination image, increase intention to revisit and provide effective word-of-mouth recommendations based on Muslim tourists needs. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the main needs for halal tourism of Indonesian Muslim tourists when traveling to non-Muslim countries. Our study contributes to the halal tourism literature, along with having implications for non-Muslim tourism bureaus and halal tourism teaching and practice.