The significance of partnership as a marketing strategy for Islamic spiritual tourism

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight the significance of partnership among stakeholders as a marketing strategy for Islamic spiritual tourism. Partnership as a marketing strategy is studied by interviewing stakeholders on the supply side of Islamic tourism. Only recently, Islamic spiritual tourism has been identified, not recognised yet, as a growing segment of Islamic tourism that needs to be effectively marketed. Design/methodology/approach – Convenient sampling was used in this exploratory research to select and interview tourism operators selling in-bound and out-bound Islamic spiritual tourism in Australia and Pakistan. Cross-case content analysis was used to identify critical themes related to marketing Islamic spiritual tourism. Findings – Three issues emerged from the content analysis in this study: political, commercial and religious. The management of these three issues is found necessary to effectively build and implement horizontal partnerships among stakeholders on the supply side in Islamic spiritual tourism. Research limitations/implications – The selected sample is not the representation of the population based in the two countries. Only few potential participants agreed to be interviewed due to the perceived threat of manipulation of their views. Findings of this research contribute to the theory of marketing Islamic tourism specifically, and tourism in general. Practical implications – The three issues found in this study provide a guideline for crafting strategies to market Islamic spiritual tourism based on local and global partnerships. Social implications – The three issues found in this study provide a platform for cultural understanding and coherence. Originality/value – This original study advocates partnerships among tourism operators, government bodies, destination managers and religious organisations involved in Islamic spiritual tourism. The structure and implementation of partnerships should critically consider the political, commercial and religious issues.