Echoes of Islamic Tourism: new ideas and ventures

We are getting many interesting emails from readers. In the limited space we have here, I will discuss only one of them.  It is a detailed suggestion from  Mr. Hassan Saeed, from the Education Development Centre in the Maldives. He asked us to work as a platform to spread the  Islamic tourism “experience” and to link the concept of Islamic tourism to that of eco tourism and conservation.

Most important he thinks that we should form “a non governmental Islamic Tourism Board (ITB)”. The board will be concerned with promoting Islamic tourism and formulating acceptable standards for members: an ITB member should refrain from selling liquor, pork and other Haram (forbidden by Islamic law) items. All rooms in the establishment should have a Quruan, prayer mat, Qibla (Mecca) markings and prayer time table. The member should conform to water conservation and hygiene standards. The staff should conform to uniform and personal hygiene standards prescribed by ITB. The establishments that conform to ITB standards will be awarded an ITB Shield for a limited period. ITB will have the right to periodically  inspect the establishments. It will have local offices in member countries.

It is an idea worth perusing and we already have plans in this direction. Our plans also include a  similar code for restaurants and other services involved in the tourism sector. We may have more discussions on this point in future issues but we take this opportunity to thank Mr. Saeed and to encourage others to put forward new ideas about  Islamic Tourism.

However, for the present issue, we are pleased to announce two things. One is that from this issue we are  starting the production of the magazine in Spanish beside the Arabic, English and French languages. We are also pleased to announce that Islamic Tourism magazine is going to handle the promotion, media coverage and marketing adverts for the Hajj and Umrah Exhibition in Dubai which is planned for March the 6^th . This will be followed by the “Islamic Tourism Exhibition”, planned for May the 15^th. We will keep our readers posted. Please keep a regular check on our website (www.islamictourism.com) for the latest news from Islamic Tourism.

Dr. Abdul-Rahim Hassan
Editor-in-Chief