New Research Network for Islamic Tourism
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Islamic Tourism magazine, May/June 2004
During the last few years the idea of promoting "Islamic Tourism" has become increasingly important in the ministries of tourism in Muslim countries, as well as among decision makers of leading companies, targeting the international tourist market. Islamic tourism can be described in economic, cultural and religious terms:
- As an economic concept, it aims at the expansion of tourism within the Muslim world, developing new tourist destinations and strengthening institutional and governmental cooperation inside the Muslim world.
- As a cultural concept, it focuses on Islamic topics in the organization of tourist programs and presents Islamic heritage sites, which Muslim tourists can visit. Religious tourism and "touristic" interpretations of pilgrimage also come under the cultural concept of Islamic tourism.
- As a conservative religious concept, it aims at the adjustment of the tourist industries to the fundamental interpretations of Islam, including gender-segregated and alcohol-free venues as well as "Islamically" financed and organized tourism. This conception further aspires to "Inter-Islamic Community Tourism."
Discussions about the forms and goals of Islamic tourism had just started, when terrorist attacks devastated New York and Washington. The predicted collapse of the tourist industry in the Arab and Muslim world after 9/11 did not eventuate, but the global flow of tourists changed
dramatically; the number of visitors from North America, Europe and Japan to the Arab world declined, whereas more and more Arab tourists spend their holidays in Arab and Muslim countries: especially Lebanon, Syria, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
At the same time cultural tourism started to decline. The "traditional" cultural tourist destinations, which were very popular among European and American visitors, were not generally regarded as attractive by the average Arab tourist. This has resulted in a still ongoing reorganization of tourist facilities to cater for increasing numbers of Arab and Muslim tourists. New programs for package tours - now including "second-rank" mosques, shrines and other Islamic monuments - as well as Arab/Muslim-oriented marketing strategies have been developed. Co-ordination of tourist policies among Arab states and between Arab and other Muslim countries reached unprecedented nlevels: The Islamic Tourism Ministers Conference has been held regularly since 2000 and the first Arab World Travel and Tourism Exchange in Beirut in 2003 was an enormous success.
In order to study this dynamic development and to provide solutions to the problems related to the latest changes in the tourism market, the Center for Research on the Arab World (CERAW) at the University of Mainz/Germany has established a worldwide research network consisting of numerous institutions and tourism experts in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Europe and North America. They are conducting studies related to tourism in the Muslim world. Ministries, planning agencies and international tourist enterprises are also involved in this network.
Members have free access to a database with the latest results of studies on tourism in the Muslim world, announcements of conferences, information on member institutions etc.
Further institutions, enterprises and individual researchers who would like to join the research network should register via the website below. Participation in the network is free.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Guenter Meyer
Centre for Research on the Arab World (CERAW), University of Mainz D-55099 Mainz Germany
Fax ++49 - 6131 - 39 24736
Tel. ++49 - 6131 - 39 26493, - 39 22701,
E-Mail: ceraw@uni-mainz.de
www.ceraw.uni-mainz.de
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