Re-modelling Muslim-friendly tourism value chain ecosystem: the case study of West Sumatera, Indonesia

Abstract

The development of Muslim-friendly tourism destinations is an effort to differentiate products and the tourism market amidst the aggressive growth of global tourism. This is the background for this research, which aims to examine the implementation of Muslim-friendly tourism in West Sumatra and strive to form a Muslim-friendly tourism value chain model from research findings. This research relies on collecting primary data from interviews with nine informants collected using snowball sampling and secondary data support from relevant literature and regulatory products. Using a qualitative descriptive method and SWOT analysis to map actual conditions in the field, the data findings and the analysis process state that the tourism value chain has been formed and is moving in West Sumatra. The value chain is formed from the support of destination attributes, regulations and digital technology adaptation. However, there needs to be significant changes in institutional aspects, diversification of activities/events and community empowerment.

Keywords:

• Value chain
• tourism value chain
• Muslim-friendly tourism
• halal tourism

Reviewing Editor:

• Pier Luigi Sacco, Humanities, IULM University, Milano, Italy

Subjects:

• Hospitality
• Tourism
• Religion in Context
• Religious Ethics

1. Introduction

The development of Muslim-friendly tourism destinations is an effort to differentiate products and the tourism market amidst the aggressive growth of global tourism (Sutono et al., 2022). To increase the role of regional tourism development, developing Muslim-friendly tourism is one of the most important driving forces. In developing Muslim-friendly tourism, the primary paradigm that needs to be understood is that Muslim-friendly tourism does not aim to alienate Muslim tourists from general tourism activities or to limit non-Muslim tourists to specific tourist destinations. The development of Muslim-friendly tourism aims to comfort Muslim tourists in carrying out activities following Islamic rules when traveling (Battour & Ismail, 2016; El-Gohary, 2016). The tourism trend that has changed the most is the high growth in the number of Muslim tourists, the increasing percentage of millennial tourists, the increasing priority of tourists toward cleanliness, health, safety and the environment and the increasing importance of the role of digital technology in the tourism sector. The strength of Muslim-friendly tourism lies in the readiness of destinations to become global Muslim tourist destinations.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has spread since late 2019 and was announced to be a global pandemic in 2020, hit the tourism sector worldwide by decreasing the number of tourist trips worldwide. Not only hotels, restaurants and travel agencies but millions of jobs related to the tourism sector are directly or indirectly affected (Abbas et al., 2021). On the other hand, the increasing awareness of tourists regarding health, safety and security needs to be observed by destination managers. This is where halal or Muslim-friendly tourism can play a role by encouraging various tourism stakeholders to provide quality-assured amenity services, tourist attractions and accessibility (Abbas et al., 2021; Ntounis et al., 2022). This condition must be addressed while maintaining its innovation capabilities to survive, remain superior and compete in the global market when the pandemic has been overcome.

Each tourism destination has its uniqueness. Tourism destinations as business and social entities require specific treatment because life cycle characteristics and DNA uniqueness vary according to their potential, capacity and resources (Butler, 2008 in Patria, 2015). Likewise, the development of each Muslim-friendly tourism destination also has different characteristics and needs. Therefore, it is necessary to develop criteria/standards for destination products and manage them appropriately to meet Muslim tourists’ needs. There are 6 (six) basic needs of Muslim tourists identified in the CrescentRating study in 130 countries (Crescent Rating & MasterCard, 2019), namely:

1. Food that is guaranteed halal

2. Prayer facilities

3. Bathroom with water for ablution

4. Services during the month of Ramadan

5. No non-halal/immoral activities

6. Private recreational facilities (not mixed freely)

The high interest and global trend toward fulfilling the travel needs of world Muslim tourists are unfortunately not supported by good academic support either. Today, there are still not many studies from scholars who examine the implementation of tourism based on the essence of Islamic teachings such as halal tourism, Muslim-friendly tourism and religious tourism (Vargas-Sánchez & Moral-Moral, 2018). The support of academic studies is a vital factor in the success of programs and policies in any context, including tourism (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018). This includes how tourism development not only works practically but is scientifically systematic. Therefore, studies regarding halal and Muslim-friendly tourism development are becoming a rarity and need to be stimulated more.

On the other hand, problems in developing Muslim-friendly tourism arise from complex differences in understanding regarding the conception of Muslim-friendly, halal and religious tourism. As it develops, these differences in meaning have implications for the restrictions imposed on each destination and the extent to which Muslim tourists receive priority portions and fulfill their needs. As a result, there is inequality in building a valid and strategic framework academically (Çetin & Dinçer, 2016; Junaidi, 2020).

The difference in context between halal tourism, religious tourism and Muslim-friendly tourism is also a big obstacle in efforts to fulfill the needs of targeted tourists themselves. Each of these terms will have implications for differences in standards and benchmarks for successful implementation in tourist destinations. Fulfilling these needs will have a broad impact on many other sectors, which will also experience adjustments according to standards, such as providing entertainment services with different standards and adaptations when viewed from the context of halal tourism, Muslim-friendly tourism and religious tourism. This will later lead to value chain and supply chain system management, which needs to be adapted to the needs of targeted tourism activities (Liu et al., 2018; Sutono et al., 2022). Therefore, studies highlighting these disparities and their implications for forming tourism value chain frameworks/models in appropriate destinations are necessary.

In line with these differences in perspective, the middle way to be taken when adapting to the ‘bare minimum’ standards for a tourist destination in meeting the needs of Muslim tourists at the stage of increasing the competitiveness of global tourist destinations is through Muslim-friendly tourism. Muslim-friendly tourism occurs when tourist destination managers position Muslim tourists like tourists only by adding worship facilities and providing valid and sequential information regarding which parts of the tourism product are and are not following the principles of their religious law (Sutono et al., 2021). After that, this study will discuss how to form a holistic tourism value chain framework/model that is applicable in the context of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations.

As the world’s largest Muslim country, Indonesia has enormous potential to become a world Muslim-friendly tourism destination country. The strength of Muslim-friendly tourism lies in the readiness of destinations to receive Muslim tourist visits (Wall & Mathieson, 2006; Weidenfeld & Ron, 2008). The development of Indonesia’s halal tourism gained momentum in 2019. Indonesia’s halal tourism was ranked 1st as the world’s best halal tourism destination along with Malaysia (Crescent Rating & MasterCard, 2019). However, this achievement has not been accompanied by the ability to attract Muslim foreign tourist visits. Indonesia still needs to catch up to Malaysia. Malaysia reached 5.38 million foreign Muslim tourists in 2017 (Statista, 2022), compared to Indonesia, which only amounted to 2.6 million in 2018. Indonesia is recorded as the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, with the number of Muslim citizens amounting to 237.55 million people in 2022 (RISSC, 2022 in Sari et al., 2022).

The Indonesian Government understands the vast potential for developing Muslim-friendly tourism; this has encouraged the publication of the Halal Tourism Strategic Plan from the Ministry of Tourism and the determination of priority halal tourist destinations – one of the 10 tourist destinations in West Sumatra Province. West Sumatra is considered one of the most worthy regional tourist destinations developed according to Muslim tourist-friendly principles. Its historical and philosophical cultural values are closely correlated with Islamic religious values. Not only that, the norms that develop in society also have a high level of adaptation to Islamic Sharia law, thus creating excellent conditions for visiting Muslim tourists (Prananta & Lokaprasidha 2017; Rozalinda & Ramadhan, 2019). However, because this Muslim-friendly tourism development program is new in West Sumatra, the studies that have been carried out have not yet holistically mapped all the elements that support its success, including how to create a Muslim-friendly tourism value chain system. For this reason, this research ultimately focuses on case studies in West Sumatra.

2. Literature review

2.1. The development of Muslim-friendly tourism

Today, many tourism activities are developing that offer tourists new knowledge and creative experiences. In fact, in some significant cases, tourism activities have developed that are more responsible, both from an environmental, social, cultural and economic perspective at destinations and from a responsible perspective to tourists (Sutono et al., 2022). From this thought, one of them is developing the concept of Muslim-friendly tourism, which is based on fulfilling the needs, desires and experiences of Muslim tourists who still adhere to their Islamic religious beliefs when traveling.

From an Islamic perspective, Muslim-friendly tourism can be defined as a permissible tourism activity because it follows Islamic teachings. Muslim-friendly tourism is a tourism activity that provides additional services to meet the needs, desires and experiences of Muslim tourists, such as clean and comfortable worship facilities, availability of halal food and Muslim-friendly tourist facilities (Battour & Ismail, 2016; Gunduz, 2023). Khan and Callanan (2017) added that the discussion on how the development of tourist destinations to be Muslim/halal friendly would be very different from the development of Islamic/religious or even Sharia tourist destinations. When discussing the feasibility of a tourist destination becoming Islamic tourism/religious tourism, the development needs to include the availability of Islamic tourist attractions along with support for studies regarding the profile, interests and behavior of Muslim tourists. Meanwhile, Muslim-friendly tourist destinations are limited in how they equip themselves with information and basic infrastructure for the basic needs of tourists as Muslims.

Çetin and Dinçer (2016) explained that, in essence, Islam is a belief that has strict rules in the daily lives of its followers. Many tourist destinations must adjust their value chain conditions to accommodate these needs. On the one hand, this may give the impression of being ‘too exclusive’. However, if seen from another side, the restrictions that arise can also encourage tourism products in destinations to be of higher quality and to a higher standard. One of them is the cleanliness of sanitation facilities and resting places, which are essential considerations in the life of Muslims.

2.2. Tourism value chain as evaluating tools

The value chain concept is a business concept that describes a series of processes/activities/activities carried out by an organization/company in producing a product/service. The value chain theorem was initially coined by Porter (1985) in which the value chain was defined as a series of processes/activities starting from designing, producing, marketing and distributing a product in its role of providing complete value to the product. The continuity and interaction of each process are fundamental in providing value to a product because a product cannot obtain complete value without a sequential process in its manufacture.

Furthermore, Porter (1985) also explained that the value chain separates the company into activities strategically relevant to understanding cost behavior and existing and potential sources of differentiation. A company gains a competitive advantage by performing these strategically essential activities cheaper or better than its competitors. In its operation, a company’s value chain is divided into primary and supporting activities. Visualized in the following model (Figure 1):

Figure 1. Value chain by Porter. Source: Porter (1985).

In other words, Porter (1985) put forward the concept that every company is built on a set of activities to design, produce, market, deliver and support its products so that value is created from these products. Therefore, companies must maximize value at any given point in the process.

Another opinion was put forward by Partale (2020), who explained that the value chain includes creating product or service value and, on the other hand, a management approach that helps systematically achieve strategic objectives. As an instrument aimed at the internal management of companies, the value chain is beneficial for examining and organizing internal activities and ‘shaping them against the background of goals and strategies’. One example is that a goal-oriented project manager with a keen eye for sustainability might use a resource management approach to contribute effectively to the value chain while cutting costs simultaneously (Partale, 2020).

In the tourism context, the tourism sector is deemed necessary to fulfill business and economic principles. Therefore, the existence of value in tourism products is vital. This relates to if a product has no value, then no demand will arise (Hjalager et al., 2016). From these assumptions, inevitably, an evaluation of the tourism sector’s performance from a value perspective needs to be carried out. Furthermore, many experts have put forward the concept of performance evaluation through the tourism value chain.

The tourism value chain is a series of activities to design, produce, market, send and support a tourism product from subjects/actors in a destination to tourists (Adiyia & Vanneste, 2018). In line with this understanding, Ndivo and Cantoni (2016) stated that the tourism value chain is an approach that focuses on the whole series of activities required to deliver tourism products/services from conception through several stages of production and delivery until they are finished for consumption by tourists. The value chain approach aims to explore potential points of influence that will assist in developing a systemic competitive value chain that enables inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

As a model created by economists, a value chain is an approach that is thick with monetary benefits from profits obtained by the margin between costs and turnover from selling a product. However, apart from that, there are other beneficial benefits that a business unit can obtain from a value chain system framework, namely, pleasure, comfort, knowledge, relationships, etc. (Fernandez-Villarán et al., 2020). Therefore, implementing the value chain in a tourist destination will affect maximum profits and benefits for the business units or tourism industry players.

However, it is undeniable that applying the value chain model to the tourism context takes more work. This considers the characteristics of the value chain model, a complex and layered system reconciled with the tourism sector oriented toward service businesses. This sector is difficult to define concretely. Therefore, to use the tourism value chain model effectively, a niche and specific approach is needed according to the type and character of the tourist destination itself (Adiyia & Vanneste, 2018).

2.3. Model of Muslim-friendly tourism value chain

The development of tourism product components that include amenities, attractions and accessibility, including travel programs and packages, must be aligned with Muslim tourists’ profiles, needs, expectations and preferences. (Battour et al., 2011; Morrison, 2018). The existence of specific additional ‘requirements’ for fulfilling the needs of Muslims when traveling requires destinations to understand the profile of visiting Muslim tourists and make this information one of the primary considerations in its development (Eid & El-Gohary, 2015; Shakona et al., 2015).

Muslim-friendly tourism also starts from the marketing strategy section by looking at specific or specific market potential aspects. The Muslim tourist market has unique characteristics related to Islamic values that must be fulfilled, including in influencing the decision to visit a destination and can also determine the level of satisfaction in doing tourism in a destination (Aziz, 2018; Truong & Foster, 2006) and increase the potential for repeat tourist visits (Chang et al., 2014). The strength of Muslim-friendly tourism lies in the readiness of destinations to receive Muslim tourists (Wall & Mathieson, 2006; Weidenfeld & Ron, 2008). This is very important to create quality Muslim-friendly tourism destination products (Eid & El-Gohary, 2015; Shakona et al., 2015).

In developing and evaluating the attributes of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations, many countries and researchers have put forward models that are considered the most effective and applicable. Cuesta-Valiño et al. (2020) argue that in order to become a Muslim-friendly tourist destination, there are at least four key indicators that need to be met, namely:

1. Ease of access to the destination

2. Internal and external communication by the destination

3. The environment at the destination

4. Services provided by the destination

Along with these points, the Global Muslim Travel Index (Crescent Rating & MasterCard, 2022) published by CrescentRating also focuses on developing Muslim-friendly tourist destinations on four essential points, namely, Access, Communication, Environment and Service. Meanwhile, in its actualization in destinations, it is necessary to emphasize facilities oriented toward the availability of public transportation, including transit facilities and terminals and accommodation, as well as the nature of destination products.

Muslim and Harun (2022) stated that in its actualization, Muslim-friendly tourist destinations must be able to harmonize the perspectives of Muslim and non-Muslim tourists in the same place and time. From the perspective of Muslim tourists, tourist destinations must be able to provide places of worship and good sanitation at every tourist point, halal food and drinks that are not combined with non-halal ones and restrictions during Ramadan. Meanwhile, from the perspective of non-Muslim tourists, different places and situations are needed that are less strict and adapt to their original lifestyle, even in exceptional and limited places.

If one draws a broad outline, preparing a tourist destination to become friendly to Muslim tourists focuses more on providing general and special facilities per religious law. This has implications for the multiplier effects that will be affected, primarily through the provision of halal supply chains that support these tourist destinations. This makes studies regarding the value chain in tourist destinations, especially Muslim-friendly tourism, necessary.

3. Method

As a tool that is considered to represent the production and distribution system of tourism products in a complex and detailed way, many researchers have put forward frameworks for assessing the performance of the tourism value chain. However, in the context of developing Muslim-friendly tourist destinations, there is yet to be one standard and reliable framework/model, especially considering that studies for Muslim-friendly tourism, in general, are still relatively minimal. Therefore, researchers are trying to elaborate on two main concepts, namely, Muslim-friendly tourism and the tourism value chain, to obtain a synthesized framework that can be applied in this research. In implementing this framework, a qualitative exploratory research approach was used. The main point of data processing is how to triangulate data from the results of in-depth structured interviews of each element considered involved in the value chain system, a study of secondary data from several related references and observations on the actualization of the implementation of daily Muslim-friendly tourism activities.

This research is based on a case study conducted in West Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Data collection in this research is divided into two categories of data, namely, primary data collection and secondary data collection. Primary data was obtained from semi-structured interviews with parties related to organizing Muslim-friendly tourism activities in West Sumatra. Interviews were carried out sequentially using the snowball sampling method, considering that the parties suitable to be informants had yet to be identified with certainty. The snowball sampling method is a research sampling method, mainly qualitative informants, to provide recommendations regarding the existence of other informants considered relevant to the research discussion topic (Sugiyono, 2014). Taking into account the limitations in the research, namely, time and cost limitations, the approach used in this research was exponential discriminative snowball sampling to get a general picture of the whereabouts of informants who received few representations. One interview was conducted for each informant, so nine interviews were accumulated to obtain primary data (Table 1). The list of informants collected is as follows:

Table 1. List of respondents.

No	Respondent	Code
1	West Sumatera Provincial Government	A (key informan)
2	Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy	B
3	DEKS-BI (Bank Indonesia sharia economic and financial department)	C
4	Office of Tourism of West Sumatra Province	D
5	Office of Industry and Trade of West Sumatra Province	E
6	Indonesian Halal Product Assurance Organizing Body (BPJPH)	F
7	West Sumatra Regional Planning and Development Agency	G
8	Halal Center Sumatera Barat Muhammadiyah University	H
9	PHRI (Hotel Association of the Republic of Indonesia) West Sumatra	I

Furthermore, in processing the results of field data collection in this research, a three-stage approach was used following what was proposed by Miles et al. (2014), which consists of the following:

1. Data reduction

2. Presentation of data

3. Concluding/verifying data

In addition, to produce significant research implications, the data processing results in the previous process are continued into SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Thread) functions as a tool in mapping the actual conditions of internal and external factors, ultimately producing strategies to annul the problems arising from the actual conditions studied (Sarsby, 2016). Ultimately, the results of the SWOT analysis become the basis for achieving the final result of developing Muslim-friendly tourism, namely, the creation of value benefits.

4. Result and discussion

4.1. The overview of Muslim-friendly tourism in West Sumatera

West Sumatra Province has become one of Indonesia’s Muslim-friendly/halal tourist destinations since it was designated by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in 2019, along with nine other destinations. This determination considers the potential of tourism resources (natural, cultural, artificial), which are capable of being supported by the demographic and cultural conditions of the Minangkabau people as the indigenous people of West Sumatra who have Islamic solid elements. Due to the determination of West Sumatra as a priority for developing Muslim-friendly tourism, the West Sumatra Provincial Government has officially guided the development of Muslim-friendly tourism in its region by issuing Regional Regulation No. 1 of 2020 concerning the Implementation of Halal Tourism. In its development, each tourist attraction in West Sumatra must meet the following criteria:

1. Have a positive image

2. Has a representative toilet

3. Have a place of worship that meets standards

4. Have directional signs for places of worship

5. Availability of halal-certified food and beverage service options

6. Availability of choices of artistic and cultural activities that do not lead to pornography and idolatry

7. Availability of Halal Tourism event or festival activities

8. Have tourist guides or tourism service personnel who dress and appear politely under the local wisdom values of the community

9. For beach or bathing tourism, there are rules for separating male and female visitors and rules for not wearing minimal clothing for visitors.

Based on these criteria, of the total tourist attractions spread across 17 districts/cities in West Sumatra, the Provincial Government has determined eight leading Muslim-friendly tourist destinations, namely:

1. West Sumatra Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in West Sumatra, with a Bagonjong (Gadang house) architectural style in Padang City.

2. Padang Beach is one of the favorite tourist attractions in the city of Padang, with an icon in the form of a monument that says ‘Padang’.

3. Air Manis Beach, in Padang City, which is the origin of the Malin Kundang legend.

4. Miniature Mecca, in Koto Tangah District, Padang City, is a place to perform the Hajj rituals with beautiful views as a backdrop.

5. Tomb of Sheikh Burhanuddin Ulakan, in Ulakan, Padang Pariaman Regency. Sheikh Burhanuddin was one of the great scholars in West Sumatra who died in 1704 AD.

6. Adityawarman Museum, in Padang City, is a museum whose name is taken from the name of the king who ruled Minangkabau during the Majapahit Kingdom era.

7. Cubadak Island, in the Mandeh area of Padang City, is a tourist destination that offers marine beauty to tourists.

8. Clock Tower is one of the most famous icons in West Sumatra since the Dutch colonial era and a landmark of the city of Bukittinggi.

Next, apart from focusing on developing Muslim-friendly tourism in these eight tourist attractions, the West Sumatra Provincial Government also captures the geographical conditions of the region where most of the area is in the form of rural areas so that all stakeholders agree to determine another development which will also be a focus, namely, the development of tourist villages based on Muslim friendly rural tourism concept. Apart from that, considering the many study results that capture technological development from time to time, adapting technological advances to the Smart Tourism concept will also be something to pay attention to in developing Muslim-friendly tourism in West Sumatra.

4.2. Muslim-friendly tourism in West Sumatra implementation analysis

Through the data triangulation process, which was carried out in 9 interview sessions with each informant, several fact findings can be mapped according to the principles of the SWOT methodology model (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) (Sarsby, 2016). A SWOT analysis was carried out to obtain a general and specific picture regarding implementing the Muslim-friendly tourism concept in West Sumatra, then conclude or develop recommendations as a follow-up to development. The following are the results of mapping data findings according to the SWOT model (Table 2):

Table 2. SWOT mapping.

No	Aspects	Research findings points
Internal aspect
1.	Strength	The latest technology (digital) has been adapted at several tourist attractions, especially for interpretation, information and destination marketing efforts. Academic support in conducting strategic studies has been widely provided Regulations have been strengthened through the issuance of West Sumatera Regional Regulation Number 19 of 2022 concerning the implementation of halal tourism and Number 3 of 2014 concerning the Tourism Development Master Plan, as well as technical regulations through the 2019–2024 halal tourism strategic plan All fundamental attributes (Halal accommodations are easy to find, local food and beverage products are halal certified, toilets and prayer facilities are very easy to find) Tourism resources (natural, cultural, artificial) in West Sumatra are assets that meet the criteria of Muslim-friendly tourism products.
2.	Weakness	The division of roles between stakeholders is not yet clear, so there is much overlap in performance In the tourism industry is still centralized in 3 big cities, namely, Padang, Padang Pariaman and Bukittinggi, resulting in unevenness Although the primary tourism resources are well available, they must be balanced with adequate activities/events, especially Muslim-friendly ones. There is no synergy and integration between stakeholders in developing Muslim-friendly tourism Community awareness and participation in tourism, especially Muslim-friendly tourism, is still deficient.
External aspect
3.	Opportunity	In connection with technological advances that some tourist attractions can adopt, further development can be carried out in the form of Smart Muslim-Friendly Utilization of e-collaborator and innovator factors to increase tourist satisfaction to generate word-of-mouth promotions and support destination marketing The characteristics of the Minangkabau tribe, as the indigenous people of West Sumatra who are closely tied to the Islamic religion, support implementing Muslim-friendly tourism in their region.
4.	Thread	The competitiveness of West Sumatra tourism in general and the Muslim-friendly tourism context, which tends to be low compared to other priority areas in Indonesia, threatens to lose tourist market interest Low public awareness regarding the potential of the tourism sector threatens the existence of the tourism sector itself The West Sumatra region, which is included in Indonesia’s disaster-prone zone, threatens the safety and security of visiting tourists.

In the next stage, the research finding points that have been mapped are then ‘crossed’ with each other to produce relevant strategies that have practical and academic implications for further development (Sarsby, 2016). The results of the intersection of the four SWOT elements are as follows (Table 3):

Table 3. Strategy formulation matrix.

S-O strategies	W-O strategies
Implementation of the Smart Halal Tourism Destination concept in each tourist destination in West Sumatra to maximize technological sophistication in each stage of developing Muslim-friendly tourist destinations (planning, marketing, implementation, evaluation, development) Maximize the appearance of fundamental attributes and experience attributes of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations in each tourist destination in West Sumatra so that maximum tourist satisfaction with halal tourism experiences will be created and stimulate e-collaborator and innovator factors Academics need to conduct studies regarding the benefits that the community can gain from the development of Muslim-friendly tourism in their area so that they have the awareness to participate and participate in its development.	Improve and strengthen the position of each stakeholder through a transparent and open development system Utilization of the latest technology and systems to stimulate investment in areas where Muslim-friendly tourism development is still minimal Maximize the role of push and pull factors to stimulate tourists’ interest in visiting with the motif of halal tourism, Muslim-friendly tourism.
S-T strategies	W-T strategies
Strengthening competitiveness through improving experience attributes (improving tourism activities and Muslim-friendly events) as well as maximizing fundamental attributes. Providing and updating information regarding each Muslim-friendly tourist destination along with Muslim-friendly tourism products that can be accessed while at the destination Add studies regarding the resilience of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations to anticipate crisis conditions in the future.	Synergy and integration of each stakeholder in increasing competitiveness, especially through halal certification of each tourism business in the destination to provide guarantees for Muslim tourists Designation of several tourist destinations outside Padang City, Bukittinggi City and Padang Pariaman City as Muslim-friendly tourist destinations as priority/new focus for development to stimulate equality Empowering the community, especially MSMEs, in halal tourism events/festivals to increase the level of community involvement in Muslim-friendly tourism.

From the table above, several things have been created positively in evaluating the implementation of concepts that correlate to forming a Muslim-friendly tourism value chain in West Sumatra. However, several other things still need significant improvement. In a simpler and more focused version, these strategies give rise to the following discussions:

1. It is improving the tourist experience and competitiveness of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations by optimizing the attributes of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations. The attributes of halal/Muslim-friendly tourist destinations consist of 2 categories, namely, primary/fundamental attributes (certified halal food and beverage business, certified halal accommodation, representative sanitation and worship facilities) and experiential attributes (environment that supports Muslim activities, tourism events/activities Muslim friendly, Muslim friendly tour packages) (Abror et al., 2021; Sutono et al., 2022).

2. Understanding between stakeholders in developing and implementing Muslim-friendly tourism regulations in each destination through organizational management. Kostadinović and Stanković (2021) explained that in managing organizations in tourist destinations, there are several key aspects, namely, synergy, integration, transactions, investment and education, which can be created as the primary goal of implementing tourism activities in the tourist destination itself.

3. Adopt the Smart Halal Destination concept as an implication of the use of technology. This is also an effort to speed up the process, cut bureaucratic flow and neatly package tourist destinations at a more advanced and adaptive level. The leading indicators in implementing the Smart Destination concept in halal tourism are the level of application of digital technology, local government regulations and institutions, marketing efforts, industry support and the condition of tourist destination products (Jaelani, 2018).

4. The development of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations needs to be oriented toward beneficial values, especially for the environment and surrounding communities. This is considering the level of community participation, which tends to be low, and they still need to gain awareness of the strategic development of a Muslim-friendly tourism sector in their region. Sutono et al. (2022) explain that the valuable values of Muslim-friendly tourism for destinations can be categorized into five main aspects: economic, socio-cultural, environmental/ecological, experience and knowledge/education.

4.3. Re-modelling Muslim-friendly tourism value chain

From the results of data analysis to produce strategies for developing Muslim-friendly tourism in the previous section, it can be generalized that the formation of values in each element of organizing Muslim-friendly tourism activities in a destination is divided into three main phases, namely, the input phase, the process phase and the output phase.

The Muslim Friendly Tourism Value Chain Model is based on a simple system of thinking that starts with approaches and then goes through an empirical conceptual analysis process. In the end, the impact of the process can be in the form of valuable benefits. This model is a series of business processes that consider several essential factors through the Muslim Friendly Tourism Village approach, Organizational Management, the Smart Halal Destination Concept and several other related approaches, including the tourism system and general Tourism Value Chain.

In the input phase, three essential elements determine the formation of value for tourists, which occurs at the ‘pre-consumption’ stage of tourism products at the destination, namely, the attributes of Muslim-friendly tourist destinations, organizational management and adoption of the concept of intelligent halal tourism. Muslim Friendly Tourism Destination Attributes approach has two focuses: primary and experiential attributes. Primary attributes can be seen through basic needs such as halal food, places of worship, clean toilets and homestays. Then, the attributes of experience can be activity programs, tour packages, Islamic community life, interaction with the community and a maintained environment. The concept of an organizational management model consists of synergy, integration, transactions, investment and education. The Halal Tourism Ecosystem Smart Model also fundamentally strengthens the organizational management model approach. The model consists of a technology sub-system, an environmental sub-system, a destination management sub-system and a policy sub-system. These sub-systems are integrated and, as a whole, have six dimensions: digital technology, destination products, industry, marketing, institutions and policies.

Next, the phase of the process of forming concrete values occurs when tourists ‘consume’ halal tourism products at tourist destinations (Figure 2). The formation of values in destinations is illustrated in the following process:

The above process occurs organically, where the tourism products that are actualized in tourism business units (which by nature are tourism products and services) will be closely correlated with the support of the halal supply chain system behind it. This will later have implications for the formation of a value chain system. Nevertheless, this process is also influenced by tourist motivation, which is actualized in push and pull factors as well as the level of satisfaction with the tourist experience.

Figure 2. The process of establishing Muslim-friendly tourism values.

Finally, the output phase focuses on how the values formed from Muslim-friendly tourism activities in tourist destinations are oriented toward beneficial values for each element involved, especially the surrounding community as the host. These valid values are grouped into the following five aspects:

1. Economy

2. Socio-Cultural

3. Environment

4. Experience

5. Knowledge

Based on this explanation, the Muslim-friendly tourism value chain ecosystem model (Figure 3) resulting from this study is visualized as follows:

Figure 3. Muslim-friendly tourism value chain ecosystem.

4.4. Research implications

From an academic perspective, the results of this research imply that implementing Muslim-friendly tourism in a tourism destination will always be closely correlated with the tourism value chain development cycle based on a halal supply chain. Several things that need attention in developing Muslim-friendly tourist destinations are:

1. The conceptualization and actualization that occurs at the destination in the input phase (which consists of conceptualization of destination attributes, organizational management and Smart Halal Destination)

2. Process phase (push and pull factors, supply chain, products, services)

3. Output phases (economic, socio-cultural, environmental, experience and knowledge)

To support this, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth study regarding the support of each element that makes up the three phases before destinations can ultimately simultaneously form a Muslim-friendly tourism chain system.

Meanwhile, the results of this research have implications for the continuity of synergy and integration that needs to be carried out by all stakeholders in developing Muslim-friendly tourist destinations. There is a demand to map and describe in detail the role, function and significance of each party involved, as well as how the network between each other is formed. Apart from that, the community as the host must be able to democratically participate in implementing Muslim-friendly tourism in their area by knowing the extent of the benefits and impacts of Muslim-friendly tourism in their environment, as well as what schemes there are for them to participate.

5. Conclusion, limitations and recommendations

5.1. Conclusion

Many studies that have been carried out in recent years show that there are significant differences between halal/Muslim-friendly tourism, Islamic/sharia tourism and religious tourism. These differences mean that the requirements that need to be met by destinations also have different standards, especially regarding the attributes that need to be met. The results of this research provide a middle way in that Muslim-friendly/halal tourism has proven to be the form most likely to be developed in various world tourist destinations, even in areas that are not Muslim.

Apart from that, previous research shows that the development of Muslim-friendly tourism/halal tourism has implications for destination adjustments in managing the tourism industry and economic sectors by prioritizing principles under Islamic religious elements. The results of this study prove this, and this research even produced a new model, namely, the Muslim-Friendly Tourism Value Chain Ecosystem Model, which can be used as a framework for developing Muslim-friendly tourism in a destination that can also grow its tourism competitiveness.

Finally, in the context of West Sumatra, the implementation of Muslim-friendly tourism has occurred quite well, where the value chain has been formed with the support of regulations, destination attributes, digital technology adaptation and focused programs from national and regional governments. Unfortunately, several things still need significant improvement, namely, support for community participation, synergy and integration between stakeholders, diversification of Muslim-friendly activities/events and development that is still centralized in certain cities.

5.2. Research limitations

This research focuses on how the Muslim-friendly tourism value chain is formed from elements that are considered related, such as destination attributes, organizational management, smart tourism, tourist motivation, e-collaborators and innovators and beneficial values. In addition, this research is limited to regional-scale tourist destinations. The study’s results have yet to be generalized to tourist destinations on a smaller or larger scale.

5.3. Recommendations

For Muslim-friendly tourism managers in West Sumatra, we recommend several things:

1. There is a need to diversify tourist activities/halal events to increase interest and quality of tourist experience when visiting each destination.

2. All elements involved in developing Muslim-friendly tourism need to be gathered in one forum to reach mutual agreement and understanding so that there is no confusion and discontinuity with each other.

3. Educational efforts are needed to provide public understanding and awareness so that they have the desire and willingness to participate in developing Muslim-friendly tourism in their area.

For academics/scholars, several things need to be studied further regarding the findings of this research:

1. Study of the destination’s carrying capacity as a Muslim-friendly tourist destination

2. Implementation of the Muslim-Friendly Tourism Value Chain Ecosystem model resulting from this research in various types and scales of destinations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anang Sutono

Anang Sutono, CHE, CEE, CTE is an Associate Professor at the NHI Bandung Tourism Polytechnic in the Department of Recreational Business Management. Has research interests in the fields of tourism studies, tourism business, human resource management, human experience development, Muslim-friendly tourism, and event management.

Sumaryadi

Sumaryadi, MM is an Associate Professor at the NHI Bandung Tourism Polytechnic in the Department of Recreational Business Management. Has research interests in the fields of tourism management, tourism business, Muslim-friendly tourism/halal tourism.

Wisnu Rahtomo

Wisnu Rahtomo, MM is a full-time lecturer at the Department of Tourism Destination Management, NHI Bandung Tourism Polytechnic. Has a research interest in the fields of tourist destination management, tourism geography, and halal tourism.

Faisal Fahdian Puksi

Faisal Fahdian Puksi, M.Sc., M.Hum is a full-time lecturer and head of the Travel Business Department, NHI Bandung Tourism Polytechnic. Has research interests in the fields of travel planning, travel business, languages, and tourism management.

Odang Permana

Odang Permana, ME is a full-time lecturer at the Department of Tourism Destinations, NHI Bandung Tourism Polytechnic. Has a research interest in the fields of tourism economics, tourism destination management, and halal tourism.