Innovative, smart, green and halal: a recipe for marketing Muslim destination

Abstract

Purpose This study explores tourist loyalty as a key for marketing Muslim destinations by integrating experience quality, innovation, smart technology and environmental concerns as determinants. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research approach was applied by gathering data from 442 inbound Muslim tourists who visited various tourist destinations in Indonesia. PLS-SEM was utilized to examine the hypothesized association between the construct variables. Findings The data analysis reveals that the inclusion of smart technology and environmental concerns strengthens the innovation-quality-loyalty model. Specifically, this study highlights that smart tourism technology, and environmental concerns are essential to drive the quality of destination innovation and tourist holistic experience, which subsequently impact tourist loyalty. Practical implications This study provides hints to the marketing managers of Muslim tourist destinations to make their destination sustainable by creating loyalty among their Muslim visitors. In order to achieve this target, Muslim destinations are suggested to utilize smart technology and create environmentally friendly destinations to push innovation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first examination of the amalgamating innovation-quality-loyalty model with smart tourism technology and environmental concerns in the context of halal tourism.