Discovering the importance of halal tourism for Indonesian Muslim travelers: perceptions and behaviors when traveling to a non-Muslim destination

Purpose This research aims to identify halal attributes for Indonesian Muslim tourists that can create a destination image, revisit intention and recommendation intention. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world and their Muslim tourists who frequently visit non-Muslim countries. This is a great opportunity for non-Muslim countries to improve halal tourism services. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected through a panel of recruited online sampling on 268 Indonesian Muslim tourists who had visited non-Muslim countries. Structural equation modeling analysis is used to investigate the impact of halal tourism attributes on destination images and behavioral intentions. Findings This study found the five halal tourism attributes that had a positive and significant impact on affective destination image, overall destination image, revisit intention and recommendation intention. Practical implications Halal tourism attributes can be used as a basis for marketing strategies of tourism bureaus to create a destination image, increase intention to revisit and provide effective word-of-mouth recommendations based on Muslim tourists needs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the main needs for halal tourism of Indonesian Muslim tourists when traveling to non-Muslim countries. Our study contributes to the halal tourism literature, along with having implications for non-Muslim tourism bureaus and halal tourism teaching and practice.