Representations of Islam in Official Tourism Promotion

This article is concerned with the ways in which Islam is represented in the official tourism promotion of countries with mainly Muslim populations where non-Muslims constitute important tourist markets. Islam is one of the world's major religions, but it has a potentially difficult relationship with international tourism and has become a sensitive issue for the industry due to wider political developments. The cases of selected leading destinations are considered and their formal printed and online promotional materials are analyzed. Islam is shown to be acknowledged, but it occupies a relatively limited amount of space and marketers focus on visually appealing and noncontroversial manifestations of the religion. Implications of such an approach are discussed and it is concluded that some revisions may be advisable in the light of conditions in the contemporary world.