Livening up Japan’s halal tourism by captivating Indonesian potential Muslim tourists

Purpose This paper aims to investigate potential Muslim tourists’ visit intentions to halal tourism destinations in Japan. Design/methodology/approach Data were acquired from 397 respondents of potential Muslim tourists in Indonesia. These data were analyzed with variance-based structural modeling to assess the relationships between religiosity, halal awareness, destination image, destination trust and visit intention. Findings This study disclosed that halal awareness and destination trust could directly affect visit intention. Meanwhile, destination image could influence visit intention after mediated by destination trust. Religiosity was proven to be the antecedent of halal awareness and destination image. Practical implications This study exhibits the ways to optimize the development of halal tourism, especially in Muslim minority countries, by shaping the visit intention of potential Muslim tourists. The providers should concentrate on building the destination trust of potential Muslim tourists. They should innovatively exhibit their sincere commitment to fulfilling halal needs of potential tourists, and having a favorable destination image is only one of the ways. Besides that, the providers can promote halal tourism to potential Muslim tourists with more vital halal awareness. Originality/value This is an initial study to examine the visit intention of potential Muslim tourist for halal tourism destination in a Muslim minority country.