ABSTRACT

In today's multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, the tourist experience plays an emblematic role, because it represents a place/opportunity for different experiences and cultures, different religions to meet, and a tool for recognising identities. Analysing tourism in Muslim society, we can identify a new segment called Muslim-friendly tourism, which seems worth exploring in greater depth. This contribution focuses, in a first phase, on the relationship between Islam and tourism through doctrinal considerations and religious sources (the Koran), and then verifies how relevant Muslim-friendly tourism is, from a social and economic point of view, in the national and international landscape. Finally, it will evaluate the ability of Muslim-friendly tourism to meet the criteria of sustainability. The work will be conducted taking into account scientific insights and data relating to this topic in many Muslim and non-Muslim countries, in order to understand its peculiarities, with some explicit references to Italy and its attitude towards Muslim-friendly tourism.