<Special Feature: Accountability in Islamic Economy: Transforming Religiosity and Religious Experience in Muslim Societies> Spiritual Turn of Islamic Tourism: The Islamic Way to Experience Economy Beyond the Halal Certification System

Abstract

This study examines the development of an ‘Islamic way of experience economy' by analysing Muslim travel writers in the Islamic tourism market. As the Islamic tourism market has been struggling with the commoditisation of tourism products and services based on the halal certification system, some stakeholders have been collaborating with individual travel writers who actively promote a new Islamic way of travel and lifestyle for Muslim individuals. Stakeholders in the Islamic tourism market focus on the experience economy to enhance the added value of tourism activities. In this context, the narratives of Muslim travel writers reflect the moral accountability of Muslim individuals, grounded in the concept of iḥsān. This study employed the qualitative analysis of these narratives that encourage Muslim individuals to develop ethical subjectivity by promoting an Islamic approach to the experiential economy through spiritual, physical, and social productivity. The results reveal that developing the experience economy in the Islamic tourism market can foster an Islamic model of ‘ethical productivity, ' enhancing economic value and spiritual, physical, and social achievements for self-improvement and self-actualisation in daily life and across life stages.