Sustainable development in halal tourism industry: The role of innovation and environmental concern

Abstract

Halal tourism has increased and become a key tourism industry following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this industry suffered greatly during the pandemic, it has made a promising return after the outbreak ended. Understanding how to sustain the tourism business in this recovering industry is critical. This study attempts to build a model of a sustainable strategy for the halal tourism industry from the tourist’s perspective, i.e., the tourists’ experience and their pleasure with the visit, by employing innovation and environmental concern as the determinants. Data from 442 inbound tourists visiting various Indonesian tourism destinations were used in this study. Using Partial Least Squares modelling, this study discovers that innovation and environmental concern are significant determinants of tourist experiences in tourism destinations, with innovation having a higher influence. Subsequently, tourist satisfaction is highly influenced by the attraction and halal products and services. Thus, this analysis implies that destination innovation and tourist concern for the environment are critical variables for the sustainable development of halal tourism.