Women in Tourism in Asian Muslim Countries (Perspectives on Asian Tourism) 9813347562, 9789813347564

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Perspectives on Asian Tourism Series Editors: Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore · Paolo Mura

Nataša Slak Valek Hamed Almuhrzi  Editors

Women in Tourism in Asian Muslim Countries

Perspectives on Asian Tourism Series Editors Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore Griffith University Nathan, QLD, Australia Paolo Mura Zayed University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

While a conspicuous body of knowledge about tourism in Asia is emerging, Western academic ontologies and epistemologies still represent the dominant voice within tourism circles. This series provides a platform to support Asian scholarly production and reveals the different aspects of Asian tourism and its intricate economic and socio-cultural trends. The books in this series are aimed to pave the way for a more integrated and multifaceted body of knowledge about Asian tourism. By doing so, they contribute to the idea that tourism, as both phenomenon and field of studies, should be more inclusive and disentangled from dominant (mainly Western) ways of knowing. More specifically, the series will fill gaps in knowledge with regard to: • the ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions behind Asian tourism research; • specific segments of the Asian tourist population, such as Asian women, Asian backpackers, Asian young tourists, Asian gay tourists, etc; • specific types of tourism in Asia, such as film-induced tourism, adventure tourism, beauty tourism, religious tourism, etc; • Asian tourists’ experiences, patterns of behaviour, and constraints to travel; • Asian values that underpin operational, management, and marketing decisions in and/or on Asia (travel); • external factors that add to the complexities of Asian tourism studies. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15382

Nataša Slak Valek • Hamed Almuhrzi Editors

Women in Tourism in Asian Muslim Countries

Editors Nataša Slak Valek College of Business Zayed University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Hamed Almuhrzi College of Arts and Social Sciences Sultan Qaboos University Muscat, Oman

ISSN 2509-4203     ISSN 2509-4211 (electronic) Perspectives on Asian Tourism ISBN 978-981-33-4756-4    ISBN 978-981-33-4757-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4757-1 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Contents

1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    1 Hamed Almuhrzi and Nataša Slak Valek Part I Muslim Women Travelling 2 Disempowered Hosts? A Literature Review of Muslim Women and Tourism����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   13 Isabel Giannina Feldbauer and Heather Louise Jeffrey 3 Muslim Women Travellers’ Constraints: A Critical Review����������������   25 Rokhshad Tavakoli and Paolo Mura 4 The Female Muslim Tourist Perceived Value in Non-OIC Countries: A Case of Indonesian Outbound Market����������������������������   41 Sari Lenggogeni and Athiyya Chaira Part II Muslim Women Working in Tourism 5 Women’s Footprint in Traditional Muslim Ethnic Communities: The Case of World Pottery Village in Iran��������������������������������������������   63 Ahmad Reza Sheikhi and Izaskun Andueza Imirizaldu 6 Are Women Empowered Producers of Tourism in Pakistan?�������������   81 Tazayian Sayira, Hazel Andrews, and Qurat-ul-Ann Ayesha 7 Lived Experiences of Omani Women Working in the Tourism Industry: A Phenomenological Study����������������������������������������������������   97 Mohammed Alkharusi and Reynaldo Gacho Segumpan 8 Is It Really Culture or Religion? Challenges Surrounding Women Participation and Empowerment in Kelantan, Malaysia������  113 Sheena Bidin, Azlizam Aziz, and Zamru Ajuhari

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Contents

Part III Non-Muslim Women Travelling to a Muslim Destination 9 The Perceived Risks of Western Women Towards Traveling to Oman����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  131 Hafidh Al Riyami 10 Women in Tourism in Muslim Contexts: The Impact of Cultural Background on Customer Behaviour����������������������������������������������������  153 Irina Gewinner 11 Freya Stark’s Tales of Travel on the Coast of Incense��������������������������  175 Zoe Hurley 12 Conclusion������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  193 Nataša Slak Valek and Hamed Almuhrzi

List of Reviewers

Heather Louise Jeffrey  Middlesex University Dubai, Dubai, UAE Amitabh Sharm  University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Muscat, Oman Scott  Ritchardson  The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Dubai, UAE Filareti Kotsi  Zayed University, Dubai, UAE Sari Lenggogeni  Universitas Andalas, West Sumatra, Indonesia Reynaldo  Gacho  Segumpan  University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Muscat, Oman Majda Alsalti  Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman Huda Albalushi  Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman Abdulaziz Alsawafi  University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Muscat, Oman Rokhshad Tavakoli  Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia Hamed Almuhrzi  Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman Nataša Slak Valek  Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE Hamed Al-Azri  Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

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Chapter 1

Introduction Hamed Almuhrzi and Nataša Slak Valek

Abstract  Literature in social sciences and humanities has been pinpointing to issues concerning women empowerment, involvement, education, and identity construction. Furthermore, gender and tourism are an important topic concerning international tourism organisations. SDGs 2030 have clearly emphasised the importance of gender equality by setting goals and indicators towards achieving women empowerment. SDGs outline the challenges facing gender equality by locating the challenges facing women in relation to fundamental socio-economic areas such as education opportunities, jobs availability, career advancement, and sometime the right of mobility. This book brings into focus these topics concerning Muslim women and tourism. Socio-culturally, Islam is perceived to have a greater impact on women than men. Arguably, women, in Muslim countries in particular, experience tourism from a distinguish perspective compared to men. The book explores complexities of Muslim women working in tourism, Muslim women travelling internationally, and non-Muslim women travel to Muslim countries. This chapter introduces the book by first presenting the importance and scale of tourism industry to Asian Muslim countries. Then, it explores the complexity of culture and religion, and their impact on women in tourism industry. Lastly, it provides an overview of the structure of the book and presents a briefing for each chapter. Keywords  Muslim Asian countries · Muslim Asian women · Islam · Tourism

This volume is about women and tourism in Asian Muslim countries. It continuous the scholarly work on Asian tourism subjects within the series of Perspectives on Asian Tourism edited by Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore and Paolo Mura. The total estimated number of Muslims around the globe is nearly 1.6 billion – approximately H. Almuhrzi (*) College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman e-mail: [email protected] N. Slak Valek College of Business, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 N. Slak Valek, H. Almuhrzi (eds.), Women in Tourism in Asian Muslim Countries, Perspectives on Asian Tourism, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4757-1_1

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H. Almuhrzi and N. Slak Valek

quarter of the whole earth’s population and 60 % of them are living in Asian countries (PEW, 2011). Figure 1.1. shows the distribution of the population of Muslim women in and across the globe. The figure shows that the majority of Muslim women live in Asian and Middle Eastern regions. While Asia is considered the continent where the majority of Muslim countries are located; it is important to highlight that although Asian countries such as China and India have large numbers of Muslims compared to other Muslim countries; Muslim society in these countries is considered by to be a minority. Figure 1.2 presents women’s population based on religious affiliation in Asia-Pacific. The figure shows that the region has a complex mix of different religions. According to PEW (2020), the two largest religious populations in the Asia-­ Pacific region are Hindus and Muslim; 26 % and 25.7 % respectively. Figure 1.2 shows a similar pattern to the Asia-Pacific women’s population by religions, where the two largest religious groups are Hindus and Muslims. Arab-Asian countries are commonly known for their Muslim majority population. Hence, it is not surprising that tourism literature commonly makes links between Arabs and Islam, however Almuhrzi, Alriyami, and Scott (2017) clarify this confusion by referring to two terms: ‘ethnoreligiousness’ and ‘ethnoregionalism’. While the former explains the overlap between religious identity and other identities, the latter clarifies the interplay between nationalism and other identities. Asian countries arguably hold similar complexities when it comes to the interplay among identities within the tourism industry. As such, exploring whether and how these complexities affect women in the tourism industry seems to be vital.

Fig. 1.1  Worldwide Muslim women population, 2020 (PEW, 2020) populations of less than 10,000 are shown as Muslim tourist satisfaction Halal non-physical value -> Muslim tourist satisfaction Halal physical attribute value -> Muslim tourist satisfaction Price value -> Muslim tourist satisfaction Quality value -> Muslim tourist satisfaction Social value -> Muslim tourist satisfaction

Original sample (O) 0.357

Sample mean (M) 0.361

Standard deviation (STDEV) 0.103

TStatistics (|O/ P STDEV|) values 3.470*** 0.001

0.013

0.013

0.074

0.180

0.857

0.157

0.155

0.089

1.762*

0.079

0.043

0.043

0.058

0.740

0.460

0.251

0.242

0.092

2.740**

0.006

0.077

0.081

0.054

1.422

0.156

Notes: *p