Muslim travelers in Asia: The destination preferences and brand perceptions of Malaysian tourists

Although Korea’s dominant inbound tourism markets are Japan and China, Muslim tourists from Malaysia and other Asian source markets are rapidly growing and worthy of attention. In this analysis of Malaysian Muslim tourists, it is concluded that there is a more favorable destination brand positioning for Korea than for China, but that Korea lags behind Japan for all dimensions of brand image except for ‘access to Muslim culture’. Korea is positioned somewhere between China and Japan for brand awareness, association, and loyalty and also for emotion-related items. Respondents perceived China as more familiar than Korea. It was concluded that the tour planning preferences and gift-giving behaviors of Malaysian Muslim tourists differ according to their sociodemographic characteristics.