The Muamalat Newsletter Vol.1 2023

63 FEM Newsletter | June 2023 Introduction The COVID-19 Pandemic has heavily hit the Malaysia’s tourism industry. This pandemic Covid-19 is more critical compared to the previous health-related crisis such as SARS in 2003, the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, and MERS in 2015 (Salman et al., 2021). The estimationdropof international tourist arrivals of 78% due to COVID-19 Pandemic, causing a loss of US$ 1.2 trillion in export revenues from tourism and 120 million direct tourism job cuts representing seven times the impact of September 11 and the largest decline in the history. Many people had lost their jobs because of travel restrictions and business closures affected the tourism industry (Mihajlovic, 2020). The Covid-19 Pandemic has made the tourism industry decrease the sector and also the economic problem like bunches of the worker being fired and the termination of employment has been increasing significantly (Mihajlovic, 2020). The virus has affected all parts of the tourism industry’s value chain like facing potential bankruptcy with the reduction of workers and negotiated pay cuts for others. The increase numbers in room booking cancellations, cancelled events, closed accommodations also affected in other parts of the supply chain—the catering, laundry services, and restaurants (Foo et al., 2020). Furthermore, COVID-19 affects the tourism industry not only in Malaysia but worldwide. Perhaps technology will open opportunity to Malaysia’s tourism industry. Undeniably technology creates both opportunities and challenges. This paper explore on the opportunities and challenges of technology on halal tourism industry. The term “halal tourism,” also known as “Islamic tourism” or “Muslim-friendly tourism,” refers to one of the current concepts in hospitality that expressly meets the needs of Muslim tourists (Said, M & others, 2020). The definition of Halal tourism by Jeffery, chairman of the World Travel Market, is “a sort of religious tourism that reflects permissible activities under the Islamic teachings in terms of behavior, attire, conduct, and diet.” (For many years, the concept of halal tourism has been acknowledged. Muslimhas a long history of travel especially during Hajj and Umrah. The hajj (the primary pilgrimage) is an obligatory journey of every Muslimwho has reached puberty with sound mind to complete at least once in their lifetime if that they are physically capable and have the resources to do so (Jafari and Scott, 2014). The journey require them (Muslim believer) to travel to Saudi Arabia, specifically to Islam sacred city; Mecca and Medina. Muslim not only encouraged to travel to other parts of the world for spiritual purpose only, but also asked to see and appreciate the origin and creation (The Quran, 29:20). Therefore, travelling for Muslim is not foreign because it has been rooted quite long since the beginning of Islam in 610 AD (Jamal, S & others, 2015). Halal Tourism Industry: Technology Disruption Authors: Amir Hakimi Che Samsol Adibah Shafawati Shaharuddin