The marketing of religious tourism: islamophobia hinders the efforts of professionals in the sector?
Abstract
Morocco is a North African country known for its history and ancient civilization, making it a destination of choice for tourists from all over the world. Several strategies have been adopted to promote this important sector. Indeed, religious tourism which is an essential lever of this sector participates in the development of Moroccan tourism by a large number of tourists each year. Several religious and cultural sites in Morocco are the content of a marketing approach promoting these sites as places of attraction for tourists.
However, the September 11 attacks in New York upset global stability and security. After this tragic event by Al-Qaeda of a fanatical Islamic reference, the phenomenon of Islamophobia has projected itself onto the world media scene while producing stereotypes that portray Islam as a religion of violence and Muslims as insurgents bloodied. As a result, tourism in the Arab countries and especially in Morocco is influenced by this phenomenon which has greatly reduced the number of tourists who visit the kingdom. In this article we intend to study by an empirical study the impact of the rise of Islamophobia in Western countries on religious tourism in Morocco.
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