This review assembled 420 publications on Islamic tourism in Malaysia and Thailand from 1995–2025 after screening and cleaning. It described a foundational phase in 1995–2009 focused on definitions and Muslim travelers' needs, an expansion phase in 2010–2019 centered on management, halal certification, service quality, and destinations, and an integration phase in 2020–2025 adding sustainability, digital innovation, halal gastronomy, and post-pandemic adaptation. Tourism management represented 45.2% of publications, halal certification 23.8%, and destination studies 18.7%. Malaysian literature emphasized halal governance and Shariah compliance, whereas Thai work emphasized cultural sensitivity, Muslim-minority participation, and cross-cultural service.
Key findings
- The literature moved through three phases: definition and traveler needs, management and certification, then sustainability, technology, gastronomy, and post-pandemic adaptation.
- Among 420 publications, tourism management accounted for 45.2%, halal certification for 23.8%, and destination studies for 18.7%.
- Malaysian studies emphasized halal governance, Shariah compliance, and halal gastronomy, while Thai studies emphasized cultural sensitivity, Muslim-minority participation, and cross-cultural service delivery.
Why this matters globally
The map helps universities, tourism agencies, and industry see a shift from definitions and service standards toward digital design, sustainability, and post-crisis adaptation. Comparing a Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority context also highlights different policy models. Publication shares describe indexed scholarship rather than market size or traveler demand, and thematic growth does not establish that halal or digital interventions improve revenue, satisfaction, or sustainability.
Thai researcher contribution
Arifeen Yama and Srawut Aree of the Muslim Studies Center, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, worked with Universiti Teknologi MARA colleagues to compare Thailand and Malaysia. Thailand's contribution is to foreground Muslim-minority participation and cross-cultural service rather than reducing Islamic tourism to food certification. The Thai–Malaysian collaboration adds a regional comparative lens across three decades of scholarship.
Limitations to consider
SciSpace, Google Scholar, and full-text repositories differ in coverage, indexing, and metadata quality, so records may be missed or duplicated despite cleaning. The abstract does not provide complete queries, language and document-type limits, or exclusion rules, constraining reproducibility. Keyword clusters depend on author terminology and qualitative coding choices, recent papers have short citation windows, and two countries do not represent the Muslim world. Bibliometrics maps publication structure rather than traveler behavior, policy effectiveness, or economic impact.