The Insurance Culture of Muslim Tourists

The current topic is dictated by the growing share of Muslim tourists in Europe and around the world. Their peculiarity is that they often travel without travel insurance. Most of them reject the possibility of insuring because it is contrary to their religion and cultural habits. On the one hand, this consumer anomaly is burdening tour operators and their partners, but on the other hand, it finds good market horizons for insurance companies. It is interesting to know the possible reasons why Muslims are risk seekers and resistant to insurance protection. The main root cause of the anomaly is the religious and moral principles of Sharia, which determine the specific consumer attitude toward insurance services. The solution is in favor of product innovation and integration of takaful insurance into the insurers' product range. Takaful requires the organization of the insurance business to be of a mutual type, which is fundamentally different from the prevailing shareholder type in the Western world. The potential for European and American insurers is enormous, given that takaful insurance provides them the opportunity to put themselves in new markets and to occupy unsatisfied market niches.