The tourist gaze: Delineating preferences of the malay muslim woman

This article basically explores the literature on examining the tourist gaze in differing circumstances. Without intending to engage in a feminist debate, the authors focus on the preferences of Malay Muslim women tourists as one of the factors that contribute to the growth of domestic tourism in Malaysia. The understanding of tourist behaviour, gender groupings, culture and religion are the main concerns of this paper as the objective was to ascertain how the Muslim identity of a group of female tourists influences them when they visit a particular tourist destination. The discussions go further by using the Malay Muslim women’s own tourist gaze as a tool to explore these perceptions. This approach delivers outcomes substantially different from those of previous studies in comparable Western environments which helps to better understand the social dimensions of a Muslim community, particularly that of the Malay women. Since the tourist gaze and experience is a fascinating social phenomenon, the challenge lies in understanding the tourist’s behaviour in general, and the Malay Muslim women tourist’s behaviour specifically, and how coastal destination appeals to their gaze.