Islamic Finance and Halal Tourism: An Unexplored Bridge for Smart Specialization

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

thank you for submitting your paper. I carefully read your work and I found it very interesting and well developed. Therefore, I think that your research has many relevant contributions andit properly fit with the standards of this journal. 

So for me this paper is accepted for publication. 

Best of luck for your future research.

Best regards

Author Response

We thank the referee for reading our paper and for the positive evaluation.

Reviewer 2 Report

1. The study is no doubt very original - congratulations on researching such a great topic.
   1. Actually the topic is still under investigated. In addition, availability of the specific data-set can increase interest in this work and can attribute it an acceptable level of novelty.
   2. Given the unusual context of this study, I wonder how this study can be comparable to other tourism or other service context. Although the study results are interesting it
2. The methodology is appropriate for this research. It is well explained and supported in the literature.
3. It is a very well written article, well structured and well explained to the reader. It is easy to follow, even for a non-specialist reader.
   1. The connection of the practice with results is especially interesting. However, it could discuss the overall value of a basically Halal Tourism has for the strategic positioning of a company and its performance.
   2. Has attention been paid to the clarity of expression and readability, such as sentence structure, jargon use, acronyms, etc.:

Author Response

• The study is no doubt very original - congratulations on researching such a great topic.
• (R) Thanks for the positive comment.
• Actually the topic is still under investigated. In addition, availability of the specific data-set can increase interest in this work and can attribute it an acceptable level of novelty.
• (R) We thank the reviewer again.
• Given the unusual context of this study, I wonder how this study can be comparable to other tourism or other service context. Although the study results are interesting it
• (R) In our view, each empirical case study has its own peculiarities but it is true that this research tackles a very specific topic that has not been analysed very much in the most popular tourist destinations. Spain is unique because the country has many extraordinary Muslim legacy hallmarks, so the country needs to strategically plan a decided policy towards developing smart specialization on Halal or Muslim-friendly tourism.
• The methodology is appropriate for this research. It is well explained and supported in the literature.
• (R) We thank the reviewer and agree with him/her.
• It is a very well written article, well structured and well explained to the reader. It is easy to follow, even for a non-specialist reader.
• (R) Thanks again.
• The connection of the practice with results is especially interesting. However, it could discuss the overall value of a basically Halal Tourism has for the strategic positioning of a company and its performance.
• (R) We have linked this interesting comment with the results obtained from those respondents that have had a previous experience in some Halal tourism establishments. We have added in blue the following text in the manuscript:

The latter result is even reinforced for those who have a previous experience in some Halal tourist establishment. This is an important issue that needs to be further analyzed in the context of tourism supply as the perspective of the value that tourism establishments and firms obtain from servicing this niche market is still unknown.

• Has attention been paid to the clarity of expression and readability, such as sentence structure, jargon use, acronyms, etc.:
• (R) Yes, we have paid attention to be clear through the manuscript.