In winter and spring 2014, Istanbul was decorated with billboards of clear blue sea and white sand, titled “Women and Men Only Beaches” and “Private Beach Villas.” Turkish businessman Fadil Akgunduz, better known under the alias Jet Fadil, promised Turkey's Muslims an island of their own in the Maldives. However, the promise of a high-end luxury Islamic holiday in the Maldives proved to be a major scam in July 2014. But the dream of a sea, sand and sun holiday lives on for many observant Muslims in Turkey.
When the word “muhafazakar” — meaning conservative in Turkish — is typed into Google, the first hits are “conservative hotels,” “five-star conservative hotels,” “conservative villa,” “conservative holiday villages” and so on. The “halal tourism" boom has been in the works since the mid-1990s.
