The Determinants of Tourists ’ Intention to Visit Halal Tourism Destinations in Aceh Province

This present study aims to identify the determinants of tourists’ intention towards halal tourism in Aceh Province. The population of this study was the tourists visiting Aceh Province in 2019 based on the data from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The study used a quantitative research method, employing a purposive questionnaire to 300 local tourists and foreign tourists. The study analyzed the data using multiple linear regression with independent variables consisting of perceptions about access, communication, environment, and service. Overall, the study found that the perceptual attributes of access, communication, environment, and service were able to determine the tourists’ intention towards halal tourism in Aceh. The two most dominant determinants in shaping and encouraging increased intention in halal tourism were the Islamic environment and service for halal tourism. The study recommends the importance of adopting the Islamic environmental ecosystem and service as a market strategy for halal tourism destinations in Aceh Province.


Introduction
The growth of Muslim tourists has become one of the new market segments for the tourism sector. Therefore, the Indonesian government through related agencies needs to increase the local and national economic growth through the prospective halal tourism. Tourism has been a major contributor to the country's foreign exchange and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the last three years (2016-2018), the tourism sector was able to contribute to foreign exchange of USD 40,771 billion with an average contribution of 4.17 %. 1 The data from the Global Islamic Economy Gateway (2018) 2 noted that there was a growth in the value of halal tourism, consisting of halal food, halal travel, modest fashion, and halal media, and halal recreation. Overall, the consumption of the halal industry in Indonesia in 2017 reached more than USD 200 billion, equivalent to 36 percent of total household consumption.
Aceh Province is the second region after West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) to be within the Top 5 Province with the best halal tourism from The Cescent  Aceh is also designated as a National Tourism Development Zone which includes the Banda Aceh area and its surroundings. Aceh has a number of potentials, based on the National Tourism Destination, to optimize its tourist destination areas, which include Banda Aceh-Weh and their surroundings. In addition, geographically, Aceh is near the Nias-Simeulue DPN, and this provides the advantage for the province to show a very beautiful sea panorama and a unique culture of the local community.
Another potential for halal tourism in Aceh is the achievement for winning three categories: Aceh voted as the best Muslim tourist-friendly cultural destination, Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport awarded the best Muslim touristfriendly airport, and Baiturrahman Mosque earned the best tourist attraction in the 2016 National Halal Tourism Competition by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism. 4 All of these attractions have their uniqueness and attractiveness for domestic and foreign tourists, making them a great potential for the development of Aceh's future tourism and also investment opportunities for investors towards the Halal Tourism industry. Moreover, the number of visits of domestic and foreign tourists to Aceh has increased from year to year, as seen from the following data from the Aceh Provincial Tourism Office. The increase in tourist visits is highly likely due to the improvement in Aceh's Halal tourism branding. According to a report by the Deputy for Tourism Institutional Development of the Ministry of Tourism (2015), 5 the increase of tourist visits in Aceh was a result of the growing popularity of Aceh with the application of Islamic law and the tsunami heritage that made tourists from other countries eager to explore. In addition, Aceh's conditions have already been conducive to receiving tourist visits.
The high movement of domestic and foreign tourist visits to Aceh is inseparable from the perception of tourism itself. To get a positive perception, it is necessary to have a number of attributes that are able to form positive perceptions. A study of tourism attributes by Nieamah (2014) describes that positive perceptions about tourist destination areas built from various tourism attributes among tourists are one of the keys to guarantee the development of a tourist destination 6 . To create a positive perception, a tourist attraction is required to meet the expectations of tourists. Therefore, to analyze how much the market wants, a perception analysis including perceptions of tourists is needed from a number of criteria, such as access, communication, environment, services, and intentions.
A quantitative study of tourism perception had been carried out concerning the pattern of the relationship between tourists' satisfaction and tourists' destination attributes using path analysis models. This study was conducted by Nusantini (2016) who emphasized the importance of clear and measurable costs to form positive perceptions of tourists. In other studies, Hermawan (2017), Sangkaeng (2015), and Astuti (2015) Sari et al. (2019) yielded an estimate of the positive influence between the perceptions of community development and attitudes towards halal tourism. 10 In this study, to measure tourists' intention in Aceh, there are four independent variables used, namely access, communication, environment, and service, whereas the dependent variable is intention in halal tourism.
As there are interesting trends of research resulted in the studies of tourism and increasing access to halal tourism destinations in Aceh, empirical studies are needed to attribute a more comprehensive perception of halal tourism with a gradual approach in terms of tourist perceptions. This present study aims to identify more deeply the attributes that shape the perceptions of halal tourism in order to investigate the intention of tourists' visit in Aceh Province. This study is different from a previous study conducted by Musa et al. (2021) whose independent variables differed, specifically examining the direct and indirect relationships between Muslim-Friendly Tourism (MFT) and travel intentions, destination images, and tourist attitudes. In this study, we examine the perceptions of tourists based on the attributes of access, communication, environment, and service.

Halal Tourism
The term "halal" in halal tourism refers to all that is ordered in Islamic religious teachings and becomes the basis for the behaviors and activities of Muslims. 11 The term "halal" is also used to indicate all that can be consumed according to the Qur'an or the Hadith of the Prophet. On the other hand, the term "haram" refers to acts of violation of religious teachings by Muslims. Therefore, a Muslim is required to benefit from halal activities and avoid those forbidden by the religion.
The word "halal" means something that is permitted and is usually used for a legitimate understanding. The concept of halal in Islam has very specific motives such as to preserve the purity of religion, to maintain an Islamic mentality, to preserve life, to protect property, to protect future generations, and to maintain self-respect and integrity. Tourism in the modern sense is a phenomenon based on the need for health and the changing of air, a conscious Muhammad Yasir Yusuf, et.al. DOI: 10.22373/sjhk.v5i2.9270 http://jurnal.arraniry.ac.id/index.php/samarah assessment and fostering love for the beauty of nature and, in particular, is caused by the increasing association of various nations and human classes as a result of the development of commerce, industry, and the improvement of toolstransportation. 12 In the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 of 2009 concerning Tourism, tours are carried out by people or groups of people with special places for recreation, personal development, or study the uniqueness of tourist attractions temporarily; and, tourism is a variety of activities and supported by various facilities provided by the community, entrepreneurs, government, and local government. In addition, term "tourism affairs" are all activities related to tourism and multidimensional as well as multidisciplinary in nature appearing as a manifestation of the needs of each person and country and also the interactions between tourists and local communities, co-tourists, the government, local government, and entrepreneurs.
In accordance with the recommendation of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), a tourist is any person who visits a country outside of their place of residence, encouraged by one or several needs without intending to earn income at the place visited and the duration of the visit is not more than 12 (twelve) months. Another occurrence is tourists who visit an area usually intend to spend time to relax, refresh the mind, and wish to break away from the routine of daily life. Therefore, a tourist can also mean someone who travels from another place far from his/her home for reasons other than home or official purposes. 13 Based on definitions above, halal tourism activities can refer to the movement of people from one place to another in order to fulfill their satisfaction in a frame that is justified by Islamic values. The movement from one place to another naturally leads to the transfer of economic activities to the intended tourist areas. The transfer of tourist activities to the intended tourist areas encourages the economic growth of the population living in the tourist areas through the provision of goods, products, and services. Further, halal tourism is also known as Islamic tourism, halal friendly tourism destinations, halal travel, Muslimfriendly travel destinations, and halal lifestyle, among others.

Perceptions of Tourists' Visit Intention
Perception is a perspective, action, and picture given by someone to something around the environment, both positive and negative. 14 Similarly, Irianto (2011) 15 states that perception is a view of an object which an individual tries to interpret and the interpretation is strongly influenced by the characteristics of the individual and the behavior of the individual's perception.
The perceptions of domestic tourists visiting Pamukkale, studied by Bertan and Altintas (2013), 16 showed that visitor perceptions were determined by tourism facilities to help tourists have a pleasant and memorable time. The facilities thus will increase the perception of visitors positively and lead to the important development and growth of the tourism industry in the region.
Research by Nowacki (2013) 17 on the determinants of satisfaction of tourist attraction's visitors on four tourist objects located in Western Poland found that visitor satisfaction was determined by two main groups of factors: the subject (visitor features) and the object (attraction features). The factors related to the subject that determined satisfaction included gender, age, education, size of residence, distance from residence, acquaintance with tourist objects and frequency of visiting similar tourist objects, and interest in subject matter. In contrast, tourism objects were determined by motivation, education value, relaxation, and a sense of authenticity. Nuraeini (2014) examined the variable determinants of tourist attraction at the Ranggawarsita Museum by using three indicators, namely facilities, accessibility, and museum design. The results of this study showed a significantly positive effect on revisit intention. The dimension of accessibility was a key factor in increasing revisit intention to the Ranggawarsita Museum. 18 The growth of tourist destinations depends on the accessibility of tourist sites with adequate accommodation. Access to this accommodation consists of transportation routes to tourist destinations and the provision of appropriate Muhammad Yasir Yusuf, et.al. DOI: 10.22373/sjhk.v5i2.9270 http://jurnal.arraniry.ac.id/index.php/samarah determining the satisfaction of Indonesian millennial Muslim tourists. 24 However, Saleh and Anisah (2019) provide a perspective that tourists who have come to Aceh are predominantly because of business purposes, and not for halal leisure purposes. 25 Sofyan et al. (2021) confirm that the benefits of halal tourism as a basis for social resilience are based on the objectives of maqashid shariah (objectives of Islamic law) in decision making 26 The latest research from Musa (2021) entitled "What Determines Muslim-Friendly Tourism in Aceh?" shows that MFT, destination image, and tourist attitude significantly influence travel intention; destination image and tourist attitude are the perfect mediators in influencing the MFT on travel intention to Aceh. 27

Methodology
This study concerning the attribute perceptions of tourists on the intention towards halal tourism in Aceh used a quantitative method, using multiple linear regression. The study collected the data from the visitor data in 2019 at tourist spots in Aceh. Further, the study disseminated a purposive questionnaire to 300 local tourists and foreign tourists. The unit of analysis in this study used a cross-section database. The object of this study consisted of the mobility of tourists visiting Aceh Province, both the local and foreign tourists. The mobility of tourists is considered to shape the perceptions that will affect the intention towards halal tourism.

Population and Sample
Population is a whole group of people, events, or interesting things that intended to be investigated by researchers. 28 In this case, all domestic and foreign tourists who have visited Aceh Province can be considered as the research population. Based on the statistical data on the number of visitors who traveled to Aceh Province, there were 2,529,879 local tourists and 107,037 foreign tourists. Determination of a sample size of 300 people is sufficient to meet the Muhammad Yasir Yusuf, et.al. DOI: 10.22373/sjhk.v5i2.9270 http://jurnal.arraniry.ac.id/index.php/samarah population in the study of more than 10,000 people. 29 The following table describes the number of samples using the Slovin formula. 30 The sampling technique in the context of tourists visiting Aceh is categorized as non-probability sampling as there are some selected tourist sampling criteria measured according to the research objectives. According to , purposive sampling is a technique to determine research samples with certain considerations aimed at making the data obtained later more representative. 31 Some criteria for consideration in the sampling are: 1. Tourists with mobility of visiting Aceh Province more than two times 2. Tourists who stay/spend a night in Aceh Province

Operational Definitions of the Variables
The operational variables in this study consisted of independent variables, namely the attributes of tourist perceptions in terms of access, communication, environment, and facilities. On the other hand, the dependent variable was halal tourism intention. The detailed description of the operational variables can be seen in the following table.

Model Analysis
The analysis model of the study was multiple linear regression. The use of multiple linear regression was intended to test and analyze the influence of perceptions of access, facilities, communication, and performance towards halal tourism intention. The linear regression application was useful for analyzing the functional relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable which was then statistically formulated as follows.

Result and Discussion
The analytical model utilized to test the effect of perception of access, communication, environment, and service on halal tourism intention was multiple linear regression. Data processing results provided empirical evidence of the diversity of the results obtained, as described in Table 4. Source: SPSS 18.0 (2020) Table 4 above shows that the analysis obtained R-Square value of 0.705 or (70.5%). It indicates that the percentage contribution of the influence of independent variables (access, communication, environment, and service) to the dependent variable (intention) reached 70.5% or the variation of the independent variables used was able to explain 70.5% of the dependent variable variation (intention).
On the other hand, the remaining 29.5% was influenced or explained by other variables not included in this research model. Standard Error of the Estimate is a measure of the number of errors of the regression model in predicting the value of Y. As the regression results obtained a value of 2.384, this indicates that the number of errors in the prediction of intention was 2.384. The regression findings confirmed that there was a significant influence on the perceptions of access, environment, and service towards halal tourism intention. However, the perception of communication did not significantly influence halal tourism intention in Aceh.

Determinants of Halal Tourist Visit Intention
The perception of access had a negative and significant impact on the intention of halal tourism in Aceh. The existing tourism access in Aceh had not effectively provided an image for the intention to revisit. Thus, the Aceh government needs to improve a number of tourism accesses, such as access to information, the road to the tourist spots, the quality of the road to the tourist spots, public transportation, and transportation cost.
Increased perception of access among tourists tends to reduce the intention towards halal tourism in Aceh. This interpretation is based on the perception regression coefficient value of -0.151. This negative value means that access to halal tourism in Aceh had not provided a positive image for tourists' intention. In terms of the access variable, the t-value obtained was -4.376 with a sig. value of 0.000 and a t-table value of 1.96. The results indicated that access had a significant influence on intention. Further, the communication variable reached a t-value of 0.343 with a sig. value of 0.732 and a t-table value of 1.96. In this case, the results showed that communication did not have a significant effect on intention. Data from the Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) in 2019 also revealed that communication had a low score compared to the other variables (IMTI Report, 2019).
The perception of communication was the only variable that did not significantly influence the increasing interest in halal tourism in Aceh. The lack of non-Malay countries visiting Aceh is very likely because there is no tourism database information in Banda Aceh that can be accessed freely and easily. 37 Similar results were also conveyed in the findings of Ramdan and Afaza (2019) through a communication strategy study of the culture and tourism office explaining that limited budget at the Sabang City and Aceh Besar Tourism Offices were one of the obstacles to maximizing communication strategies in the development of halal tourism. 38 Muhammad Yasir Yusuf, et.al. DOI: 10.22373/sjhk.v5i2.9270 http://jurnal.arraniry.ac.id/index.php/samarah It is argued that the communication (public relations) aspect of halal tourism has not been effective in attracting visitors towards halal tourism in Aceh. Communication is seen as a way to link and match promotional activities to build the image of halal tourism (with the tag line: the light of Aceh). Halal tourism communication that describes the local characteristics of the Acehnese has not been carried out yet in a persuasive manner. Thus, the tagline of the light of Aceh needs to be built further with communication efforts that establish the Islamic branding of rahmatan lil 'alamin (a mercy to all creation) on various social media, especially towards the millennials. 39 The perception of the environment could increase the intention of halal tourism in Aceh with a coefficient value of 0.015, or in other words, the high tourist perception of the halal tourism environment in Aceh is a determinant that can increase visitor intention. An increase in the environmental perception of 1% will be followed by an increase in halal tourism intention by 24.2%. This finding suggests that tourists tend to have an intention to visit because of the Islamic environment as a driver of halal tourism intention. This means the positive image of the halal tourism environment in Aceh can help attract the tourists.
The service aspect was also a determinant that could attract halal tourism intention in Aceh, with a positive and significant coefficient value of 0.08. Tourist ratings of the services positively influenced the intention to visit Aceh, as reflected in the variable regression coefficient of 0.08. The better the perception of service is, the higher the tendency for tourists to visit halal tourist destinations in Aceh will be. Conversely, a decrease in the perception of service has a negative impact on the reduced intention in halal tourism to Aceh Province. Thus, there is a direct relationship between optimal service perception and halal tourism intention.
The intention in halal tourism increases along with the increasing perception of halal products and services. 40  http://jurnal.arraniry.ac.id/index.php/samarah grow by 30 percent by 2020 and also the value of expenditures is projected to escalate to 200 billion USD. 41 The perception of communication was the only variable that did not significantly influence the increasing intention in halal tourism in Aceh. Communication was not a determinant factor that helped attract halal tourism visitors in Aceh.
In terms of the environment variable, the study obtained a t-value of 5.593 with a sig. value of 0.000 and a t-table value of 1.666. This finding indicated that the environment had a significant influence on intention. Further, the last variable, service, earned a t-value of 8.850 with a sig. value of 0.00 and a t-table value of 1.96. The finding showed that service also had a significant influence on intention. The study expects that the development of these variables will have an enormous impact in raising the tourists' intention to experience halal tourism in Aceh.
In addition, the study employed the F-test to determine the magnitude of effect of the independent variables simultaneously on the dependent variable. The results of the F-test showed that the value of the F-value was 179.348 with a significance value of 0.000, which means that it is greater than the F-table value of 3.39 and a significance value of 0.000, which means that it is smaller than 0.05. This indicated that the variables of access, communication, environment, service, and intention simultaneously had a positive and significant influence on the tourists' intention.
The results of the study on the determinants of halal tourism intention in Aceh have an implication for the need of halal tourism actors to build a positive image for tourists. Environmental perceptions and services are important factors in increasing tourists' intention to revisit Aceh Province. Therefore, the halal tourism industry, services, and environmental aspects are the main keys to providing comfort for visitors so that the image of halal tourism can correspond to the tagline "the light of Aceh". The whole civil society plays an important role in creating a safe, clean, and religious tourism ecosystem, called Islam rahmatan lil 'alamin.