۱۰ فروردین ۱۴۰۳ |۱۹ رمضان ۱۴۴۵ | Mar 29, 2024
Muslim digital travel markets seen driving tourism industry’s future growth

NEXT-generation Muslim travelers are a force to reckon with as they are seen driving the online market with a projected Web-based travel expenditure exceeding $180 billion by 2026, the Mastercard-CrescentRating Digital Muslim Travel Report 2018 (DMTR 2018) said.

Hawzah News Agency - Released during the Halal-In-Travel Asia Summit Hosted by CrescentRating at ITB Asia 2018, this pioneering Muslim-centric report showed the increasing dependence on the Internet, social media and smartphones for destination discovery and travel bookings by millennials and Generation Z  (Gen Z) travelers.

“With the rapid proliferation of enabling online technologies and payment methods and the rise of Muslim digital natives, as a major segment within the Muslim travel market, the outlook for the digital space is very positive,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating and HalalTrip.

For Mastercard VP for Market Development Devesh Kuwadekar, the entire Muslim population has gone so far in terms of their contribution to the international travel industry.

In fact, he said the halal travel market represented about 10 percent of the entire global visitor arrivals last year.

“Muslim travelers are spending more time online researching and comparing information before they finally choose and pay for their ideal travel experience,” he said.

Based on the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2018 released in April, the Top 30 Muslim Outbound Markets accounted for 90 percent of the total Muslim tourist arrivals.

To evaluate the potential of digital transactions, this study looked at the “Digitally Enabled” environment of these markets divided into distinctive clusters per market size and access to the internet.

Consistent with the DMTR  2018’s forecasts, the GMTI 2018 bares that the Halal travel market will continue its fast-paced growth to reach $300 billion by 2026.

Last year’s global figures showed an estimated 131 million Muslim visitor arrivals in 2017. CrescentRating research indicates that over 60 percent of Muslim travelers were either millennials or Gen Z.

Such positive results, Bahardeen noted, will equip tourism and hotel industry stakeholders with insights of cyberspace and social networking services to know the potential of the Muslim market.

“Destinations need to ensure that their messages reach Muslim travelers through online channels. This report gives the industry a practical and ready segmentation criterion to empathize with different demographics. Digital is real and transcends generations.” Bahardeen said.

With this in mind, Mastercard works with like-minded partners to tailor fit their offerings across a wide range of passion points.

“As consumers explore more countries and regions, Mastercard is also seeing an increase in the use of cashless and digital payments through prepaid and debit options as a safer, more convenient and reliable form of electronic payments for greater peace of mind when traveling,” Kuwadekar said.

 

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