Jakarta, 2 August 2016 – To cater to a growing demand for Halal travel, HalalTrip – the online platform for Muslim travelers and a sister brand of CrescentRating, the world’s leading authority on Halal-friendly travel – in partnership with Mastercard will launch a suite of innovative travel products for Muslim travelers. A launch event will be held during the 12th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) taking place in Jakarta from 2 August to 4 August 2016.
According to the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, an estimated 117 million Muslim visitor arrivals took place globally in 2015. This number is forecasted to grow to 168 million visitors by 2020, with a market value spend projected to exceed US$200 billion.
At the event, HalalTrip and Mastercard will launch the HalalTrip City Pass, which provides Muslim travelers with exclusive access to popular tourist locales, the HalalTrip Getaway service, which allows users to customize trips to Muslim-friendly getaways according to their needs, and HalalTrip Homes, which provides a guide to Halal-friendly accommodation options. As a strategic payment partner with HalalTrip, Mastercard cardholders will get to enjoy exclusive offers.
“The Muslim population is expected to reach 26 percent of the world’s population by 2030, providing the Muslim travel sector with considerable opportunities for growth. Mastercard values working with like-minded partners such as HalalTrip in its efforts to drive growth in the Muslim travel sector. We hope the development of innovative Muslim lifestyle products and services will enhance the payments landscape, encourage cross-border commerce and help set new benchmarks for the travel and tourism industry as a whole,” said Safdar Khan, division president for Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, Mastercard.
Fazal Bahardeen, Chief Executive Officer, CrescentRating & HalalTrip, said “The launch of these technology driven products is a great example of how sophisticated the Muslim travel market has become today and how they want travel products which are easy, intuitive and fun. Muslim tourists are using technology with smart phones and tablets more than ever before to explore new destinations and each of these new products enhances their experience.”
The 12th WIEF will take place under the theme, ‘Decentralizing Growth, Empowering Future Business’, with the aim of exploring the crucial role micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play in driving global economic growth. As many as 2,500 delegates and 60 stakeholders from over 100 countries are expected to attend the forum. Organised by the WIEF Foundation and hosted by the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the State Secretariat and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, the 12th WIEF is expected to bring about positive impact to Indonesia and the region.
