The Post Covid-19 Halal Travel Market

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 international air travel declined by 75.6% and domestic travel declined by 48.8%. world-wide.  According to the IATA, 2020 was the worst year in travel history.  Post pandemic travel is expected to rebound slowly and consumers are changing their travel and tourism demands to include longer more meaningful travel.

Travelers are often categorized by need and interest. The industry categories include the following types of travel:

• Holiday
• Retirement
• Business
• Adventure
• Volunteer
• Backpackers
• Education
• Health and Wellness
• Spiritual

What is Halal Travel?

In every one of the categories above, there is a demand for Halal travel. Halal travelers desire clean, ethical, and wholesome travel experiences. They want to be comfortable and at ease while traveling and they desire services to consider their lifestyle choices. Although it’s a multi-billion dollar travel sub-category, the mainstream travel industry rarely services or even mentions the worldwide demand for Halal travel.

In many places, Halal travel is both a missing market and an opportunity for the travel and tourism businesses worldwide.

Halal travel includes flights, hotels, transportation, tours, resort packages, and retreats that are family-friendly, wholesome, and clean.  Providers often include halal food, alcohol-free environments, family accommodations, access to prayer facilities, private pool areas, separate men, women, and family beaches, education, and nature tours.

The most well-known countries that offer Halal travel options for travelers are Turkey, the UAE, Malaysia, Morocco, Spain, Maldives, Qatar, and Indonesia.  Other countries, like the UK, USA, and Japan are also beginning to service this large and growing market.

Travel and Tour Services

Several services guide Halal consumers to travel and tourism products. One example is the site Halal Booking. This site helps travelers make travel arrangements with just the right degree of Halal compliance. For example, does the traveler require a hotel that only serves Halal cuisine or one that is surrounded by Halal restaurants? The site has 300,000 registered customers from 84 countries.

Some companies arrange for full Halal resort experiences, for example, Husna Travel books entire resorts in the Bahamas or Mexico, and manages every part of the experience including Halal food, accommodations, entertainment, tours, games, children’s programs, and more.

The post-Covid-19 Halal travel market has been steadily rebounding in 2021. While the world is in the process of recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, and consumer travel behavior is shifting, the demand for Halal-friendly travel is expected to continue to rise and present future opportunities for the industry.