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Travel
Glam Halal | July-August . 2021
Record upsurge
Halal-friendly tourism sees astounding recovery for the online booking platform
THE WHOLE tourism sector has been dramatically impacted by the pandemic , and international borders have remained closed in many countries . It was only recently that some countries start allowing inter-State travels for their citizens .
Despite some restrictions that are still in place , people have started to book their dream destinations . This has come as great news to booking platforms like HalalBooking .
In May 2021 , HalalBooking , the world ’ s leading accommodation booking platform for halal-friendly travel , recorded sales of US $ 4.4 million . This was an increase from the US $ 3.5 million in the same month in 2019 , before the strike of the coronavirus pandemic .
The figure indicates a remarkable recovery for the platform , mainly in the second half of the month . HalalBooking is now said to be on track in returning to its two-times growth rate just like before the pandemic struck . The company targets their sales will reach up to US $ 60 million in 2021 compared to 2019 , where it was at US $ 32 million .
Other than the rise in sales across May , the company noted May 31 , 2021 , as the single most successful day for deals in its entire history , with more than US $ 500,000 of sales in a single day . However , the company estimates that this record will be beaten many times during the coming weeks .
Elnur Seyidli , HalalBooking ’ s CEO , said : “ I always believed that we would bounce back relatively quickly , based on our exponential 2.0x growth trajectory up to March 2020 .
“ All the hard work of the last 15 months is now paying off . We used the period of the coronavirus pandemic wisely to develop new website functionalities which our existing and new customers can now benefit from .
“ We have also continued our customer acquisition programme generating tens of thousands of new leads who have now started to book for the first time with us .
“ As part of the current Series B campaign , we have raised US $ 5 million in March , and we
are in negotiations with venture capitalists for a further US $ 15 million .”
HalalBooking has also been developing a vital programme to increase its portfolio of worldwide properties , with halal-friendly features configured . This is to ensure that customers can use this data to search and book .
Concerning this , the Chief Operating Officer , Enver Cebi , explained : “ Over the past year , our team has been hectic scaling up the system to add properties to our portfolio .
“ We now feature around 250,000 properties worldwide on HalalBooking . com . Our expansion programme is still continuing . We will shortly feature over 300,000 properties in over 65 countries .”
Ufuk Seçgin , the company ’ s Chief Marketing Officer , then shared how the company has achieved such impressive results even during the ongoing pandemic .
The officer believes that it all comes down to the trust that customers have in the brand . He emphasised that the value HalalBooking places on customer service are also factors for the impressive outcome .
Seçgin said : “ Many of our customers were negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 .
“ However , we treated them well , providing refunds as fast as possible , offering them attractive alternative options and allowing them flexibility with their holiday arrangements .
“ We can now see that this approach has paid off . It has allowed us to retain our existing customers and also to attract new customers , often through word of mouth .”
HalalBooking has also developed campaigns such as ‘ book with confidence ’ in its marketing strategy .
Through this campaign , customers can have quibble-free cancellation in certain circumstances . If they are tested positive for Covid-19 , they can cancel their flight or when increased travel restrictions are put in place .
Other initiatives such as flexible bookings with zero or low deposit have also benefitted many customers .
Seçgin added : “ Following such a successful month in May and a phenomenal start into June , we expect to see our sales continue to grow , with the fast roll-out of vaccination programmes , not just in European source countries but also in key destinations such as Turkey and Morocco .
“ It is a shame that the UK government has not shown more commitment to the travel industry as this is one of the few European markets where sales have yet to bounce back .”
HalalBooking . com is the world ’ s leading search and booking website for halal-friendly travel , allowing people to book hotels and villas online by their halal needs .
HalalBooking was founded in 2014 by a group of visionary Muslims with senior management experience from travel and blue-chip companies . They came together to realise the vision of the global search website for halalconscious travellers .
Its website stated that the company aims to enhance the halal-friendliness of one ’ s holiday experience .
The website features many halal-friendly destinations , including top cities like Istanbul , London , Dubai and Barcelona .
The platform also caters to the halal needs of its customers by providing a wide range of halal selections such as destinations with ladies-only pools and alcohol-free holiday .