Crescentating, a leading authority on Halal travel, has acquired HalalTrip.com and is re-launching it as the world’s first full-fledged travel booking site specialising in the needs of the Muslim traveler.

Claiming to be the first global OTA platform targeting Muslim travelers, a market said to be worth US $130 billion in 2012, HalalTrip.com is working with partners such as booking.com to offer accommodation choices and wego.com to power its flight search and with Kuoni Group Travel Experts to offer specialised tour packages.

According to the Islamic Bank of Asia, Muslim tourists expenditure growth rate is expected to be at 4.79% per year through 2012–2020 vs the global rate of 3.8%. There are an estimated 45 million unique trips to the top 50 Muslim destinations annually excluding core religious travel and the Hajj/Umrah travel on its own is expected to be a US$14 billion market by 2020.

The research also shows that the top three concerns for Muslim leisure travellers are one, food, followed by overall price and Muslim-friendly experience.

In this interview with WIT, Dany Bolduc (below), Chief Operating Officer for Crescentrating, sheds light on the model and plans to scale globally by raising US$2.5 million via the Islamic Bank of Asia. 

(Photo credit left: Shutterstock.com)

Q: Describe the business, core products and services in one paragraph

Crescentrating is the world’s leading authority on Halal Travel. We help the travel industry cater to Muslim travellers with ‘Halal Friendly’ rating, ranking and accreditation services for hotels, travel operators and other service providers. This week we’re launching HalalTrip.com – the world’s first full-featured travel booking site catering to Muslims with flights, hotels and tour packages. HalalTrip.com includes a global directory of Halal certified restaurants, mosques and other Halal friendly amenities, enabling Muslim travellers to make more informed choices for their next leisure and business travel. And finally, we have Crescent Trips, the world’s first in-flight prayer and prayer direction mobile app for Muslim travellers.

Q: Who are your key customers?

Crescentrating (B2B): Hotels, travel operators and agents, tourism agencies; in 2014 we’ll be expanding our ratings to include shopping malls, attractions, theme parks, convention centres, spas and hospitals.

HalalTrip (B2C): Muslim and family travellers.

 Q: What business are you most likely to be compared to?

Crescentrating: Ranking and accreditation firms such as Green Globe, hotel star ratings, etc. and management consulting and market research firms that cater to the travel industry.

HalalTrip: OTAs such as Expedia, TripAdvisor, Hipmunk, etc.

Q: What problem are you trying to solve for your customers?

Islam is seen by Muslims as a way of life whose guidance and values touch upon all aspects of their lives including consumption behavior. The unique Muslim lifestyle consumer drivers are centered around Halal food, family friendly environments, religious practice, modest clothing, education, finances and other areas. We help the travel industry cater to these unique requirements, and enable Muslim consumers to discover and make better decisions regarding travel accommodations and activities that are aligned with their faith and needs.

Q: What financial support did you have to launch the business?

Our business has been self-funded by its current shareholders since its inception in 2009. We are now in the process of raising US$2.5M thru a private placement; the funding is being led by Islamic Bank of Asia (IBA), a division of DBS.

 Q: Who validated the idea first – investors or customers?

Our founder Fazal Bahardeen has been evangelizing Halal Friendly Travel and educating the travel industry of the unique needs and requirements of Muslim travellers since 2009. The Crescentrating model was first validated by hotels who have subscribed to be Crescentrated (ex. Fairmont in Singapore), and now by industry leaders such as Kuoni who have sought our expertise to help develop and market Muslim travel packages.

Consumers are also validating our model. Crescent Trips is one of the most popular travel apps in the Middle East with 30k downloads since launch earlier this year. Reaction and feedback on our HalalTrip beta site has been very encouraging.

Q: What is the revenue model and strategy for profitability?

Crescentrating: Ratings and accreditation services are sold via an annual subscription model. We also derive revenue through consulting engagements and sale of our Global Muslim Lifestyle Travel Market Research published last year in partnership with Dinar Standard (US market research firm).

HalalTrip: Commission from flight, hotel and tour package sales. We also cross-sell our ratings services via Crescentrating. In the near future, Crescent Trips will be integrated into the HalalTrip platform and generate revenue by promoting special offers and discounts from Halal friendly partners at the destination where our customers are travelling.

Q: What is the market opportunity? How scalable is this business?

The Muslim travel market was worth US $130B in 2012 (excluding religious travel such as Hajj and Umrah), representing 12.5% of the total global outbound tourism market. To put this in context, Muslim travel is a bigger market than the US or Chinese markets. By 2020, Muslim travel is estimated to be worth US $200B. It’s the largest untapped ‘niche’ market in the travel industry today.

Q: Competitive analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

The Halal travel market is currently underserviced despite its size, consisting of a handful of players with fragmented product offerings. HalalTrip has the potential to become the Halal version of an Expedia or TripAdvisor and is currently raising funds to support its first phase of growth.

As such, we have an opportunity to create the world’s first global brand and platform for Muslim travel. In order to achieve this, we will need to scale and execute quickly to gain a first mover advantage whilst continuously building a unique value proposition on the HalalTrip platform.

Q: Who are the team members and advisors?

Fazal Bahardeen (CEO) and Dany Bolduc (COO) form the core of the management team. Our board of advisors are leaders and senior executives in Islamic finance and other industries. See http://www.crescentrating.com/people-at-crescentrating.html.

Q: Why do you think you are the best people to make this vision happen?

We have a very experienced management team with a strong background in travel, e-commerce and mobile industries, and a solid track record of building and managing profitable businesses in Asia, Europe and North America. We are also highly credible with the Muslim community and are seen as the thought leaders and authority on Muslim travel by the travel industry.

Q: What’s the motivation behind doing this?

Our vision is to enable Muslims to explore the world with peace of mind by leading the growth of “Halal Friendly Travel” to benefit travelers, travel service providers and the community as a whole.