Rihaala.com, a new online travel agency offering content curated specially for the Muslim travel market, was officially launched at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
The platform is the latest from the team behind Serendipity Tailormade and Luxury Halal Travel, halal-focussed travel agencies based in the UK. Rihaala, which means ‘journeys’ in Arabic, targets tech-savvy Muslim millennials who want the freedom to curate their own journey and to be inspired by a content-rich experience. The website offers a choice of more than 1,500 properties in 40-plus destinations worldwide, all selected based on their halal-friendly amenities and services, as well as the chance to explore user-generated content sourced from Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. “Rihaala meets the demands and expectations of modern Muslim consumers who not only want to create their own travel packages online, but to be inspired by like-minded travellers through rich visual content on social feeds that paints a true picture of a destination,” said Nabeel Shariff, the founder of Rihaala.com, Serendipity Tailormade and Luxury Halal Travel. “In today’s digital age, consumers’ travel purchasing decisions are often strongly influenced by dynamic videos and photos on social channels in real-time, rather than glossy destination images of the past.” Rihaala also provides in-depth information on destinations and hotels to help Muslim travellers select products and services that meet their faith-based requirements. Rihaala has been launched in English with an Arabic-language version to follow soon. A travel agent portal will also be available to select partners, enabling them to create halal-friendly travel packages for their clients. The company is currently in the midst of raising a Series A round of investment with Dubai-based crowdfunding platform Eureeca.