As AI increasingly shapes how travellers search, compare and book holidays, visibility has become just as important as having the right product.
Speaking at the Halal in Travel Global Summit 2026 from 16-17 June in Singapore, industry leaders said many hotels, restaurants and attractions already offer Muslim-friendly services – but those offerings are not always surfaced by AI-powered search tools when travellers are planning their trips.
That gap has prompted the launch of a new AI-powered platform aimed at improving the discoverability of Muslim-friendly travel products.
Research shared at the summit found that 51% of Muslim travellers say social media now influences how they plan their trips, while 80% have used AI at some stage of the travel planning process.
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in trip planning, ensuring Muslim-friendly offerings are visible to these platforms is becoming a growing priority for destinations and travel businesses.
“Muslim travel is being reshaped by digital trust, seamless access and the need for greater certainty across the journey,” said Aisha Islam, senior VP, customer solutions centre, Southeast Asia, Mastercard.
“As AI becomes more embedded in travel planning, destinations and businesses need to make trusted information, secure payments and Muslim-friendly services easier to discover and act on.”
Raudha Zaini, director of operations at CrescentRating, said the challenge is not the lack of Muslim-friendly products, but whether AI can surface them.
"The Muslim-friendly services may exist, it's just that the AI cannot find them," she said, adding that many businesses risk being excluded from AI recommendations if their offerings are not presented in ways digital planning tools can interpret.
“Muslim travellers carry a more considered set of requirements. Destinations and properties that fail to structure their offerings risk being excluded from recommendation systems altogether. And this is why we built AIRA – to help close that gap,” Zaini explained.
Launched at the summit, the AIRA platform helps hotels, restaurants, attractions and travel providers assess whether their Muslim-friendly offerings are visible to digital travel planning tools.