Chapter 14: Social Media Marketing Strategies for Halal Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Era

Halal tourism is developing fast as a new and wonderful segment of the global travel industry to adapt to Muslim travelers’ sentiments, needs, and wants. In this descriptive study, the halal tourism phenomenon was analyzed by looking into consumer preferences, industry operational barriers, and strategic facilitators. It specifically looked at the influence of social media and government policy on consumer behavior and the industry. Using a descriptive and quantitative research strategy, 350 respondents provided primary data which included Muslim tourists, tour operators, and other stakeholders. Analytical tools, SPSS, and MS Excel were used for descriptive statistics, crosstabulation, and of factor analysis. A KMO value of 0.769 supported the data’s adequacy along with a significant Bartlett’s test of sphericity. The results indicate substantial consumer demand for halal-certified services. The digital awareness and usefulness of halal-certified services to consumers, government or institutional policy support, consumer awareness of halal regulations, market operational concerns, and digital causation influence halal tourism. Although social media significantly stimulates and influences halal tourism, some issues include regulatory uncertainties, cultural sensitivities, and limited AI-based marketing tool usage. The research advocates for consistent timelines, government policies, cooperation between institutions, and ethical engagement in the digital realm to eliminate service gaps and improve global competitiveness. It provides useful guidance to marketers on how they can strategically and effectively work with digital communications. Most importantly, the originality of the research with Turnitin showed a plagiarism score of only 8%, and the score indicates sufficient academic integrity and contribution to the body of knowledge.