Saffrons opens at Wisma Geylang Serai

Saffrons has arrived at #01-04, Wisma Geylang Serai (WGS). The brand has built a reputation for flavourful, authentic Indian Muslim cuisine, served with warmth, consistency, and pride. 

Source: WGS. Saffrons at WGS.

Founded by Mdm Beevi Ayoob who started the business nearly 30 years ago to support her family and educate her children, Saffrons began as a single coffeeshop unit and is now synonymous with quality and comfort food. Its expansion into WGS signals a strategic move to embed the brand in a location that resonates with its core audience while also introducing its offerings to new visitors, tourists, and younger generations.

“Once we saw the space, it just felt right,” said Rafsanjani Noor (Jani), Director of Saffrons. 

“We’ve been looking for a location in this area for a while, and this felt like the perfect fit—not just in terms of location and foot traffic, but because of what WGS represents. It’s vibrant, full of potential, and meaningful to the community.”

The new outlet features glass-panelled windows, a reconfigured open kitchen, and a 120–140 seat layout. Popular favourites like nasi briyani, mee kawen, and signature prata varieties will be available together with exclusives such as mee goreng tulang, prata with sambal, and sup tulang. Pricing will remain consistent with other outlets.  

Visitors can also expect to be served by a multifunction service robot that greets guests, delivers food, clears tables, and returns dishes to the kitchen.

“This outlet takes our concept further,” Jani said. 

“It’s still authentic and comforting, but with a modern and fun upgrade. We wanted to show what a heritage brand can look like when it evolves. We’re even hoping to eventually go 24 hours—make every day feel like Hari Raya!”

“Saffrons is not just a household name—it is a part of Singapore’s culinary story. Having them at Wisma Geylang Serai is deeply symbolic of the cultural continuity we strive to uphold,” said Associate Professor Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Singapore Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of National Development and Advisor to WGS. 

“The WGS vision is rooted in building a place where traditions are not only preserved, but experienced. Saffrons brings with it a flavour of community, and we are excited for visitors to experience that here.”  

Located in Geylang Serai, WGS is a symbol of Singapore’s multicultural identity and a platform for the Malay/Muslim community to thrive, express, and share.  Anchored in its role as an integrated civic and cultural hub under the People’s Association, WGS provides space not only for events and exhibitions but for daily life to unfold through food, storytelling, activities and communal connection. 

“When we think of what makes a place meaningful, it’s not just the architecture or the programming—it’s the smells, the sounds, and the memories we associate with it,” added Professor Faishal. 

“Saffrons brings that layer of everyday nostalgia and shared identity, and we are incredibly proud to have them with us.” 

Online travel expenditure by Muslim travellers will exceed US$180 billion by 2026

Source: CrescentRating website. Cover for the
Mastercard-CrescentRating Digital Muslim
Travel Report 2018.

The increasing reliance by Muslim Millennials and Generation (Gen) Z* on the Internet, social media and smartphones for discovering new travel destinations and then booking trips is driving a significant revenues for the travel industry.

In 2017, CrescentRating found that Muslim Millennials rely very heavily on social media and online reviews for travel; travel two to five times annually, and look for halal food and prayer tools online - behaviours condensed into the pillars accessibility, affordability and authenticity.

"This year continue the discussion and fully understand their journey not just from the Millennial point of view, but also zoom out and really understand the profiles of Millennial travellers in general," Raudha Zaini, Marketing Manager, HalalTrip and CrescentRating said.

Unveiled at the Halal-In-Travel Asia Summit, the Mastercard-CrescentRating Digital Muslim Travel Report 2018 (DMTR2018) has revealed what shapes the growth of online purchases by the next generation of Muslim travellers. The research projects that online travel expenditure by Muslim travellers will exceed US$180 billion by 2026.

The DMTR2018 is the first comprehensive report looking at the online travel patterns and attitudes of Muslim travellers across different demographic groups. It extends the research on the digital Muslim traveller population, expanding beyond the Muslim Millennial traveller (MMT) segment which was studied last year in the Muslim Millennial Travel Report 2017, and also analyses travellers along the continuum of strictly practising, "less practising" and practising travellers.

Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating and HalalTrip, said “The DMTR2018 reveals important online behaviour and preferences of Muslim travellers. It will equip tourism destinations, tour operators, airlines and other tourism and hospitality stakeholders with insights of online platforms and social networking services to evaluate the potential within the Muslim market.

“With the rapid proliferation of enabling online technologies and payment methods and the rise of Muslim digital natives, as a major segment within the Muslim travel market, the outlook for the digital space is very positive. Destinations need to ensure that their messages reach Muslim travellers through online channels. This report gives the industry a practical and ready segmentation criterion to empathise with different demographics. Digital is real and transcends generations.”

Key takeaways from the DMTR2018 included:

- Digital is real and transcends generations

Different generations are using digital, though they behave differently, Zaini said.

- Content is key.

"You have to focus on all segments, and not just Muslim Millennial travellers," Zaini noted. 

- A mix of online platforms are used per product or service journey

"The impact on business is that you need to be agile enough to appropriately display your content, be it desktop or mobile, and be smart enough to understand what users are looking for," she said.

Devesh Kuwadekar, VP, Market Development, Mastercard, noted that 2018 marks the fourth year of Mastercard's partnership with CrescentRating. He said, “The halal travel market continues to be one of the fastest growing travel segments globally, with Muslim visitor arrivals representing about 10% of the entire travel industry globally in 2017. Muslim travellers are spending more time online researching and comparing information before they finally choose and pay for their ideal travel experience.

"Mastercard works with likeminded partners to create tailored offerings for customers across a wide range of passion points. As consumers explore more countries and regions, Mastercard is also seeing an increase in the use of cashless and digital payments through prepaid and debit options as a safer, more convenient and reliable form of electronic payments for greater peace of mind when travelling.”

"We are collaborating with banks and others to create a safer experience across all touch points," he added.

Online travel purchases will be worth US$180 billion in 2026.

Muslim Millennials go online to plan their trips, accounting for 40% of all Muslim traveller transactions, but Gen X and Gen Z as well as Baby Boomers (listed as Others) are also digital users.

The Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2018, released in April this year, confirmed that the Muslim travel market will continue its fast-paced growth to reach US$220 billion in 2020 and US$300 billion by 2026. In 2017, there was an estimated 131 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally. CrescentRating research indicates that more than 60% of Muslim travellers were either Millennials or Gen Z.

The GMTI 2018 found that 30 Muslim outbound markets** represent 90% of the overall Muslim visitor arrivals and should be the focus of the travel industry. This study looked at the “digitally enabled” environment of these markets to understand the potential of digital transactions. These destinations have been divided into distinctive clusters based on the market size and digital access.

Cluster A Large outbound markets with a high level of digital enablement	KSA Malaysia UAE	These are regions with large Muslim populations and high per-capita GDP, allowing a high percentage of travellers to travel internationally. The majority of the residents in these countries are digital-savvy and have the latest digital infrastructures.
Cluster B High level of digital enablement but smaller outbound markets	OIC countries Kuwait Qatar Lebanon Tunisia Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Non-OIC countries UK Germany France Singapore Russia	These are countries with residents who are digital-savvy and have the latest digital landscapes but their populations are smaller in comparison to those in Cluster A.
Cluster C Good level of digital enablement but smaller outbound markets	Oman Albania Morocco China	They have good digital infrastructures but the population of Muslim travellers travelling internationally is still small.
Cluster D Emerging growth markets with fast-growing levels of digital enablement	Turkey Indonesia Egypt Iran	These are majority Muslim countries with a growing outbound travel market. Even though they may not have widespread digital infrastructures yet, businesses can look at these markets for medium-to-long term prospects.

Bahardeen noted that while the markets are diverse, the travellers share values of a common faith and identify as Muslims. That said, they come from different locations, speak multiple languages and dialects, and have differences in cultural lifestyle, plus varying degrees of halal consciousness.

"It is not a homogeneous market. You really have to get an understanding of each of those markets," he said, adding that someone from a more secular country who goes to a strict Muslim country may become stricter during a trip, and vice versa, so there cannot be hard and fast rules on hospitality. 

"We have to look at different ways of catering to them," he said.

Explore:

Read the Mastercard-CrescentRating Digital Muslim Travel Report 2018 report 

Hashtags: #halalintravel, #itbasia2018

*According to CrescentRating, baby boomers are classed as those born between 1946 and 1964; Generation or Gen Xers were born between 1965 and 1980; Millennials from 1981 to 1996, while Gen Zers were born from 1997 onwards.

**Outbound refers to people from one country going to travel overseas. Inbound refers to the opposite, people from other countries travelling to a particular country.

JWT identifies 100 trends for 2015

Source: JWT website.

JWT, the well-known marketing communications brand, has  released The Future 100, featuring original analysis and insights on 100 key trends and cultural shifts to watch in the year ahead.

“It’s never been more important for brands to understand change, where it’s headed and what it means,” says Lucie Greene, Worldwide Director of JWTIntelligence. “The fast-paced digital world, instantly accessible information, globalisation and social media have accelerated the pace of trends exponentially. Meanwhile, the speed of innovation is requiring brands to take both a short-term and a long-term view, planning strategies not just for the next year but the next 20.”

The Future 100 connects the dots between the “what” and the “why,” spanning categories including culture, beauty, brands, food and drink, innovation, lifestyle, luxury, retail, sustainability and technology.

In culture, the report spotlights the rise of the Mipsters (Muslim + hipster) and the growing number of teetotal millennials. It also looks at experiential public spaces—the transformation of public spaces via creative immersive projects—and experiences going dark, the advent of unsettling experiences as entertainment.

Beauty trends include South Korean beauty: a look at how the axis of influence is changing in the beauty world as the global appetite for South Korean products grows. In brands, the report covers the rise of 1-for-1, or 'third way commerce': While charity and profitability have been viewed as mutually exclusive, a third way of business combines social good with sales and marketing, a popular approach with ethically minded Millennials.

The food and drink section includes cold-pressed everything as consumers increasingly fetishise cold-pressed and unprocessed foods; guilt-free to-go (healthy, ethical fast food will gain momentum as a raft of virtuous brands appropriate junk style for the Millennial generation) and haute vegan (a new wave of hip restaurant concepts departs from the hippie vibe associated with meat-free dining).

In innovation, the report notes the rise of the tactile Internet as innovators play with haptic technology, wrapping in digital connectivity with physical action, among other trends. And in lifestyle, the report examines the rise of new centres of influence as the crash in helicopter parenting.

The Future 100 also looks to the worlds of luxury and retail, where the sharing economy is increasingly aligning with business and luxury; Amazon is launching its first store, and retail experiences are channeling BuzzFeed surveys.

Find the full report on the “2015 and beyond” section of JWTIntelligence.com and on SlideShare.

Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau welcomes Muslim travellers

Source: Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau

The Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau (YCVB) has announced that its new Muslim Tourist Information microsite within the English version of the official Yokohama Visitors' Guide website is getting noticed by Muslims in Southeast Asia. 

The Muslim Tourist Information website was set up in December 2013 to introduce places such as tourist facilities, restaurants, halal shops and mosques based on recommendations by Muslims living in Yokohama. In a questionnaire concerning this website conducted on Muslims in Southeast Asia, more than 90% said they find the information on restaurants, mosques, and suggested itineraries to be useful. 

YCVB has focused on attracting tourists from Southeast Asia from 2013, setting up booths at tourism fairs in countries like Thailand and Malaysia as well as receiving media organisation representatives from Southeast Asian countries to show them around Yokohama. 

As part of its efforts to welcoming Muslim tourists, YCVB has been working on ways to help Muslims feel more comfortable during their stay in Yokohama, including organising training for tourism-related businesses on how to receive Muslim travellers and distributing brochures for Muslim travellers at tourist information centres.

Yokohama is Japan's second biggest city after Tokyo, located near the capital with a population of 3.7 million. The city has  an eye on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as it works to increase its tourism infrastructure for visitors.