Developing an Integrated Physical-Digital Smart Travel Ecosystem for Muslim Women: The H.E.R Smart Travel Kit

Muslim-friendly tourism research has traditionally focused on what destinations provide, with less attention to how travellers themselves manage faith-related, personal-care, nutrition, connectivity, and information needs as they move between different settings. This study develops and conceptually positions the H.E.R Smart Travel Kit (Halal Essentials for Recreation), a modular physical-digital product-service system designed for Muslim women across professional, leisure, family, and everyday mobility. Using an innovation-oriented, design-based development approach informed by human-centred design principles, evidence from Muslim-friendly tourism, female travel, digital tourism, and phygital tourism was translated into design requirements and an initial prototype. The prototype brings together four functional domains—Halal Nutrition, Prayer and Spiritual, Hygiene and Beauty, and Technology-Driven Smart Support—in a 40-in-1 modular configuration connected to the QR-based H.E.R Smart Guide. Rather than assuming one fixed use case, the system is designed for five mobility contexts and allows different combinations of modules according to journey needs. The study introduces portable Muslim-friendly preparedness as a traveller-held complement to destination-based Muslim-friendly provision and argues that the main contribution of H.E.R lies in configuration-level integration rather than in the novelty of individual items or QR technology. Three design propositions are advanced: modular integration may reduce the burden of coordinating separate travel products; a lightweight digital layer may extend the usefulness of the physical kit; and perceived value is likely to depend on context-specific configuration. Because the prototype has not yet undergone systematic user, ergonomic, technical, or market validation, these propositions remain to be empirically tested. The study therefore provides a conceptual and design foundation for subsequent user-centred validation, component optimisation, digital-service evaluation, and product refinement.

Muslim-friendly tourism, Muslim women travellers, physical-digital integration, modular design, travel product innovation

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