Marketing Strategies of Umrah Travel Agencies in Shaping and Driving Pilgrim Interest at PT. Karomah Bait Al-Ansor
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Abstract
This study examines the marketing strategies of PT Karomah Bait Al Ansor, Semarang Regency, Central Java, in encouraging public interest in performing Umrah. Indonesia's Umrah travel industry has grown significantly, with 648,485 pilgrims recorded in April 2025, and the number of licensed travel agencies rising from approximately 700 before the COVID-19 pandemic to over 2,700 by 2024. This dramatic expansion intensifies competition and demands innovative, trust-driven marketing strategies. This research adopts a descriptive qualitative approach using in-depth interviews, direct observation, and documentation. Research subjects include the agency director, two marketing staff members, and five pilgrims selected through purposive sampling. Data analysis follows the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014), and validity was tested through source, methodological, and temporal triangulation. Findings reveal that PT Karomah Bait Al Ansor applies two integrated marketing strategies: religious-figure-based marketing through strategic collaboration with Islamic scholars (kyais and ustadz), and digital marketing via Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The 7P Marketing Mix (Kotler & Keller, 2016) provides the strategic framework, while the Commitment-Trust Theory (Morgan & Hunt, 1994) and Customer Engagement Theory (Prentice et al., 2019) explain the mechanisms underpinning pilgrim loyalty. Pilgrim perceptions are highly positive across three customer engagement dimensions: cognitive (information transparency), affective (trust transfer through religious networks), and behavioral (organic brand advocacy). Supporting factors include institutional reputation, religious figure partnerships, and digital technology adoption. Inhibiting factors include intense market competition with over 2,700 licensed agencies, limited digital human resource capacity, exchange rate and regulatory fluctuations, and negative industry stigma from fraudulent agency cases. The integration of religious trust-based marketing and digital marketing creates a comprehensive, effective, and sustainable marketing ecosystem. This study contributes a replicable model for medium-scale religious travel agencies operating in semi-urban Indonesian contexts.
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References
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