She Built a 55,000-Member Travel Group for Muslim Women

When Sadia Ramzan (Sadia MWTG) began posting photos of her weekend trips across the UK, she never imagined she was laying the foundation for one of the world’s most vibrant travel communities for Muslim women.

Back then, she was a local government manager in Britain’s social care sector in a strategic role ensuring children’s safety. Travel wasn’t her profession but more of a release.

That changed after a solo trip in 2013. It was the first time she traveled without her sisters, and something clicked.

Sadia Ramzan, founder of the Muslim Women’s Travel Group
(MWTG)

“I realized how liberating it was to explore the world on my own,” she recalled.

Around that same time she began wearing the hijab, an outward sign of faith that made her more visibly Muslim – and more aware of how that visibility affected her experiences abroad.

When she couldn’t find a space to ask simple, practical questions like “Has anyone traveled to Botswana, and how were they received,” she created one herself.

The Muslim Women’s Travel Group (MWTG) began as a modest Facebook community for friends and family, but now it counts more than 55,000 members worldwide.

The group’s first trip was to Northern Ireland in 2014. Sixteen women showed up – strangers at first, but curiosity and trust began to create a bond.

“What they were missing wasn’t information,” Ramzan said. “It was company. Someone to make the decisions and say, ‘Let’s go.’”

That sense of leadership and shared safety quickly became the building blocks of the group’s DNA.

By 2019 the community had grown large enough that Ramzan decided to formalize it as a business. She left her government job, registered The Muslim Women’s Travel Group, and began running trips full-time. Her husband, an IT specialist, helped manage the technical side.

“I didn’t know what a DMC was or what B2B meant,” she admitted, laughing. “I had to Google everything. But you learn fast when you care.”

That crash course in entrepreneurship proved vital when Covid hit months later. Even though initial plans collapsed into lockdowns, Ramzan adapted and focused more on local trips and digital community-building until the world normalized.

By 2022 and 2023, MWTG was running as many as 24 to 34 trips a year, from Iceland and Oman, to Peru and Pakistan. Each departure now attracts between 10 and 20 travelers, and repeat business is high.

“We’ve been witnessing their range of destinations widely expanding year on year,” said Munib Hasan, Vice President of Toursiter. “Ramzan and her team care as much for the partners they work with as they care for the women joining their trips.”

Many participants, including lawyers, doctors, executives, have since become trip leaders themselves.

“When you travel with someone, you see who they really are,” Ramzan said. “That’s how I spot natural leaders. Every one of my ten Group Leads has traveled with me before.”

Her leadership philosophy is rooted in service and transparency.

“Mistakes happen, but it’s how fast you fix them that matters,” she said.

For example on a recent trip to Peru, the hotel mistakenly prepared pork sandwiches for a group of visibly Muslim women.

“We’d been planning for months,” she recalled. “I just told my lead, pay for everyone’s breakfast, and we’ll deal with the fallout later. People were hungry. You fix it first.”

That instinct for immediate empathy and action paired with an insistence on respect is one reason her travelers return repeatedly.

“Her deep understanding of the Muslim travel market and passion for normalizing Muslim travellers continue to inspire me,” said Sara Amro, CEO of Halal Expeditions Group. “I’m grateful to keep learning from Sadia and her work as we strive to redefine authentic, halal travel experiences.”

Today, Ramzan’s community spans multiple channels: 55,000 Facebook members, 40,000 across Instagram and TikTok, and a 5,000-person mailing list. Trips are intentionally high-touch and small-scale, built around comfort, culture, and connection rather than volume.

The model doesn’t sell flights, since participants join from around the world, but focuses on in-destination experiences curated by women-led teams.

MWTG’s preference for female guides and drivers has also opened opportunities in regions where women in tourism remain underrepresented.

What makes the group remarkable isn’t just its size, but its purpose. Ramzan describes it as a form of empowerment through travel, especially for Muslim women who grew up thinking solo adventures were off-limits.

“Wealth doesn’t always mean freedom,” she said. “Some of the richest women I know still can’t travel independently. What we offer is confidence and community.”

That ethos extends beyond religion. “Our name makes it clear who we are,” she said. “If you don’t like it, that’s fine. But we’re not excluding anyone. We just created the space we needed when no one else did.”

Many of her travelers are non-practicing or from other faiths entirely, drawn by the group’s safety, structure, and warmth.

“We’re called Muslim Women’s Travel Group because it was the simplest name I could think of,” she laughed. “And it turned out to be genius – if you Google it, we’re the first that come up.”

Still, Ramzan remains outspoken about how mainstream tourism overlooks women like her.

She recalls attending one edition of Arabian Travel Market where despite a full schedule of meetings “people just wouldn’t come talk to me.”

She shrugs, but not without a little edge: “If you’re overlooking Muslim women travelers, you’re overlooking one of the fastest growing, most loyal, and most talkative markets in the world. And we remember.”

Looking ahead, MWTG plans to expand further across Asia-Pacific and explore partnerships with boutique hotels that share its values.

“In an ideal world, groups like mine wouldn’t have to exist,” Ramzan said. “Everyone would feel included. But until then, we’ll keep showing up – and we’ll keep traveling.”

For more information visit www.themwtg.com, or follow @the.mwtg on Instagram.

Jacques Ledbetter is a Luxury Travel Advisor contributor and founder of The Luxe Ledger newsletter.