Enhancing Hong Kong’s Muslim-friendly Tourism

25th September 2024

Hong Kong is working towards consolidating its position as a global hub for tourism and investment, with a key focus on catering to the rapidly growing market of Muslim travelers. It is critical for Hong Kong to attract more travelers from Muslim populated regions not only to boost tourism, but also to attract investment in developing as one of the leading Muslim-friendly cities globally. Crescent Rating, the world’s leading organization on Halal travel, predicts the Muslim traveler expenditure will reach USD 225 billion by 2028.

As many regions in Asia are fighting for more Muslim visitors, Hong Kong needs to proactively take initiative to “grab tourists,” create its own distinct features of tourism to become a Muslim-friendly city, thereby attracting more and consumption of Muslim-based tourists. Vincent Cheng, Chairperson of DAB EMC and member of the Legislative council, said that he had earlier interacted with the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong (BOT) and different relevant groups. He learned that attracting more Muslims to visit Hong Kong or even settle and invest in Hong Kong would create a friendly environment, considering all-rounded approaches and facilities to better support and assist this development. Thus, we have written a proposal to promote Hong Kong as a Muslim-friendly tourist city. The most crucial element is the active involvement of the government in promoting Muslim food culture and tourist environment, and to launch a halal restaurant certification subsidy scheme.

Vincent Cheng said that the government's resources should not only support restaurant certification, but also help promote Hong Kong's Muslim-friendly environment. One of the guests invited to attend the press conference, Mr. Saeed Uddin, the Chairman of the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong expressed his hopes that with the government’s support, more restaurants will accept or even offer halal food menus, combined with other Muslim-friendly measures, to attract more Muslim tourists to travel to Hong Kong and enrich their experience in Hong Kong. Mr. Qamar Minhas, treasurer of BOT and an invited guest, pointed out that if there is a newly subsidized certification scheme providing incentives, it can help alleviate the cost of production for restaurants, especially when sourcing the supply of halal ingredients which require specific handling procedures and equipment.

Background

Hong Kong has developed from a small fishing port into an international metropolis. The first Muslims to come to Hong Kong were as early as the mid-17th century, and they mainly came from Southeast Asia or the southeastern coast of the mainland. Hong Kong has 200 to 300-year of Muslim cultural heritage. The first Muslim Mosque that was built in 1849 was the Shelley Street Mosque or the Mohammad Temple (was renamed later as Jamia Mosque). It is now a declared monument. Recently, the figure of Muslims residing in Hong Kong has reached some 300,000 people, comprising of 140,000 Indonesian domestic workers. After the pandemic, the number of tourists visiting Hong Kong from the Middle East and ASEAN Muslim regions has also continued to increase. From January to July this year, the number of tourists from Gulf Cooperation Council Countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates has reached up to 16,000, an increase of 136% compared to the same period last year. With the resumption of direct flights from Saudi Arabia's main city Riyadh to Hong Kong in October this year, the government expects an increase in tourists from the Middle East. Along with the satisfactory growth in tourists from Indonesia and Malaysia, Urumqi was included as one of the Mainland cities under ‘Individual Visit Scheme’

. It allows residents of Urumqi including the Muslims to visit Hong Kong in their individual capacity.

In addition, there are direct flights from Hong Kong taking 3 to 6 hours to reach areas with 30% of the Muslim population, Hong Kong has great potential to develop into a Muslim-friendly tourist city.

Current situation

Measures taken with reference to Crescent Rating's research and other regions in Asia to attract Muslim travelers, they mostly focus on increasing food options at halal-certified restaurants, hotels and community-friendly facilities, halal travel guides, and prayer rooms in major shopping malls. There are also regions that offer halal high-end consumption options, exclusive tour groups or itinerary packages, etc. In addition, there are food groups in Japan and South Korea that produce halal food and export them to other places. They are equipped with halal-certified logistics and transportation to expand halal-related business opportunities or industries and benefit the original regional economy.

In Hong Kong, the provision of Muslim-friendly measures is still in her early stage. For example, in terms of food and restaurants, halal food certification is currently mainly issued by BOT. So far, there are about 140 halal-certified restaurants, which are mainly divided into three categories: halal restaurants, halal kitchens, and halal-friendly restaurants. As for hotels, there are about 20 hotels rated by the international organization Crescent, ranging from 1 to 7, and only a few are rated 5. Relevant hotels are usually equipped with in-room prayer spaces, prayer blankets, and prayer compasses; if there is no halal restaurant, in-room halal breakfast will also be provided. In addition, the hotel will provide training to employees to let them understand the habits of Muslim travelers. Hong Kong Tourism Board has also taken a number of measures earlier to encourage the industry to apply for certification services and held industry briefings, etc.

Following are our policy proposals:

Halal food and dining options

1.     Increase Halal dining options or Halal eateries

•          Roll out a new subsidized halal food certification system with the collaboration of BOT, encourage more restaurants to obtain halal certificate from BOT

•          Promote halal food, halal food certification, organize training or briefing session

•          Train hotel, F&B staff to understand the needs of Muslim customers & their culture

•          Encourage hotels or F&B outlets to provide fine dining options for Muslim travelers especially Chinese or Cantonese fine dining 

2.     Organize Halal or Halal-friendly Chinese gastronomy awards activities or culinary contests

1. Encourage supermarket retail chains in tourist districts to set up Halal food corner 

1. Design Halal foodie guide and app

•       Include Halal food spots, pastry shops, vegetarian eateries, top halal food picks

Halal tourism

1.  Encourage travel industry to launch Muslim-friendly day tours

•    i.e. half-day, 1D,  2D1N or 3D2N tours. With govt subsidy, as a pilot scheme, travel industry could provide discounted travel package especially

2.     Encourage hotels to apply for high international rating

•     provide facilities such as prayer room or space

•     all rooms have the prayer direction marked

•     prayer time-table available at the front desk or room

3.     Encourage major shopping arcades or mall to provide prayer rooms

•          Muslim needs to pray 5 times a day r

4.     Design Muslim-friendly guidebook and app

•    suggest themed itineraries for reference including attractions, local art & culture attractions, tips for Muslim-friendly facilities

•    Interactive map or app to find out mosques, madrassahs or prayer rooms nearby

1. Promote M Mark major sports events like Cricket, Hockey, Soccer or Tennis

•          Introduce tailor-made tour packages for Muslim travelers

6.     Utilize social media platforms, travel blogs, and influencers to reach potential travelers

•         Let local Muslims introduce HK

•         Arrange well-known international influencers to promote HK

7.     Set up a taskforce team under CSTB to proactively promote halal tourism and halal food certification

•        Support the travel industry to provide staff with training in Islamic or Arabic culture

Halal culture

1.  Launch special Ramadan shopping festivals or food fairs

•    Partnership with shopping malls to promote Halal consumption

•    Organize Muslim food fair or festival after the end of Ramadan featuring local and international Halal food

2.  Promote Muslim architecture, art and culture

•    Organize exhibitions and sharing sessions showcasing Islamic art, tangible and intangible culture

•    Organize Muslim cultural events that celebrate Islamic culture to attract tourists 

•    Arouse public awareness of Muslim culture e.g. celebrate Eid and Ramadan or why Muslim female always wear hijabs

Media Enquiries:   

DAB Ethnic Minorities Committee  Tel: 2316 2256  Whatsapp: 9205 1249

Enhancing Hong Kong’s Muslim-friendly Tourism policy initiatives