HK seeks to expand halal food options to draw more Muslim tourists

Only 0.6% of the nearly 18,000 licensed food establishments are halal-certified

- Magdalene Fung

HONG KONG - Hong Kong wants to be more Muslim-friendly and is making a push to offer a greater range of halal food options across its dining scene, as it seeks to woo more tourists from South-east Asia, the Middle East and Muslimmajority regions in mainland China.

"We would like to attract more of the entire Muslim travel market...

We hope they will come to Hong Kong, and then perhaps venture further into mainland China," Hong Kong Tourism Board executive director Dane Cheng said on a recent visit to Dubai in May.

"But we need to up the game in terms of being Muslim-friendly.

We need more halal restaurants and other facilities, (and) we are now on top of this," he told The National, a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, at the Arabian Travel Market trade show.

The government has since late 2023 been trying to tap the wealthy Middle Eastern market to diversify the Hong Kong economy that has slowed after the 2019 mass protests, Covid-19 curbs and strained US-China ties.

These measures include boosting partnerships and attracting more investors and travellers to the city from the region where Islam is the dominant religion.

Hong Kong's tourism sector, a key pillar of its economy, has traditionally accounted for about 5 per cent of gross domestic product and 7 per cent of employment.

The city has noted a growing increase in the number of tourists from South-east Asian nations, the city's second-biggest source of visitors after mainland China.

In April, for example, visitor arrivals from Indonesia jumped by more than 80 per cent year on year, according to the tourism board. This came after the board's collaborations with Indonesian influencers to promote Hong Kong.