HKTB targets Muslim tourists

City failed to draw Muslims in the past.

Anthony Lau, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, said HKTB is committed to keep investing in the Middle East region because we believe it will continue to bring us growth.

Over 1.6 million tourists from the Middle East visit Asia annually, compared to only 600,000 a decade ago. In 2012, only 200,000 visitors from the Middle East visited Hong Kong. Last year, 28 million visitors from mainland China came to Hong Kong, which has just 7 million residents

One reason for Muslim’s bypassing Hong Kong is the city’s lack of mosques and halal outlets. There are only between 20,000 and 100,000 Muslims in Hong Kong and only five mosques for these Muslims.

Hong Kong officials believe that building more mosques and opening new halal restaurants and other halal places would help attract more Muslim travelers to the city.

According to halal, Muslims should only eat meat from livestock slaughtered by a sharp knife by their necks, and the name of Allah, the Arabic word for God, must be mentioned.

Other goods and services can also be certified as halal. These include financial services, cosmetics, clothing and pharmaceuticals.