Northstar

www.travelweekly-asia.com | 7 COVER STORY Muslim Travel One of Thailand's largest Muslim- specialist agencies, tour company Royal Thai Travel & Trading Co., Ltd, has seen a strong showing from Malaysian travellers. Started 10 years ago by local Thai Muslims, the agency organises travel packages that include halal meals, a local tour guide familiar with Islamic culture and practice and Muslim-friendly accommodation. From its overall business of 1,700 to 2,500 travellers each year, almost three quarters are from Malaysia and they're usually small groups that include families and honeymooners. Asia's emerging spots Meanwhile, destinations in North Asia have started to compete in the Muslim travel market. Japan has seen a growing number of arrivals from Malaysia and Indonesia, with close to a million visitors from both countries out of its record 31.1 million visitors in 2018, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Similarly, from Taiwan's 11 million visitors last year, more than 700,000 were from Indonesia and Malaysia, according to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, MOTC. South Korea, meanwhile, received 15.3 million visitors during the same period, of which more than 500,000 came from Indonesia and Malaysia, the Korea Tourism Organisation reported. National tourism organisations have been particularly active in driving these changes, with countries like Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong singled out for their efforts. One factor influencing these changes is the intent to diversify their tourism source markets. "If you look at countries like Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, there has largely been an over- reliance on the Chinese market as the main source market. I see that as one of the reasons that they're massively pushing to diversify their arrivals. And they're looking at the biggest markets like Indonesia and Malaysia," said Fazal Bahardeen, founder and CEO of CrescentRating and Halaltrip. These destinations are now offering more halal food options and prayer facilities, along with marketing communications specifically targeting this market, said Tengku Suzana Tengku Abdul Kadir, co-founder of Have Halal, Will Travel, an online food and travel website for Muslim travellers. "Destinations without a main certifying body are also looking at standardising their halal- certification. Japan, for example, is working closely with Malaysia's JAKIM," she added. The partnership has resulted in the establishment of a halal central kitchen in southern Japan that aims to cater to Muslim tourists ahead of the expected influx of visitors for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The kitchen, dubbed Halal Kitchen Raku, received its certification by JAKIM to supply ready-to-eat packaged halal meals starting this year to restaurants in Tokyo. The meals will also be delivered to hotels under the Marriott chain. That said, many restaurants in Japan serve alcohol so there may be a reluctance by owners to forgo this lucrative income in return for full halal certification. • 913 restaurants in Japan that are halal-certified or Muslim-friendly by Halal Gourmet Japan, a halal food listing website • 223 Muslim- friendly dining and accommodation establishments in Taiwan compiled by Taiwan Tourism Bureau • 250 restaurants listed on Korea Tourism Organization's website, classified into four categories: halal-certified, self-certified, Muslim- friendly and pork-free • 80 halal-certified premises in Hong Kong by the incorporated trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong Cruise tourism Interest in Muslim travel is also increasing in specialist sectors such as the cruise industry. In November, Genting Cruise Line introduced halal-certified food options on one of its newest ships, Genting Dream. According to the cruise line, the 3,300-passenger ship, which primarily serves Southeast Asia, is the only vessel in Asia to be recognised by the Malaysian-based certification body, JAKIM. The move was to "be as inclusive as possible to cater to the evolving needs of Asian holidaymakers from diverse cultures across Asia," said Michael Goh, senior vice president – international sales, Genting Cruise Lines. "We've observed unprecedented double-digit growth on a year-on-year basis of Muslim FIT leisure travellers and Muslim MICE groups from key source markets like Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia across our ships. "To date, there are over 200 million untapped Muslims with great potential to explore in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia," Goh added. The ship now offers a dedicated halal buffet section on board one of its main all-day dining restaurants, The Lido. A series of halal-inspired dishes were also created, including popular favourite Asian dishes, such as Pari Asam Pedas (sour and spicy stingray), Tandoori Kambing (mutton tandoori) and Ayam Madu (honey chicken). "I hear about a lot more Muslim Muslim-friendly food in numbers Yang Good BBQ serves halal meat in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. PHOTO CREDIT: HAVE HALAL, WILL TRAVEL travellers going on cruises. This was definitely not a phenomenon two years ago. It's still a niche market. The market will really evolve when more travel partners like cruise lines, hotels and destinations offer halal-certified food. Recently, a friend of mine who's quite a conservative Muslim actually went on a cruise from Singapore to Langkawi–it's becoming clear that Muslim travellers are beginning to explore cruising," said Bahardeen. Japan has seen close to a million visitors from Malaysia and Indonesia last year. PHOTO CREDIT: NATEE MEEPIAN/GETTY IMAGES

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