Pei-Yu Wu first learned what halal signifies at the time of hosting Southeast Asian delegates for the Ministry of Foreign of Affairs in Taiwan.
Growing up in Taiwan with less than 2 percent Muslim population, she didn’t know Islamic customs. She took her guests to a night market and by chance bought cong zhua bing, a famous street food that was cooked with pork grease. She was so uncomfortable by her halal faux pas that she came to a conclusion to open her own travel agency, Halal Trip Guru, to make it easier for other Muslim tourists visiting Taiwan.
Wu’s company is part of Taiwan’s rising halal tourism, bolstered by a government effort that aimed on making the country Muslim-friendly. As per Crescent Rating, a research group that tracks halal travel trends, Taiwan welcomed over 80,000 Muslims last year than the previous year. In China, home to 20 million Muslims, Crescent Rating’s CEO Fazal Bahardeen said numbers have remained the same, with zero government investment in halal tourism. “We have not seen any sort of activity from mainland China in terms of targeting this Muslim market,” Bahardeen said.
Muslim tourists comprise world’s one of the fastest-growing travel sectors. By 2026, Crescent Rating estimates that there will be 230 million halal tourists travelling worldwide. By 2050, the Pew Research Center estimates Muslims will comprise 30 percent of the world’s population. In spite of this fast growth, Bahardeen said halal tourism is a market is still untapped, particularly in China. “[Muslims] are still poorly represented in the travel space.”
To the Muslims, China is ready to stay connected than ever through the Belt and Road Initiative, a comprehensive infrastructure project that would connect China to halal tourism markets including Malaysia, Singapore, and Pakistan. The BRI project plan, which takes in a pan-Asian railway line between Yunnan in southwest China and Singapore, is all geared up to reinstate a once thriving trade network and historical route of religious exchange between China and Southeast Asia.
Tags: Halal tourism
