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USAPEEC ASEAN

photo: Halal Korean fried rice dish served in a Korean restaurant in Singapore

The hospitality and tourism industry has observed the rise in Halal tourism in recent times1. Muslim travelers form a diverse untapped business market for suppliers of services and restaurateurs to explore. As Muslims can only consume food that is Halal, restaurateurs constantly explore other permissible options in order to attract them to dine at their outlets. Currently, Halal tourism is forecasted to generate US$238 billion by 20193. Travel websites from Japan, Korea and Hong Kong offer extensive guides to halal dining while the Tourism Authority of Thailand created an app to target the Muslim market in 20162. Back in 2014, the Halal industry in Malaysia accounted for approximately US$8 billion4. This reveals that there are plenty of business opportunities for restaurateurs to consider exploring.

In Singapore, numerous popular chains have obtained the Halal license to serve dishes that can be consumed by Muslims. For example, FatPapas is a Halal version of the widely loved non-Halal burger joint, Fat Boys’ Burger5. This Halal burger café serves beef and chicken patties made of Halal meat and other scrumptious poultry dishes to attract the Muslim community. Hip Korean chain, Mukshidonna, known for its delectable serving of ‘army stew’ dish, has recently acquired the Halal certificate to cater to these diners6. Their menu includes Halal ingredients such as chicken sausages, chicken ham, chicken dumplings and chicken broth. Restaurants are making such moves to cater to the more than 800,000 Muslims who currently reside in Singapore7. Several major western fast food chains in Singapore including McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Texas Chicken, Pizza Hut and Swensen’s have had their restaurants certified Halal for a number of years already. This allowed them to utilize common kitchen equipment, cold storage facilities and backroom procurement to cater for all market segments.

Taiwan is home to over 170,000 Muslims who came from North-Western regions in China7. In 2015, Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau shared that there were over 200,000 Muslim travelers that visited Taiwan8. Within Taipei alone, there are countless of Halal-dining options that serve tasty local dishes to the masses. Some of these dishes include beef noodle soup, chicken and vegetarian dumpling noodles, skewered chicken and duck meat, fried chicken meals and more8.

Based on the expanding Halal customer population, Halal food and tourism is a bourgeoning market not to be neglected2.

References

1. The Guardian. (2017). Halal tourism: Kuala Lumpur welcomes the Muslim travellers others didn’t want. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jun/06/halal-tourism-kuala-lumpur-muslim-travellers-malaysia
2. Khaleej Times. (2017). The growing popularity of halal tourism. [online] Available at: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/local/the-growing-popularity-of-halal-tourism
3. The Straits Times. (2016). Islamic tourism: The next big thing?[online] Available at: http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/islamic-tourism-the-next-big-thing
4. TODAYonline. (2014). Malaysian halal food companies primed to feed Muslims’ taste for travel. [online] Available at: http://www.todayonline.com/business/malaysian-halal-food-companies-primed-feed-muslims-taste-travel
5. Seth Lui. (2017). FatPapas: Don’t Miss Out On This Halal Burger Joint’s Special Ramadan ‘R&B Burger’ & Massive Dishes At Bali Lane. [online] Available at: http://sethlui.com/fatpapas-halal-burger-singapore/#ixzz4rX86bz4x 
6. Mothership. (2017). Famous Korean restaurant chain Mukshidonna in S’pore is now Halal-certified. [online] Available at: https://mothership.sg/2017/08/famous-korean-restaurant-chain-mukshidonna-in-spore-is-now-halal-certified/ 
7. TODAYonline. (2017). Singapore’s Haj quota raised to 800 as Muslim population increases. [online] Available at: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapores-haj-quota-raised-800-muslim-population-increases
8. Channel NewsAsia. (2016) Taiwan For The Travelling Muslim. [online] Available at: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/theasiantraveller/articles/taiwan-for-the-travelling-muslim-7686188