An influx of tourists from Muslim-majority countries has inspired the Hong Kong Tourism Board to promote the certification of more Muslim-friendly restaurants in recent years. In the first four months of the year, tourist arrivals from nations with Muslims as the key population have increased by 13.4 per cent from the same period last year.
The Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong says that the Tourism Board has been working closely with both Hong Kong Muslims and local restaurants to promote certification.
'Of late, there has been a trend to make more restaurants halal,' said Hameed Jalal, chairman of the trustees, employing the Arabic term for food complying with Islamic dietary laws. Jalal's organisation oversees the certification of halal food in Hong Kong and some Muslim communities abroad.
Last year the Tourism Board advertised 14 halal restaurants in a guidebook entitled Destination Hong Kong, A Guide for Muslim Visitors. Since then, the number of official Muslim restaurants has almost doubled. The board did not go into detail about their efforts to bring halal to Hong Kong but said: 'Safe and cosmopolitan images make Hong Kong very appealing to different markets.'
Hong Kong's recent foray into the Muslim dining industry reflects an international realisation of the Muslim community's purchasing power. DagangAsia Net, a subsidiary of business consulting firm WEBSE, estimated the Asian halal market at US$385.6 billion and the global market at around US$2.1 trillion, with an annual growth rate of 12 to 15 per cent during the next 10 years.
'Muslims want to ensure that what they eat contains no non-Islamic products,' Jalal said, explaining that a halal certificate in a restaurant or a stamp on a product is the only way for Muslims to know that what they are eating is free of pork and other un- Islamic foods like liquor and meat not slaughtered according to Islamic protocol.