Taiwan Intensively Promotes Halal Tourism
Jakarta, MINA – Taiwan, through its bureau and tourism industry, intensively promotes halal tourism packages to attract Muslim travelers around the world, including Indonesia.
The Deputy Director of the Taiwan Tourism Office of the Kuala Lumpur Office, Cindy Chen said that Taiwan is very serious about the ease of access to halal tourism in Formosa, which means the beautiful island in the country.
“Seeing the Muslim population in Indonesia as one of the biggest in the world, of course we want to attract Muslim tourists to come to Taiwan. One of them is providing many halal-certified restaurants and worship facilities such as prayer rooms in tourist attractions, “he said during the Taiwan Tourism Workshop in Jakarta on Monday night.
Cindy Chen explained, currently there are more than 176 hotels and restaurants throughout Taiwan that have received halal certification.
The tourism promotion workshop also is held by the Taiwan Visitors Association Jakarta was attended by various Taiwanese bureaus and tourism industries as well as travel agents in Indonesia. Various tourist destinations are introduced starting from tourist attractions, cultural diversity to Taiwanese culinary certified.
“This Taiwan tourism promotion activity has 88 participants from 21 agencies who will provide the latest information on Taiwan tourism,” said Jan-Der Chen, Taiwan’s Chief of Delegation of the Tourism Promotion Bureau.
According to Jan-Der Chen, Indonesian tourists who come to Taiwan in 2018 are close to 200 thousand people, up 11 percent compared to 2017.
He said, his party targeted the Indonesian tourism market which reached eight million people abroad, to be more interested in traveling to Taiwan.
“We hope that through a more intimate relationship from both parties can make Indonesians know Taiwan with its diversity,” he added.
The Chief Representative, Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Jakarta, John C. Chen stated that with a unique blend of culture, beautiful scenery, diverse cuisine, attractive city life and a well-developed hospitality industry, Taiwan is an ideal destination for tourists from various backgrounds.
“Taiwan implements simplification of the visa application process for Indonesian citizens to make it easier and more practical travel to Taiwan,” he explained.
Chen said that every Muslim tourist visiting Taiwan can feel safe and comfortable, in recent years Taiwan has aggressively promoted friendly facilities for Muslims.
Based on the latest ranking of 2018 “Global Muslim Tourism Index (GMTI)” issued by MasterCard, Taiwan ranks 5th as a tourist destination for Non-Muslim countries, this position exceeds Germany, Australia and the United States.
According to Chen, Taiwan, which is rich in tourism resources, often gets confidence from well-known international travel website pages, such as Globe Spots which places Taiwan in 8th place in the 10 Recommended World Travel Destinations to be visited in 2019. In addition, Booking.com also enter Taiwan in the top 5 of the world’s most humane tourist destinations.
“It proves that Taiwan is a tourist destination worth visiting,” he added.
Chairman of the Indonesian Travel Agent Association (Astindo) Elly Hutabarat hopes that the growing number of Indonesian tourists visiting Taiwan will also boost revenues in the tourism sector.
He said that Indonesian Muslim tourists did not worry about if they visit Taiwan.
“Even though there are only around 300,000 people in Taiwan, Taiwan is one of the countries that has a friendly environment for Muslims,” Elly added.
The promotion of Taiwan’s tourist charm is a series of 2019 Astindo Travel Fair tourism exhibitions held in two major Indonesian cities, in Jakarta and Surabaya. The Taiwan tourism promotion pavilion also attended the top of the Astindo Travel Fair 2019 at the Jakarta Convention Center, February 22-24 2019. (AT/Sj/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
