On the second last day of 2024, Hong Kong’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau unveiled to the public its new blueprint for boosting tourism efforts in the city for the coming future.
On page 58, the document reiterated the government’s effort to attract Muslim visitors to the city, estimated to reach 250 million worldwide by 2028. It is just one of 133 measures proposed by the government to draw tourists from other competing tourist-heavy cities in Asia and globally.
Owing to the Middle East and ASEAN’s large Muslim population, namely from Indonesia and Malaysia, the government has suggested accrediting more restaurants, hotels, and attractions with halal-certification, and increasing the list of venues serving halal food.
Roughly 400,000 Muslims live in Hong Kong, yet approximately only 130 halal-certified venues serve the community. The government’s ambitious efforts to diversify and tap Muslim markets for tourism ultimately relies on the increase of outlets serving halal food.
Restaurateurs like Ashutosh Bisht, general manager of Bombay Dreams, recognise the demand to serve halal food for both Hong Kong’s Muslim population and the potential tourism markets farther afield.
“Since 2002, we have sold halal meat and products in our restaurant,” Ashutosh explains to Foodie. The suppliers he has worked with over the past 23 years already sold halal chicken, lamb, and fish, making the decision to serve a completely halal menu a no-brainer.
“We have a lot of Muslim customers and our restaurant does not use beef or pork products so to become officially halal-certified by the Islamic Trust of Hong Kong was simple.”
Every hospitality venue seeking to earn halal certification in Hong Kong has to undergo an inspection process of their equipment, suppliers, and preparation methods with the Trust to ensure compliance with the strict Muslim dietary requirements.
With more visitors from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Ashutosh is promoting Bombay Dreams’ delivery and catering services to host Muslim business visitors to Hong Kong.
“Halal food is healthy not only for Muslims, but everyone. The meat contains no chemicals, pesticides, and preservatives. It is leaner, bacteria-free, and good in terms of nutrients,” he claims.
Around the corner at the top of Soho, Flaming Frango, owned and founded by Vinay Kapoor, serves halal Portuguese-style piri piri chicken and other barbecue items. Just like Ashutosh, their suppliers already provided halal-certified produce.
“When opening Flaming Frango, our products were already halal-certified. But we discovered that there were limited choices for people to have halal food, mainly South Asian restaurants. We decided to create a fully halal menu with fajitas, burgers, pastas, and a collection of dishes,” Vinay states.
“We have observed over the years that people of various cultures and backgrounds appreciate halal food for its quality, ethical sourcing, and health benefits to an extent.”
Whilst Flaming Frango has served the local Muslim community, conveniently situated close to Hong Kong’s oldest mosque Jamia Mosque in Mid Levels, Vinay is doubtful for a rapid emergence of new halal-friendly establishments amidst this city-wide tourism push.
“More restaurants in Hong Kong have started offering halal food, but the number of halal-certified establishments has been flat recently with the local community eating halal food and Muslim tourists and businesspeople coming to Hong Kong.”
“Hopefully, with the amount of promotion the Hong Kong government is doing [to attract Muslim visitors], we would expect the numbers to grow.”
If there is one halal restaurant in Hong Kong that is hedging its bets for the future of halal dining in Hong Kong, it is Groundswell, a fully halal Southeast Asian restaurant at AIRSIDE, Kai Tak’s first restaurant of its kind.
Joining the new Kai Tak stadium, AIRSIDE mall, and The Twins, Hong Kong is set for a buzzing new neighbourhood designed for mega entertainment and events. Founder of the restaurant Tim Lin recognises the future potential of the area’s first halal restaurant.
“We are following the government’s push for more Muslim visitors in Hong Kong. Kai Tak is a new area without a lot of Halal restaurants. Particularly with Thai food, there’s not a lot of halal Thai food in Hong Kong, so we found a little niche with the halal audience,” says Tim.
Around 90% of his halal-dining customers are locals, with the rest tourists visiting the area. Tim was enticed to open Groundswell in the area by his landlord as the neighboring business offices were targeting Middle Eastern companies to open companies in Kai Tak.
As the Kai Tak stadium opens on Mar. 1, Tim is highly optimistic about the potential reach Groundswell has with halal Muslim tourists for sports and entertainment events, enjoying “one of Hong Kong’s only halal Thai restaurants.”
If suppliers from all three restaurants already provided halal meat and products for consumption, the issue of Hong Kong’s low count of halal-certified restaurants comes down to the process of authentication.
John Lee has called for an easier process to certify existing and new venues, with Singaporean company Crecent Ratings filling in the gap to recognise multiple five-star hotels, attractions, and restaurants with internationally-recognised halal certifications making dining safer for Muslims.
Whilst the halal offerings at Bombay Dreams, Flaming Frango, and Groundswell have attracted local Muslim Hong Kongers, is the government’s push for transforming Hong Kong into a halal-friendly travel destination in the short-term feasible?
In 2024, Hong Kong only received 16,498 visitors from GCC markets, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
It can be assumed that a majority of Middle Eastern visitors are Muslim, so too with the 405,508 and 366,973 visitors from Malaysia and Indonesia that visited Hong Kong last year.
Yet, all together, the visitors from all three markets make up just shy of 2% of total visitors – 7.5% if you account for a share of non-mainland Chinese visitors.
A more comprehensive approach to Muslim tourism in the city such as more mosques, prayer spaces, advertising campaigns in the Middle East, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and Arabic language support will go a great way for a much-needed tourism injection in Hong Kong before restaurants figure out whether the chicken or the egg should be made halal first.
