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Number of Muslim-Friendly Hotels Triples Department of Information and Tourism of Taipei City Government’s Effort Pays Off

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Post date:2016-12-09

Updates:2017-01-13

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Number of Muslim-Friendly Hotels Triples Department of Information and Tourism of Taipei City Government’s Effort Pays Off


Taipei has the most hotels that cater to Muslims in Taiwan, reaching a total of 25 with 16 newly added in November. These hotels include a wide selection of youth hostels, budget hotels, commercial hotels, and luxurious hot-spring hotels.Four of them even provide halal menus!
 

Although only contributing to a small portion of Taiwan’s tourism industry for the time being, Muslim travelers have drawn local? Global? attention since a quarter of the world population is made up of Muslims. According to the Global Muslim Travel Index released in March by MasterCard and CrescentRating (新月評等), the world-renowned authority on halal travel, , Taiwan’s score in 2015 on “Accommodation Options score” improved by 35% from the year before. This year (2016) in August, the Department of Information and Tourism (觀光傳播局) hosted two Muslim-Friendly Travel and Accommodation Advisory Seminars, which attracted more than 30 hotels to register on-site, amassing a total of 99 hotels and 123 related businesses to participate .


After deliberation, 16 hotels were selected to collaborate with the Taipei Grand Mosque (台北清真寺) to receive training and four on-site counseling on how to create a safe environment for Muslim travelers. Four of the hotels received the Halal Restaurant Certificate from the Taipei Grand Mosque, authenticating them as Muslim-Friendly Hotels (穆斯林友善餐旅).
 

There are around 550 hotels in Taipei, 9 of which are Muslim-friendly, though most of them are high-end tourist hotels. As CrescentRating pointed out, the ease of access to halal foods, prayer spaces, signs indicating Makkah’s cardinal direction and bidets are key indices for Muslim-friendly hotels. Thus, front desk staffs are expected to be able to provide accurate Salah times (禮拜時間表) and information of nearby mosques and halal restaurants as requested?. The Muslim Business Traveler Insights 2016 (透視穆斯林商務旅客) released in October further stated that while 43% of Muslim travelers only dine in restaurants that solely serve halal food, 44% of them are willing to accept eateries that clearly label “non-Muslim food” and “Pork-containing dish” on their menus.


One participating hotel’s representative mentioned that as soon as they announced the new Muslim-friendly suite on their official website, they received reservation emails from Indonesian travelers. Another hotel had a business traveler from Oman specially request for meals with only boiled eggs and olive oil. Ya-Huei Chen, Division Chief of the Tourism Industry Division of the Department of Information and Tourism of Taipei City Government, stated that approximately two-thirds of Muslim travelers hope their hotel accommodations include halal food and bidets. Even if the hotels do not have attached halal restaurants, it is considered thoughtful to provide a list of Muslim eateries nearby.


Separating cookers, utensils, and even microwave ovens for Muslims from other customers’ also displays great considerateness. Providing worship schedules at the front desk, installing bidets, supplying prayer mats, putting up prayer-direction signs in the rooms, and purchasing separate sets of cookers and utensils for the kitchen do not require putting in much capital. Nevertheless, they demonstrate our respect and devotion to our Muslim visitors.
 

Source: Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

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