Chinese travelers are no longer coming to Taiwan, forcing the Tourism Bureau to find other sources of tourists. It has set its sights on Muslim travelers from New Southbound Policy countries and rolled out plans to double the number of Muslim travelers. However, travel agents point out many restaurants are not halal-certified and many tourist attractions do not have prayer rooms. Moreover, Taiwan's famous night markets also lack halal sections.
This Muslim shop and restaurant is located on Xinsheng South Road in Taipei. It is halal certified, and the food items it sells bears halal certification issued by the Indonesian government. The proprietor says he has been told many times that Taiwan's restaurants are not friendly to those who don't eat pork, such as Muslim tourists. Many of them come here to stock up on instant noodles.
Some travelers from Singapore said they went to Alishan on their own and did not eat proper meals for four days. They only ate instant noodles because there weren't any halal-certified restaurants. There needs to be more of these restaurants.
In 2015, the number of Muslim tourists to Taiwan surpassed 200,000. In recent years, the number has fallen to 170,000. The Tourism Bureau has set an objective of doubling the number of Muslim tourists next year and will progressively roll out measures to create Muslim-friendly environments. For example, Taoyuan International Airport now has prayer rooms and halal-certified restaurants.
The culinary offerings are more international, so it's more special and makes you want to try them out.
However, travel agents say very few hotels and restaurants in Taiwan can properly accommodate Muslim travelers. For example, the majority of halal-certified restaurants are located in the north and the majority of the hotels are five-star hotels with high rates. This means that it would be more expensive for Muslim tourists from Malaysia to travel to Taiwan than ethnic Chinese tourists.
Halal-certified restaurants are generally more expensive than other restaurants. This means that if we have a group of Muslim travelers, the quoted price will be higher than that for a group of ethnic Chinese tourists. If we calculate prices using the Malaysian ringgit, it will be 1,000 more. That's about NT$7,000 to NT$8,000 more per person.
Travel agents add Muslim tourists prefer to travel to places with better facilities, such as Japan. Taiwan is not the first choice. If Taiwan wants to succeed in attracting Muslim tourists, washing facilities will have to be set up inside scenic spot restrooms, as well as prayer rooms with prayer rugs. Taiwan's famous night markets will have to establish halal sections and begin labeling ingredients to allow Muslim tourists to properly enjoy these popular attractions.