Taiwan, which was recently ranked as the safest non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destination in the global Muslim travel market, needs to improve its efforts to promote the unique experience it offers to stand out from other destinations, a Tourism Bureau official said.
Only about 200,000 of the 10.44 million visitors to the nation last year were Muslims, leaving businesses in the tourism sector disappointed with the poor return on their investment targeting the market.
The number is small considering Taiwan was named the seventh-most popular destination and the safest among 130 non-OIC destinations worldwide in the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index in March.
MasterCard forecast the number of Muslim travelers, which reached 117 million, or 10 percent of the global figure, would grow to 168 million by 2020.
Tourism Bureau Deputy Director-General Wayne Liu (劉喜臨) said in an interview that it took Taiwan more than 10 years to increase the number of Japanese visitors to 1.63 million last year, adding it is unlikely that the number of Muslim visitors would grow significantly after just two years of effort.
The bureau said the 200,000 Muslim visitors mainly came from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and that not many were from the Middle East.
Liu said the bureau’s exhibition at last year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM) fair in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was successful in promoting what a unique experience Taiwan has to offer to Middle Eastern travelers.
The bureau decorated the Taiwan pavilion with orchids, sky lanterns and a plot of grass planted on real soil, while tea was offered by a tea master, who demonstrated the art of tea making.
“Middle Eastern people seemed to like the smell of the moist soil and the greenness. Exhibitors often wandered into the Taiwan pavilion to smell the soil and the flowers, and to drink a cup of tea grown in Taiwan’s mountainous regions. The exhibition helped to create an image of Taiwan as a tourist destination in people’s minds,” Liu said.
Liu said the bureau has attended the ATM fair for the past two years, but that not many Taiwanese tour operators have been willing to attend or to establish partnerships with their Middle Eastern counterparts.
Without such partnerships, promotions of tours to Taiwan in the Middle East are unlikely to flourish, Liu said.
Asked whether Dubai-based airline Emirates’ recent launch of an Airbus A380 on its daily Taipei-Dubai service would bring more visitors from the region, Liu said it was a possibility, but Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways (國泰航空) appears a more popular option. After the launch of the A380 service on May 1, Emirates chief commercial officer Thierry Antinori said in Taipei that the carrier is working with the bureau and travel agencies to promote Taiwan as a tourist destination in the Middle East and Europe.
The Regent Taipei hotel, one of the hotels that is certified to cater to Muslim visitors, said such customers only account for 5 percent of its total.
As of April 15, more than 30 hotels in Taiwan had been certified as Muslim-friendly tourism venues by the Taipei-based Chinese Muslim Association.
To acquire the certification, a hotel needs to have rooms and Halal food that meet the needs of Muslim guests.
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