The company that owns and manages Taipei 101 is mulling setting up a Muslim prayer room to attract more Muslim visitors, people who have knowledge of the matter said.
A total of 2.96 million people visited the Taipei 101 observatory last year, an increase of 700,000 people or nearly 30 percent year-on-year, statistics showed.
However, the number of visitors from China, which accounts for about 60 percent of the total, dropped by about 10 percent in the run-up to the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, Taipei 101 spokesman Michael Liu (劉家豪) said.
This prompted fears that the supply of tourists from China could be unstable and Taiwan might become vulnerable if it solely relied on it, he added.
Liu said that the company is trying to woo visitors from South Korea, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East this year to avoid an over-reliance on a single source of tourists.
The establishment of a Muslim prayer room could be one of the measures adopted by the company to attract more visitors from Islamic nations.
The management is also encouraging restaurants in the building to acquire halal certification, to accommodate Muslim dietary needs.
Ding Xian 101, on the 86th floor of the building, has already gained such a certification, Liu said.
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