Hong Kong convention centre awarded highest halal certificate by Singapore firm

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) has been awarded the highest accreditation by an internationally recognised halal travel promotion company, the first of such venues to obtain such a certification, giving a boost to the city’s effort to tap Muslim markets for more tourists.

The centre’s management company on Monday announced Singapore-based research and consultancy firm CrescentRating had accredited it with the Gold Certification for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions – or MICE venues – last month.

“The HKCEC is the first MICE venue in Hong Kong to receive this Gold Certification, the highest ranking of the certification scheme, reflecting the good experiences that the exhibition centre has created for Muslim exhibitors and visitors,” its spokesman said.

“In order to support the [government’s] initiative of promoting Muslim-friendly business activities and tourism … it is expected that many of the international exhibitions and conferences held at the HKCEC will increasingly attract Muslim exhibitors, buyers and visitors.”

In his annual policy address last October, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu encouraged tourism-related businesses to look to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, including through offering better dining options for Muslim visitors.

Hong Kong has no official figures for the number of Muslims that visit the city each year, but about 800,000 tourists arrived in 2019 from Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the Middle East, Indonesia, and Malaysia – the major source markets of Muslim visitors for the city, according to the Tourism Board.

In the first 11 months of 2024, there were 680,000 visitors from these places, or about 1.7 per cent of the total arrivals.