The Tourism Bureau’s Kuala Lumpur Office on Wednesday held a joint news conference with the Malaysian branch of cosmetic chain store Watsons to promote Taiwan as potentially the most Muslim-friendly tourist destination in the region.
It is the first time the office has worked with Watsons Malaysia stores to promote Taiwanese tourism through its considerable client base, said Chou Shih-pi (周士弼), the office’s director-general.
Watsons Malaysia has more than 700 stores across the country, while 60 percent of its client base is Muslim, the office said.
Photo courtesy of the Tourism Bureau Kuala Lumpur Office via CNA
“We hope that Taiwan will become the first option for our Muslim friends to visit, and hopefully achieve our goals of having more than 400,000 Malaysian citizens visit Taiwan this year,” Chou said.
Ayda Jebat, brand ambassador for Watsons Malaysia and spokesperson for the Salam Taiwan project, said that her experiences traveling to Taiwan last year were very relaxed, and the people were friendly.
She said she hoped to visit Taiwan alongside the members of Watsons Malaysia and share the fantastic experience of visiting Taiwan with them.
The number of Malaysian tourists visiting Taiwan has grown to be the largest among all Southeast Asian countries since the country reopened its borders to international tourists in October last year, the office said in a statement.
Taiwan also ranked third on Mastercard’s 2023 Global Muslim Travel Index’s non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) travel destinations, trailing behind only Singapore and the UK, the office said.
Taipei has been awarded the Most Promising Muslim-friendly City Destination of The Year (non-OIC). In April, it hosted the 2023 Eid-al-Fitr in Taipei event and had for the first time a mini Muslim travel fair, highlighting Taiwan’s success in pooling its resources and creating a Muslim-friendly tourism environment.
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