China’s big pitch to Malaysian tourists: Come visit halal-friendly places

China is wooing Muslim tourists from Malaysia by enticing them with halal-friendly travel packages, as it tries to revive its pandemic-hit tourism industry while deepening ties with the Islamic-majority Southeast Asian country. 

Malaysian interest in Chinese destinations is surging thanks to expanded halal offerings and eased visa regulations, according to industry analysts. There has been a 15% to 20% rise in Malay-Muslim tourists visiting China, particularly in lesser-known regions such as Xinjiang and Ningxia, according to industry analysts.

And Malaysia’s tourism industry is assisting Beijing in promoting such packages, as Kuala Lumpur looks to lure more visitors from mainland China to its shores as well.   

During a tourism fair in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, Chinese travel packages saw strong demand, with a third of offerings catering specifically to Malaysia’s growing Muslim population. 

Nigel Wong, president of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents, or MATTA, which organized the Sept. 6 to 8 fair, said the reopening of China to foreign tourists had kindled renewed interest. 

“The post-pandemic era and China’s lifting of travel restrictions have really driven this surge,” Wong told RFA affiliate BenarNews. “With increasing awareness of halal-friendly facilities and food options, destinations like Xinjiang, Xi’an and Ningxia are becoming prime locations for Muslim tourists.”

Xinjiang holds particular appeal, despite an ongoing international controversy surrounding the region. Since 2021, the U.S. government has accused China, a rival superpower, of conducting a campaign of “genocide” against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the far-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Chinese government has denied these allegations, describing them as politically motivated and driven by foreign powers seeking to undermine Beijing’s global image.

“Xinjiang’s Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar and the historic Silk Road resonate deeply with Muslim travelers, many of whom are drawn to the region for its deep-rooted Islamic history,” Wong said.

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The rise in interest coincides with enhanced visa agreements between China and Malaysia, which were announced during a visit by Chinese Premier Li Qiang to Kuala Lumpur in June that marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On Sunday, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported that Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had proposed extending the visa-free period for Malaysians from 15 to 30 days, as well as pushing the exemption’s expiration to December 2026. He made the proposal during an official visit to China.

Despite these efforts by Chinese and Malaysian officials to work together on easing travel between the nations, a senior United Nations official last month amplified his call for a probe into the situation in  Xinjiang.

Radio Free Asia reported that U.N. rights chief Volker Türk renewed the call for a full investigation into abuses documented in Xinjiang. In 2022, his office accused China of “crimes against humanity” in the region.

Meanwhile, the government of Malaysia, the second largest Muslim-majority country in Southeast Asia, has taken a cautious and low-profile  stance on the Uyghur issue.

In 2022, Kuala Lumpur abstained from a U.N. vote to debate China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, opting instead to maintain a neutral position. 

Although Malaysia did not openly condemn China’s alleged mistreatment against Uyghurs, in 2020, under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the government refused to extradite members of the group to China.

The two nations do not have an extradition treaty.

Malaysia’s neutral stance on the Uyghur question, however, contrasts starkly with how governments in Kuala Lumpur have viewed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Anwar Ibrahim, the current prime minister, has been particularly vocal on the world stage about the conflict in the Middle East.

He has criticized the Jewish state for its military strikes in Gaza that have left tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians dead since late last year, after a surprise attack by Hamas militants killed some 1,100 people in southern Israel last Oct. 7.

The Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests from BenarNews for comment on the country’s current stance regarding the Uyghur Muslim issue.

For their part, Chinese travel agencies report that Malaysian travelers have shown little apprehension about visiting the region.

“We have not received any complaints or concerns from travelers regarding the situation in Xinjiang,” Chong Yu Ken, MATTA vice president told BenarNews.

“In fact, China is becoming an even more attractive option for Muslim travelers due to the tightening of entry requirements in other Asian countries like South Korea or expensive tickets to European countries.”

‘Soft power’

China’s efforts to attract Muslim tourists are part of a broader strategy to invigorate its tourism sector, which was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sam Huang, a professor of tourism at Edith Cowan University.

“The Chinese government sees tourism as a smart diplomacy tool and part of its soft power strategy,” he told BenarNews. 

“The policies and tourism industry actions can be serving a grand strategy at the national level ... China has Muslim residents in different regions and it shouldn’t be too difficult to develop more halal tourism in China.”

Chinese promotion questioned

Meanwhile, a Swedish anthropologist and former diplomat, questioned China’s promotion of tourism in Xinjiang, comparing those efforts to Nazi Germany’s practice of “genocide tourism,” according to a recent report by the RFA Uyghur service. 

In China’s efforts to promote Xinjiang as a tourist destination, it has sought to cover up its human rights abuses against the Uyghurs by sprucing up buildings, installing new infrastructure and constructing fake historical sites, Magnus Fiskesjö wrote in the Diplomat before speaking to RFA. 

He compared those efforts to a recently discovered German travel guide from 1943 for tourists going to occupied Poland.

Chinese officials have adopted similar practices embraced by the Nazis, who allowed tourists to go to an “occupied zone … under the military and police control so they can channel tourists to safe places where they only see what the government wants them to see,” Fiskesjö told RFA.

“It was their attempt to present the situation as normal,” he said. “The Nazi government would say, ‘We have everything under control. There is nothing to worry about, and you can be a tourist.’”

Muslims are forbidden from eating pork. According to Islamic rules, Halal meat, such as chicken and beef, must be slaughtered with food prepared separately and utensils cleaned by Muslim staff.

In cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, more restaurants are receiving halal certification, while hotels and resorts are increasingly offering halal meals and prayer facilities.

These efforts have made it easier for Muslim travelers to navigate China’s vast regions without worrying about dietary restrictions.

“More and more restaurants are getting halal certification, and in some of the less developed cities, local businesses are beginning to cater to Muslim tourists as well,” Ong Tan Cheah, a consultant at Suka Travel told BenarNews. The agency specializes in Muslim-friendly holidays to China.

For Muslim traveler Muhammad Nurabrar, 24, a Malaysian who recently visited Shanghai, Guangzhou and Yiwu, the growing availability of halal food was a welcome change.

“There are a lot of Arab restaurants and cafés in the major cities,” he told BenarNews.

“The Chinese Muslim cuisine, like ‘mee tarik’ [pulled noodle], is good, but it doesn’t taste exactly like the food back home.”

“Every year, we see more halal restaurants opening up,” Nurabrar said. “It’s not perfect yet, but it’s definitely getting easier to find halal food.”

Back at Malaysia’s largest tourism fair, Chinese travel destinations dominated the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center’s 2.32-acre space, with prominent displays plastered across the walls promoting Muslim-friendly packages.

Tour packages to China, particularly to its western regions where large Muslim populations reside, can be expensive. Packages to Xinjiang can exceed 5,000 ringgit (U.S. $1,144) for a five-day trip, compared to 2,000 ringgit ($457) to 3,000 ringgit ($686) for trips to major eastern cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. 

Despite the higher costs, demand remains strong, with tour agencies telling BenarNews they received a steady stream of bookings from Muslim travelers.

“We’ve worked hard to cater to this growing market,” Ong of Suka Travel said.

“The volume of Muslim travelers is expanding, and even resorts are opening halal restaurants to attract more tourists.” 

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news outlet.