TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) hosted a grand Chinese New Year luncheon in its campaign to attract more Indonesian tourists to the city. Becky Ip, the HKTB Deputy Executive Director, said that Indonesia was one of the most important tourism market with a huge growth potential. “Hong Kong offers the liveliness of a cosmopolitan, with 260 islands and a full calendar (of attraction) throughout the whole year,” she said during the event on February 26 at Pullman Hotel Central Park, Jakarta.

Ip mentioned that last year, there were only around 490,000 Indonesian tourists who came to Hong Kong. “We were a little bit behind the target, the demonstration for democracy upset the market arrival towards the end of the year,” she said. Compared to 2013, the number of Indonesians visitors slightly declined by 4.9 percent. “However, Occupy Central has come to an end, everything is back to normal now,” she reassured.

Being a country with the largest number of Muslims, one of the main concerns for tourists from Indonesia is the availability of Halal food. According to Ip, this should not be a problem because there are 61 Halal restaurants scattered all over Hong Kong. “It is not a large number, but all the restaurants are conveniently placed and easily accessible,” she added. There are also four mosques in the city, the largest one is located in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon.

AMANDA SIDDHARTA