T

he Jakarta administration is calling on restaurant owners and caterers in the capital to acquire halal certificates, to tap into the growing sharia tourism market.

The Jakarta Tourism Agency, together with the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry and the Indonesia Ulema Council’s Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM-MUI), disseminated halal certification rules on Wednesday while showcasing the government’s programs to promote sharia tourism in Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world.

Sharia tourism is leisure and travel that complies with Islamic law, including the provision of cuisine and beverages that contain no pork, lard or alcohol.

“This dissemination is part of the tourism agency’s halal certification program for restaurants and catering businesses. It’s a trend, a new lifestyle and we’ve seen growing demand for halal cuisine from tourists coming to Jakarta. Halal certificates will give these tourists comfort,” Jakarta Tourism Agency head Arie Budhiman Soedarto said before 300 restaurant and catering businesspeople at City Hall.

Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo highlighted the growing demand for halal cuisine from tourists visiting the capital.

“We’re capturing demand [of halal products] from Muslim tourists. They want to ensure what they eat is halal. That’s why my administration has been working with the MUI to disseminate the halal certification program to businesses,” he said.

Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry director for tourism standardization Ani Insani pointed out that Muslim tourists around the world spent US$930 billion in 2009, with the figure since believed to have increased.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 101,034 Malaysian tourists visited Indonesia in February, topping the list of incoming foreign tourists. The figure is higher than the 89,526 Malaysian tourists who visited the country over the corresponding period last year. Singapore, China, Australia and Japan followed Malaysia on the list.

Ani said that domestic tourists were also part of the potential sharia travel market.

“Throughout 2011, 239 million domestic trips were made, generating Rp 158 trillion [$16.3 billion] in transactions. We assumed that 80 percent of the trips were made by Muslims,” she said.

“[Sharia tourism] is not about Islamization. This is merely an option in the tourism industry,” she added.

LPPOM-MUI deputy director Osmena Gunawan said that halal certification was not meant to burden businesspeople.

“[Halal certification] is voluntary. The process is relatively easy, it takes up to three weeks from audit to certificate issuance,” Osmena said.

Local businesses currently spend between Rp 250,000 (US$25.75) and Rp 4 million per product to obtain a halal certificate from the body.

David Marsudi, owner of local seafood chain D’Cost, said that his restaurants had obtained a halal certificate from the MUI a year ago.

“I established the chain six years ago and decided to obtain halal certificates a year ago because 90 percent of my consumers are Muslims,” he said, adding that the certificates would remove customers’ doubts over the food served at his restaurants.

Silvianti, manager of Chinese restaurant Shanghai Garden, acknowledged that the restaurant, which has three branches in Jakarta, had yet to obtain such a certificate.

“We don’t provide pork but we use arak [palm wine] in our cooking,” she said, adding that she would have to consult with the restaurant owner on whether to provide all halal cuisine.