‘Fishballs’ are a popular snack in Hong Kong, and sold in 7-11 stores across the city to school children. But are they Halal? Not quite. According to Dr Paul O’Connor, the author of a recent book on Hong Kong’s Muslim population, the snacks include a pork paste.
We estimate the world’s Halal-food market at between $410 and $820 billion. The range assumes that Halal-products account for between 25% and 75% of foods consumed by Muslim communities, and that food accounts for 30% of total consumption.
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Middle East tourist arrivals to Asia have been on the rise in recent year, and I’ve finally managed to aggregate the data from various national sources.
Here’s the results (and a few surprises).
The number of visitors to the region have surged since 2000, from around 600,000 to over 1.6 million visitors annually. The increases owes in part to the challenges of traveling to the West after 2001, and the surge in oil prices after 2004.
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One of the frustrating ironies of the blog is the more I travel, the more I observe, but the harder it is finding time to write
The past month has been especially relentless–Bahrain, Riyadh, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou–at least, that’s my excuse for the absence of posts.
I have though managed to collect a few A380 stories that help illustrate the region’s growth.
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