Creating a prayer room with Mecca orientation indicators – Taipei strives to build a Muslim-friendly tourism environment

▲ The ceiling in the prayer room features directional indicators showing the direction of prayer. (Photo / Reporter Chen Rui-zhong, same below)

By Chen Rui-zhong, Taipei

Even when traveling the world, Muslims must adhere to religious practices such as praying five times a day facing Mecca. To accommodate Muslim travelers, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Information and Tourism has set up a “Muslim Demonstration Prayer Room” inside the Taipei City Hall building, aiming to make it a flagship example of a Muslim-friendly tourism environment.

The Muslim Demonstration Prayer Room is located on the second floor of the Taipei Exploratorium within the Taipei City Hall building. The prayer room offers a quiet and private space for worship, equipped with Muslim prayer mats, and the ceiling clearly indicates the direction of Mecca with arrows. This setup not only benefits Muslim travelers during prayer but also serves as a model reference for tourism-related businesses.

▲ The independently set-up prayer room has prayer mats on the floor and directional indicators for prayer on the ceiling.

The Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism stated that Islam is one of the world’s three major religions. According to 2013 statistics, the global Muslim population has reached nearly 2 billion, and in 2014, the number of Muslim travelers reached approximately 108 million, generating a market value of $145 billion. The Taipei City Government is actively working to tap into this vast Muslim tourism market. In addition to establishing the demonstration prayer room, the city government will also focus on increasing the number of halal-certified restaurants, planning and adding more Muslim prayer spaces, and promoting the installation of cleansing facilities, among other initiatives, to create a more Muslim-friendly tourism environment.