Jakarta. The Ministry of Tourism will hold halal sales mission events in Beijing, Yinchuan and Xi'an on Sept. 4-7, it said in a statement on Saturday (26/08).

I Gde Pitana, deputy for foreign tourism marketing development at the ministry, said the three cities were chosen because the Muslim populations of Beijing and Yinchuan are quite large, while Xi'an was the first city in China where Islam was introduced.

Indonesia's halal tourism industry is growing, as witnessed by several awards from the World Halal Travel Awards bestowed on several regions in the archipelago, such as Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, West Sumatra and Aceh.

Lombok won awards for the World's Best Halal Destination and the World's Best Halal Honeymoon Destination in 2015. Last year, West Sumatra won the World's Best Halal Destination and World's Best Halal Culinary awards, while Aceh took home the World's Best Cultural Halal Destination award.

"These are what we will offer in the sales mission, as well as other destinations, such as Jakarta, Bali and Batam," Pitana said.

Data compiled by the ministry shows that halal tourism increased 15.5 percent in the 2013-2016 period, while last year, the number of tourists from China also rose by 27 percent to 1,452,971.

"This year, the government targets 2,057,000 tourists from China. A sales mission is one of the programs to help the Tourism Ministry achieve the goal," Pitana said.