Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- The Ministry of Hajj has increased the number of Ramadan visas for foreign pilgrims by 16 percent, according to Walid Abu Saba, head of the Tourism and Hotel Committee at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The news has been welcomed by Umrah travel agents and hoteliers.
The ministry had planned to issue 792,000 Umrah visas this Ramadan. But faced with the rising demand from external agents and complaints of low occupancy by hotel owners in Makkah and Madinah, it has decided to issue up to 911,000 visas. Last Ramadan, 674,000 visas were issued.
Expressing his gratitude to the government, Abu Saba told Arab News the increase will have a direct impact on hotel occupancies in the two holy cities. He expected 80 percent occupancy for the first 20 days of Ramadan as against 65 percent that he had estimated a week before. He expected the last 10 days to be even better.
Barring the slump witnessed in Rajab and Shaaban, the Umrah sector has performed exceptionally well this year. Abu Saba said the figure for foreign pilgrims’ arrivals is going to touch four million this year, which will be a record in itself.
Hotel owners are reporting increased occupancy during the last few days. Among the noticeable pilgrims are nationals of Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC). According to Shaji Nehal, a travel industry executive and long-time Umrah watcher, since GCC nationals do not require visas to travel to Saudi Arabia their travel plans remain very fluid. Many of them decide to perform Umrah after breaking their fast on the first day of Ramadan, and the advent of the holy month motivates many others to make last-minute decisions. Hence, as Ramadan progresses so does the influx of pilgrims.
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