50.000 Algerians Perform Umrah In Ramadan

New condition will be used by the beginning of next season, and it comes to conducting an administrative inquiry about the religious guides, who are chosen by travel agencies to accompany the pilgrims, during the performance of rituals, and this is protect the pilgrims from extremism and fanaticism, Director of the Office of Hajj and Umrah, Youcef Azzouza said.

“New measures will be taken to protect the doctrine of the Algerians and preserve the Maliki school, by the beginning of next year. An administrative investigation on the religious guide will be conducted to preserve the intellectual security, just as the work is done with any sensitive function in the state.”

Azzouza told Echorouk that the issue of protecting the religious authority of the Algerian pilgrim is an obligation, and is laid down in the book of conditions, which was prepared, as the travel agency provides a data card on the religious guide.”

In terms of numbers, he explained that the Umrah season noticed an increase in the number of pilgrims by 100.000 pilgrims compared to last year, and the number reached 264.000 pilgrims, while this year recorded 360.000 pilgrims, as he attributed the reason of this increasing number to the elimination of the quota system of the travel agencies, and the number of pilgrims in the holy month of Ramadan reached 50.000 pilgrims, of whom only 10.000 returned to Algeria, and based on the provided figures, Algeria ranked second in terms of the number of pilgrims for the Arab countries, and ranked fourth in the Muslim world.

Number of complaints reached the office against travel agencies that were entrusted with organizing the Umrah season and their number reached 304, and based on the complaints that were filed against them, 35 agencies were excluded because they did not respect the conditions book, and gave 38 warnings, and freeze the activity of two agencies in a month, and writing 229 Minutes at the take-off airports, and 259 minutes at the level of the holy sites.

“With regard to the continuation of the transfer of pilgrims in indirect destinations, either through Doha, Amman,Tunis and Istanbul Airports, the concern was exposed but complaints of citizens did not reach the citizens, either through a direct or indirect flight, to pay a lower amount; and on the applicable rates, the competition created differential prices, as some Umrah agencies provided an amount that does not exceed 11 million centimes, or paying in parts.”