Pilgrimage fares will rise this year, official says

The president of the National Office f Pilgrimage Chiekh Barbara has yesterday revealed to Echourouk that the preparations for this year’s pilgrimage will start early and that the drawing is set to be held next March.

A delegation representing several ministers will be dispatched to the holly land in the forthcoming weeks to rent the premises for the Algerian pilgrims, he added.

Talking during the ministerial council held the day before yesterday, Barbara has made an assessment of the last year’s pilgrimage session that he considered successful, after remedying the past mistakes.

He lauded the efforts deployed by the members of the organizing committee despite the relentless pressure due to the huge number of Algerian pilgrims that surpassed 5 million last year.

Barbara has indicated that the flights schedules were respected thanks to the close collaboration between the office and the Algerian flight company Air Algèrie and the Saudi one.

He further added the lodging operation will be tougher this year because of destructions of the buildings that the office used to rent for the Algerian pilgrims.

As to the pilgrimage fares, M Barbara has indicated that the amount will be fixed upon the return of the delegation from the holy land, noting that the religious affairs minister Bou Abdellah Ghoulam Allah has announced that the Algerian authorities will no more subsidize the operation.