Saudi Arabia reduced the number of “Ramadan's Umrah” pilgrims
Photo: archive
Saudi Arabia has reduced the granting of visas to enter its territory across all Muslim countries to perform Umrah until the end of the June to the lowest levels, and Air Algérie canceled all flights to Saudi Arabia until June, 27.
Saudi Arabia Kingdom contacted all the embassies of Islamic countries stressing the need to “stop” the granting of visas to enter to its territory to perform Umrah, until the second half of Ramadan, with identifying the quota of pilgrims for each State, in the context of reducing the number of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, before the holy month of Ramadan, which is considered the peak period, and noticed large demands from various Islamic countries’ missions to perform these rituals.
Saudi Ministry of Hajj started, with the holy month of Ramadan, regulating and controlling the arrival of pilgrims, to achieve the smooth arrival and departure during the period which preceded Ramadan, to avoid accumulation and to ensure tight regulation of the period of performing Umrah in good conditions, compared to the available possibilities, as it seeks to achieve the organization of the arrival’s balance of pilgrims during this period, as it will determine the overall number of pilgrims in the holy month of Ramadan.
Same commission alerted the companies and institutions of Umrah, which are 48 Saudi Arabia companies, within the specific visas quota that is approved within the operational plan for the month of Ramadan, and developed the notebook of terms after the conclusion of any contracts outside the specific roof of numbers, what requires informing the external agents from all the Islamic countries, which are more than 3,500 agents, as the maximum limit to perform Umrah was identified with only 15 days.
For its part, the Algerian Airways cancelled all its flights to Saudi Arabia, following the recent decisions until June 27, the date of Ramadan’s Umrah season, parallel with determining the number of people who will be granted Ramadan’s Umra visas by the Saudi authorities, and the share of each travel agency.