Visa price for Ramadan Umrah 2014 jumps to 45,000 ZDZ

“Umrah of Ramadan is conducted in normal circumstances. Total number of Algerian pilgrims who visited the holy sites since the start of the season reached 238,000 pilgrims. Number of pilgrims did not decline contrary to what some tourist agencies said. Granting new visas for agents depends on the return of pilgrims who have already visited the holy sites, a procedure that is applied by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj. Season is normal except for the high temperatures. A special delegation moved on Monday to Saudi Arabia to complete the rest of the preparations for the pilgrimage season, including the choice of the central hospital and neighborhood hospitals, which will receive the Algerian pilgrims for treatment and first aid.” 

Contrary to the assurances of the Office for Hajj and Umrah, travel agencies complain of the high price of visa, which reached during the Umrah season 1,500 SAR, the equivalent of 45,000 DZD, which inflamed the total cost of Umrah, which reached 28,000 DZD in Ramadan.

Sources from agencies assert that the pricing of visa is higher than the prices that are applicable to other countries, and gave the example of Yemen, where the visa price does not exceed 500 YER, and attributed this imbalance to the weakness of Algerian travel agencies in negotiation, as well as the lack of coordination among them, as most of them scrambling to acquire visas regardless of the price, which stimulated Saudi agents to raise the prices.