JEDDAH: The Saudi Media Ministry held an annual ceremony in Jeddah to honor media delegations that participated in coverage of this year’s Hajj season.
Media Minister Turki bin Abdullah Al-Shabanah hailed the Saudi leadership’s keenness on the season’s success, saying the Kingdom has the honor of serving the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims.
The ceremony featured speeches by guests of the ministry, who praised efforts to serve pilgrims. Presentations on those efforts were also shown.
Al-Shabanah honored participating bodies from inside and outside the ministry. He thanked the media for their efforts and coverage of Hajj, which enabled pilgrims to share their stories and spiritual experiences with the world.
There were 2,489,406 pilgrims at this year’s Hajj, of whom 1,855,027 came from outside the Kingdom, according to the General Authority for Statistics.
There were 634,379 domestic pilgrims, of whom 67 percent were non-Saudi. There were 1,385,234 male pilgrims and 1,104,172 female pilgrims, the authority added.
Earlier, Makkah Gov. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal thanked local and international media representatives for their Hajj coverage.
This year, 630 permits were issued to Arab, foreign and local media representatives to cover Hajj.
