https://arab.news/6meaf
In a successful start to Ramadan, Umrahme, a global Umrah booking platform, recorded a strong growth of 80 percent during the first 15 days of the holy month.
Following the launch of its business-to-consumer service and customized Umrah packages, the company reported a massive surge in bookings. This led the company to reach the historic milestone of surpassing bookings for 3.5 million pilgrims globally since its inception in 2019.
“We expect a strong finish to the current Umrah season with the largest share of bookings. At the start of Ramadan, Umrahme also became the first company to launch B2C Umrah packages, which is why we were able to outperform the industry average by a huge margin and showcase multi-fold expansion. We are particularly delighted to see that our investments toward our product has yielded positive results in a short time,” said Mohammed M. S. Binmahfouz, founder and CEO, Umrahme.
The Umrah industry continues to experience strong activity and growth since the removal of travel restrictions in February. Along with the overall industry growth, pilgrims’ booking patterns have also witnessed a shift. Pilgrims now prefer to have the flexibility to design their own custom itineraries including the selection of hotels to stay in. This is in stark contrast to the traditional booking process where pilgrims had to book through local Umrah agents with limited customization options.
Umrahme recently won the “Best Online Agent for Hajj and Umrah Pilgrims” award by the World Hajj and Umrah Care Foundation.
The company’s B2C service offers customized packages to pilgrims globally, including flights, hotels, airport transfers, and visas. During the first 15 days of Ramadan, the company issued visas for more than 27 nationalities in just under four hours. The majority of these visas were issued for pilgrims from across the MENA region (55 percent), followed by the subcontinent (33 percent).
“Umrahme intends to continue to enhance the Umrah experience for pilgrims from the start of their journey to the end. With consistent focus on premium service quality, Umrahme remains at the forefront of the religious travel sector,” Binmahfouz said.
“In addition to our B2C service, we are exploring new and better ways to enrich a pilgrim’s experience by providing them a glimpse of Arabia with local tourism packages, also focusing on accessibility with integration of fintech solutions in compliance with Shariah,” he added.
“We look forward to building on these unprecedented results and strengthening our ties with key players in the industry to further bolster our leadership position.”