Bangladesh records lowest Hajj registration turnout as inflation bites

DHAKA: Bangladesh is observing its lowest registration turnout for Hajj, as despite government efforts to reduce the price of packages, most people cannot afford the journey this year.

Only 47,773 prospective pilgrims have registered against the quota of 127,000 granted to Bangladesh by Saudi Arabia for the 2024 Hajj season.

This year, Hajj is expected to start on June 14 and end on June 19. Registration in Bangladesh ended on Jan. 18 — after the first deadline was extended twice following poor response from prospective pilgrims.

“We tried to inform everyone about the Hajj registration deadline. We disseminated information through television, newspapers, SMS, etc.,” Mohammed Matiul Islam, additional secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.

“Our Hajj quota was unfulfilled in the previous year also. But the situation was not like this year. This time, there is a very low number of the people registered.”

He said the government had yet to decide what it would do about the remaining slots.

One of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, Bangladesh struggled to meet the Hajj quota granted by Saudi Arabia in 2023 amid skyrocketing prices of travel.

Several thousand prospective pilgrims could not go to perform the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam.

To prevent the same scenario during the 2024 pilgrimage season, the Bangladeshi government reduced by $1,000 the cost of Hajj packages.

The minimum government rate of Hajj from Bangladesh this year is $5,034 — a significant decrease compared with the minimum of $6,000 in 2023.

While last year Hajj tour operators indicated the main problems as high inflation and airfares to the Middle East, currently there are more factors at play, including concerns over political stability as Bangladesh’s recent general election was boycotted by the opposition and turned into one of the country’s most controversial polls.

“It’s the election year, and considering the political situation, I think many people opted to wait. Secondly, a huge number of people from Bangladesh are now performing Umrah,” said Shahadat Hossain Taslim, president of the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh.

“Earlier, people used to perform Umrah (over a period of) three months, but now it is 10 months of the year and all the flights from Bangladesh to the Kingdom are fully loaded with Umrah passengers.”

Persistent inflation remains a main reason too, as although the package price has been reduced, the difference is not felt due to the devaluation of the Bangladeshi taka against the US dollar.

“It still seems very high for the pilgrims as the taka has been devaluated severely in the last year. We reduced the possible maximum amount to ease the burden of the pilgrims,” Taslim said.

“I think that due to the ongoing global recession, Hajj quotas will not be reached by many countries this year.”