First Umrah pilgrims of new season arrive

JEDDAH: The first group of Umrah pilgrims has arrived from Malaysia through Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Airport in Madinah, Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar said, adding that top priority is given to security of pilgrims. The embassies of Saudi Arabia do not charge any fee for issuance of Haj and Umrah visas and the Kingdom spends billions of riyals every year to facilitate the pilgrimage, the minister was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday.
Hajjar said his ministry has activated all technical and electronic systems to facilitate procedures and offer services adequately and quickly to the pilgrims arriving from different parts of the world.
He confirmed that the implementation of the electronic path for Umrah services comes at the top of the electronic services. The system helps in obtaining visa, in addition to the bundle of other services, which raised the number of Umrah pilgrims to 6 million last year and decreased the number of violators to one in every 1,000.
Hajjar said the ministry takes care of Umrah pilgrims from the moment they reach the Kingdom’s ports.
The ministry has devised a comprehensive operational plan for the new Umrah season, which began this month and will end in July. A total of 41 companies are involved in Haj and Umrah services with 3,500 agents outside the Kingdom, working in 81 countries, he said.
The ministry has received global awards because of various technical aspects and reached positive results that rose with the level of Umrah companies’ performance, in addition to eliminating fake companies.