JEDDAH, 7 February — The posters and banners now decorating the city’s streets and newspapers all carry the same slogan: If you intend to perform the Haj this season, we offer the kind of service that best suits you.
Many traders have shifted their businesses to Makkah, where the largest human gathering is expected to peak over the coming two weeks with a turnover of between SR10 billion and SR12 billion.
The adverts target Saudi citizens and foreign residents planning to make the five-day pilgrimage that takes them to Makkah and to the ritual sites of Mina and Arafat from all over the Kingdom. They all promise a comfortable journey, including air-conditioned housing and transport, hot meals and religious lectures.
For those ready to put their hand in their pocket, the cost can be as much as SR17,000. But there are offices that say they charge far less — SR2,500, or even SR1,500, per pilgrim.
Haj begins in earnest on Dhul Hijja 8 (tentatively Feb. 20). Around one million pilgrims from within the Kingdom are expected join as many others from abroad.
"We offer first-class hotel service, including specially designed rooms to accommodate two, three or four people. These are fitted with beds, carpets and private baths — and of course we provide hotel-quality meals," boasted Kamal Al-Sayed, who manages Haj services at Al-Hosam Company in Jeddah. The company is affiliated to a hotel chain that operates in both Jeddah and Makkah.
Local agents serving local pilgrims rent space in Mina and Arafat from the Ministry of Haj and furnish the tents according to the service category they offer. The location is very important, with class A category fetching the highest price in view of its proximity to the Jamarat are where pilgrims stone the devil for three successive days. This is a requirement that all pilgrims must fulfill in person, or if physically unable by proxy.
The classification of the sites includes five categories from A to E. The last category is for tents far from the Jamarat on the peripheries of Mina valley.
The rates offered by Al-Hosam are SR16,900 per pilgrim for sharing a double-bed room, SR12,900 for sharing a room with three persons and SR8,900 for sharing room with four pilgrims. A second package by the company is designed for tents furnished with rugs and mattresses. Here, a pilgrim is charged SR5,000 to share a tent with six or seven people.
There are agents who charge less, but they provide tents that accommodate more people. M. Amoudi said the rates they offer start from SR5,000 per person for a tent shared with four people, but this goes down to SR3,500 for a tent with ten people.
Some offices specializing in serving domestic pilgrims —mostly Asian expatriates — charge far less, with the rates as low as SR1,300.
"These are low-income workers who cannot afford to pay for high-class services," said Abdul Shukour, an agent for a local office that serves Asian pilgrims.
The ministry has cautioned local Haj establishments from making promises they cannot meet and said it wanted to see better services offered than the previous years. It promised measures to end the suffering of domestic pilgrims, many of whom complain of sub-standard services for which they have to pay large amounts.
According to Minister of Haj Iyad Madani, the number establishments licensed to serve domestic pilgrims will go up from the current 800 in future with some 500 new companies have applied for licenses. The ministry’s plan for revamping the system calls for merger of smaller companies so that they will be in a better position to improve the quality of services offered.
