JEDDAH, 15 March 2005 — Saudi Arabian Airlines is seeking to increase the number of Umrah travelers on its fleet this Umrah season, which began on Saturday and lasts until the end of Ramadan.
“Saudia is continuously working at getting its full share of the Umrah market through a studied and complete strategy of transporting the Umrah performers this season,” announced Dr. Khaled Ben-Bakr, director-general of Saudi Arabia Airlines. Because Umrah season is an important source of revenue for the airline, it is attentive about raising the standard of service, being consistent in its flight schedules and issuing boarding passes two months before the travel date. In addition, the airline is making sure to have flight attendants who speak different languages.
“Based on these plans, Saudia is expected to transport Umrah performers through 86 locations around the world this season, and the number of Umrah travelers to the holy lands flying on Saudia is expected to exceed two million in addition to the domestic Umrah travelers,” he said.
Last Umrah season, Saudia transported 1.5 million travelers through 65 locations. Saudia is also benefiting from scheduling direct flights to Madinah airport from more than 40 international locations.
Saudia is cooperating with Umrah service providers to increase the influx of Umrah travelers throughout the year and arrange tourism trips for them after they complete their Umrah. The airline seeks to offer the needed seating capacity, different Umrah programs and competitive prices.
In the mean time, economic experts predict that Umrah revenue during the next ten years will reach SR30 billion with the number of Umrah performers expected to reach 5 million in 2012. According to estimates, the average expense per Umrah performer is SR3,000, 25 percent of which is for accommodations. The central location in Makkah has seen many residential projects where rental prices are between SR100 to SR150 a day for hotels and SR25 to SR95 for residential units.
“These are low prices and the reason is that Umrah companies do not market the Umrah programs properly throughout the year and so we have the highest occupancy only in Ramadan and Haj,” said a hotel employee.
He said that the area can easily accommodate two million Umrah visitors a month rather than the barely 50,000 they receive now. He claims that occupancy in hotels and residential units during the Umrah season ranges between 5 and 55 percent and only reaches 85 percent in Ramadan and up to 100 percent during the last ten days of the holy month.