RIYADH, 7 May 2006 — Umrah traffic has turned out to be a big draw with both local and international travelers. Organized Umrah packages, which include both Makkah and Madinah, are popular with pilgrims from such countries as Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Attractive weekend packages are offered by local Umrah travel operators; prices begin at SR65 from Dammam without accommodation and SR80 from Riyadh compared to SR200 and SR300, respectively, during peak season.
There are more than 50 Umrah travel operators in Riyadh. One of them said: “Every week around 7,000 pilgrims leave for Makkah from Riyadh and 3,000 from Dammam in about 200 luxury coaches. Each family is given a large room while bachelors are accommodated on a sharing basis.”
The weekend package to Madinah and Makkah for SR80 begins at 4 p.m. in Riyadh on Wednesday and ends at Friday midnight. Pilgrims to Makkah only are charged SR80. Accommodation is provided in a three-star hotel which can be upgraded for an extra SR30.
“Local pilgrims who travel on these buses cannot get five-star hotels since these are invariably reserved for foreign pilgrims,” the agent said.
The trip from Dammam for SR65, starts at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday and reaches Makkah on the following morning. Pilgrims leave the city at 11 p.m. and reach Madinah at dawn for prayers on Friday. They begin their return journey after Friday prayers in the Prophet’s Mosque.
“This is an ideal package for low-paid workers like me and it helped fulfill my dream. Accommodation is not provided with the package but I sleep on the coach,” said Habib-ur-Rahman, a Bangladeshi working in Jubail.
Muhammad Shamil Hussain, a marketing manager, said he used the local Umrah package when he came to Riyadh to visit his father. “It is a good service but the facilities at the different stops during the journey are far from satisfactory,” he said.
During the journey, the coaches stop at two points. Pilgrims are given half an hour to put on ihram at the Meeqat points. Mosques, food outlets and shops selling ihram and other pilgrims’ requirements are at the stopping places.
