“Life has revived in the economic and service sectors after a period of three months following the end of the Haj,” said a travel agent. Other agents said another factor that would boost the Umrah season is the pleasant weather in Makkah these days. “Pilgrims, specially local ones, are lured by the nice weather to perform Umrah and visit Madinah Al-Munawwarah,” they said.

Midyear school vacations began in Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf countries on Saturday. According to the experts, the school vacation is usually the preferred time to perform Umrah, particularly during the midyear holiday which comes during winter. “It is easy to travel by land when the weather is cool. This is why many pilgrims from various cities and towns in Saudi Arabia as well as from the GCC countries come to Makkah for Umrah at this time of year,” they said.

Majdi Abu Omar, manager of a tourist office in Makkah, expects the current Umrah season to be about 30 percent higher than last year. “The prices of hotels and furnished apartments are reasonable this time. They have become competitive after the serious drop in the number of Umrah pilgrims because of swine flu,” he said. Abu Omar said the reduced Umrah costs would tempt many people, both from inside and outside the Kingdom, to come for the lesser pilgrimage. “The prices are reasonable and quite suitable for low-income citizens and expatriates,” he said.

He also said the midyear school vacation was an occasion for marriages. “Newlywed couples often take a week of their honeymoon to perform Umrah and visit Madinah,” he added.

According to him, the occupancy rates in hotels and furnished apartments in Makkah have risen considerably compared to previous years. He asked the hotels to provide more services in order to make Umrah a success. “At present the hotels will only provide shuttle tours to the Grand Mosque. They should expand this service to cover transport to and from the airport and visits to tourist and historic sites,” he said.

Abu Omar was hopeful that the accommodation and transport sectors would be able to compensate for the losses of more than SR100 million they incurred last year because of the small number of Umrah pilgrims.

He said 54 companies, with total investments of more than SR250 million, are providing services to pilgrims and visitors. He added that about 47 percent of the four-and-five-star hotels in the Kingdom are based in Makkah with a total of 31,000 beds.