Local pilgrims dominated by expats

Expatriates dominated the number of domestic pilgrims during the ongoing Haj, a statistical study published by the Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI) said yesterday.
“Conclusion of the data gathered by CDSI shows that expatriates of Egyptian, Pakistani, Indian, Yemeni, Sudanese and Bangladeshi nationalities dominated the number of domestic pilgrims in 2012,” Director General of the CDSI Mohanna Al-Mohanna said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency yesterday.
The number of pilgrims participating in the current Haj grew by eight percent pushing their total to 3.16 million compared to 3.12 million pilgrims last year.
Giving more details about the 1,752,932 pilgrims arrived from 107 foreign countries, Al-Mohanna said 951,806 pilgrims are males while 801,126 are women pilgrims.
Regarding the number of male and female pilgrims in the current pilgrimage he said, “While the number of women pilgrims accounted for 35.7 percent of the total pilgrims, 64.3 percent of the pilgrims are men.”
He said the study noted that 83.5 percent of the domestic pilgrims arrived on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the day of Arafat.
The study also observed that while 37.4 percent of the domestic pilgrims traveled on Al-Sharaei road, 30.6 percent used Jeddah expressway and 21.7 percent traveled on the Makkah-Madinah highway. Only 10.3 percent of the pilgrims went to Makkah on roads such as the southern, Taif-Makkah and old Jeddah-Makkah highways, Al-Mohanna said.
He said the statistical study in the present Haj is more precise compared to the past years because the study used the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) system, which provides direct and instant link with the CDSI’s main headquarters enabling faster analysis of data, Al-Mohanna said.
He said his department received vast cooperation from all the departments and agencies working in the field of pilgrim services because of the growing public awareness of the importance of statistical information in making present and future planning.
“The honor of the location and the glory of the time has helped us surmount all obstacles in the way of serving the guests of Allah,” he said.
The department, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Economy and Planning, collects data about the Haj annually.