A recent study on the Haj and Umrah projected that the number of Haj pilgrims will grow to 12 million and the number of pilgrims performing Umrah will cross 10 million in less than three decades.
While the study augurs well for the growth in the national economy, thanks to the boom in religious tourism, the question is how to address the stupendous task of accommodating and providing such mammoth gatherings with sufficient supply of lodgings, transportation, water, hygiene and other utilities.
Dr. Omar Siraj Abu Ruzaizah, professor of civil engineering department at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, said in his study that by 2027 the number of external pilgrims would reach 7.9 million while domestic pilgrims will reach 4.2 million.
Solutions must be found to the issues related to the management of such a huge concentration of pilgrims in a limited space. The toughest challenge will be tackling the issue of certain rites, which require a concentration of pilgrims at one point at one time, such as the stone-throwing at Jamrat on the 12th of Dhul Haj.
Though he does not come up with concrete solutions to the issue, the researcher stresses the significance of organizational solutions. The growing number of pilgrims performing Umrah reaching 10 million annually will also pose problems of accommodation, transportation, water supply and hygiene throughout the year.
Since the size of the challenge is clear, the question is: what we are going to do to make Haj and Umrah as comfortable as possible within the available time and spatial limitations?
12 August 2002
