The decision to allow Umrah visitors to come to the Kingdom any time during the year as part of a broader drive to attract up to 10 million visitors annually should be rescinded. In the end, neither the citizen nor the state benefits from the decision. The majority of Umrah visitors are old and feeble and many do not bring sufficient cash for hotels and food, let alone extra shopping. Some pilgrims even bring stores of food with them from their own countries.
The problems arising from the present system are numerous. The presence of large numbers of people means more pressure on our already limited resources, overstretched infrastructure and public services in Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah. Water, electricity and communications can hardly meet the needs of the rapidly growing Saudi population coupled with the large number of expatriates working and living in the cities. You can imagine the extra pressure on services caused by the arrival of some one million pilgrims every month. Adding to the difficulties and problems are the poor conditions at Jeddah’s airport which is the main gateway into the Kingdom for most Umrah visitors.
Another problem is the increasing number of overstayers who, after performing Umrah, decide to stay in the country in search of work. The Umrah visitors plus the estimated 1.5 million who come for Haj only worsen the problems. Because of overcrowding, residents of Jeddah and Makkah find it difficult to move normally about the cities. The problem is especially acute during Ramadan when a visitor to Makkah might think he or she were entering a battle zone. The number of Umrah visitors should be linked to the capacity of the Grand Mosque which regularly overflows in Ramadan.
Security problems have also increased to the point where an army of trained and fully-equipped soldiers is required to maintain order at the holy sites and to protect both citizens and visitors from thieves, pickpockets, beggars and others.
In addition to all these problems, there are health and environmental ones as well. It is estimated that some 10 percent of the one million visitors are carriers of some disease. Jeddah is, at the best of times, not the healthiest of cities and allowing more people into the city only adds to the size of the problem.
The solution, as I see it, lies in dealing with Umrah as we deal with Haj. We should limit it to only one time during the year — perhaps Ramadan — and use a quota system for each country.
