A ministry source told Arab News that the director of the ministry’s branch in Madinah had noticed Umrah companies were violating accommodation regulations in the holy city.
Deputy chairman of the SCTA for investments Salah bin Khaled Al-Bakheet said last month that the accommodation capacity of licensed hotels exceeded the number of Umrah visas issued so far.
He said there were 71,000 rooms in Makkah that could accommodate up to 900,000 pilgrims every month, while there were more than 30,000 rooms in Madinah that could accommodate more than 365,000 pilgrims monthly.
He expected the accommodation capacity in Makkah to exceed a million pilgrims next week, 400,000 in Madinah.
The SCTA had closed down 36 tourist accommodation facilities in Makkah and Jeddah, while 40 others may face the same fate if they do not take action to rectify their violations. The facilities were closed down for failure to obtain formal licenses from the Civil Defense and the municipalities after failing to match expected standards.
Meanwhile, there are early indications that this year's Umrah season will be a success contrary to all previous speculations that religious tourism would be adversely affected by unrest in a number of Muslim countries.
Chairman of the Egyptian Haj mission Salah Hashim Juma announced during a recent meeting in Makkah with Chairman of the Private Establishment for Guides Yousef bin Ahmad Huwalah that Egypt was quiet and said recent political incidents would not affect the number of Egyptian pilgrims coming for Umrah. He said Egyptian pilgrims would soon start arriving in the Kingdom. He said about 78,000 pilgrims will perform Haj this year and added that only 10,000 of them will come by land.
In a related development, Tunisian Minister of Religious Affairs Al-Arousi Al-Mizouri recently met with Haj Minister Fouad Abdul Salam Al-Farsi and discussed the arrangements in place to receive Tunisian pilgrims. Al-Farsi said the ministry was ready to open the electronic visa system to Tunisians intending to come for Umrah.
