More than 3 million visas have been issued for Umrah pilgrims so far and more than 2 million pilgrims have arrived in the Kingdom during the current Umrah season, said Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar at the end of an inspection tour to Madinah on Thursday.

Hajjar’s tour included inspection of the the reception and departure facilities for Umrah pilgrims at Madinah’s Prince Muhammad International Airport and the outer wall being built around the monitoring center for pilgrim groupings on Hijra Road, in addition to the reception station for pilgrims arriving by road in the city.

The minister said one of the major purposes of his visit was to view the progress in the implementation of the operation plan for the current Umrah season, which began in early December.

He said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency that more than 480,000 pilgrims are currently in Makkah and Madinah.

“We follow up on the implementation of operation plans for the Umrah season and hope that everything progresses as scheduled. I have been delighted to witness coordination and cooperation between government departments,” he said.

Hajjar said that there was no crowding at the airport in spite of on average 100 incoming and departing flights daily.

The visit was also part of the inspections for the upcoming Haj season, for which several meetings and field visits to Makkah, Jeddah and Yanbu were earlier held.

Hajjar also visited the site at King Abdullah City for the reception and farewell of Haj and Umrah pilgrims, for which a royal decree has been issued.