Jeddah and Makkah are brimming with nationwide visitors during the 10-day spring break.

Thousands of Saudi families are flooding into the two cities, creating congestion on busy roads until the late hours of the night.

The Corniche has been packed for a week and the adjacent King Abdulaziz Road has been the scene of severe traffic jams.

“It takes me me more than two hours to get from the Corniche to Tahlia Street,” said Mohammed Shakeel, an Indian expatriate.

“There is congestion during every holiday season, but this year, it has been unusually packed,” said Mansour Zahrani, a Saudi youth. “I got married three days ago and came to visit the waterfront with my wife, only to be frustrated by huge overcrowding.”

Traffic has been moving at snail’s pace from the Haramain Highway all the way up to the Corniche during evening hours.

“We have increased traffic control by deploying additional forces in the city due to the increased influx of visitors,” Col. Zaid Al-Hamzi of the Jeddah Traffic Department said.

The Fatima Zahra stretch along the Corniche, meanwhile, is packed with expats. “We used to collect an average of four truckloads of garbage near the Fatima Zahra mosque, but are now filling up 15 trucks a day since the start of the holidays,” said Abdul Lateef, a cleaner deployed in the area.

Apartment and hotel prices are skyrocketing.

“We have received 12 complaints regarding rent increases during the holiday,” Yaser Al-Abbadi of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiques (SCTA) said on Wednesday.

In Makkah, local holiday-makers are joining the already huge numbers of pilgrims, creating dire overcrowding at the Grand Mosque.

The Presidency of Two Holy Mosques Affairs has made arrangements to serve the large number of pilgrims, according to Ahmed Al-Mansouri, an official at the presidency. “We have conducted special training sessions for staff, including crowd management and doorway inspection,” he said.

“The Grand Mosque’s basements and rooftops have reached full capacity,” said Maj. Gen. Yahya Zahrani, security commander of the Grand Mosque at Makkah. “The surrounding courtyards are also 70-percent occupied.”