AMMAN — Having removed restrictions on umra (the
lesser pilgrimage) trips, travel agents are optimistic about the coming Ramadan
season, but also request more support to the sector.
اضافة اعلان
Bilal Roben, head of Faith Tourism at the
Jordan Travel Agents Association, told
Jordan News that Saudi Arabia cancelled
preventive measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, including the requirement
of a PCR test before arrival, prohibiting prayers at the two holy mosques in
Mecca and Medina, and imposing social distancing during prayers.
Roben said that
the Saudi authorities also cancelled vaccination as a prerequisite for entering
the two mosques, as well as quarantine, and that 5-year-old children are now
allowed to accompany their parents on umra; those 12 and above had been allowed
before that.
The first three months of this year witnessed an
increase in the number of Jordanian umra travelers, which reached 25,000. The
figure stood at zero in the same period of 2021 and 2020, he said.
Before
COVID-19,
around 250,000 Jordanians used to do umra every year, according to Roben.
Hajj will be resumed this year, Roben told
Jordan
News, adding that the Saudi authorities will decide the numbers of pilgrims
each country is allowed to send.
According to Roben, 7,500 Jordanians was the yearly
share of pilgrims before COVID-19, but no Jordanian could perform hajj over the
past two years.
For Odeh Mansour, an umra travel agent, the
resumption, after two years, of the trips to perform the lesser pilgrimage is
great news and will positively impact travel agents who faced significant
economic challenges.
Mansour said that prices of trips are “high” due to
shortage of hotel rooms in Mecca and Medina as many hotel had closed during and
after the COVID-19 crisis.
An umra trip costs JD275 per person for a quad room
and would reach JD300 during the last 10 days of
Ramadan, according to Mansour.
Both Roben and Mansour said the government needs to
support the sector by exempting agents from paying the annual license fees to
the Ministry of Tourism and municipalities.
They also called for facilitating soft loans for
travel agencies to help them overcome the repercussions of the pandemic.
Jordan has also
started implementing a package of mitigation measures, including the
cancellation of
PCR tests for visitors to Jordan.
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