AMMAN — The
Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah (major and minor pilgrimages to Mecca) announced recently that the hajj season for
this year will be limited to only 60,000 citizens and residents from inside the
Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia.
اضافة اعلان
Jordanian
travel agencies expect that the decision will have grave ramifications on their
income.
Hossam
Al-Hiyari, the spokesman for the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, said in
remarks to Jordan News that "the Saudi side had announced that the
Hajj would be restricted to pilgrims inside Saudi Arabia, including residents
and citizens, due to health requirements dictated by the pandemic.”
"The
ministry understands the Saudi decision, with the anticipation of new changes
that will occur during the pandemic,” Hiyari said. “The decision had to be made
in order for the hajj to be safe."
The
spokesman stressed that "the circumstance is exceptional and everyone is
required to accept and cooperate, as the virus has affected all aspects of
life."
The
decision sparked concerns among local travel agencies in Jordan, who despite
the logical reasons behind the decision stressed, worry about the impact on their
business.
"We
expect big losses in the upcoming days; we used to rely on the annual income from
the hajj season as we used to receive a high demand for hajj every year,"
said travel agency employee, Yaser Abdo. "I thank God that
our agency, on the other hand, provides traveling services for all countries.
This may help us cope with such hard conditions."
Typically,
millions of Muslims visit Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage. In 2019, two
and a half million visitors made the trip, including an estimated 7,000
Jordanians.
Travel
agencies in Jordan make a living from helping Jordanians make the hajj and
Umrah pilgrimages to the KSA — an industry which has been hard-hit by two years
of closures due to
COVID-19.
"I
can tell that my colleagues who are specialized in hajj traveling services are
having very hard times, especially since they had high hopes that things would
be better this year,” he said.
"Last
year, things were difficult, but they did not expect that this year things will
be even worse. Some of these agencies will close soon, can anyone tell me where
can the employees work? How can they live now? All of these conditions
contribute in increasing unemployment and poverty."
"It
is Saudi Arabia's full right to follow strict health protocols to protect their
citizens from the pandemic; we cannot prevent them from doing that,” Abdo
concluded. “We really want now for the government to stand by us, to lower the
taxes and to lower prices so we can at least cope and compensate our high
losses."
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