Saudi Arabia with new decision on pilgrimage: Is Kosovo affected?

Muslim travel companies in Britain have said they are refraining from closing their businesses, with travelers losing thousands of pounds after Saudi Arabia has launched a new system for application for pilgrimage.

The Saudi government has announced this month that pilgrims from Europe, the US and Australia can no longer reserve through travel agencies, and instead should apply through a special selection system, reports The Guardian, the newspaper Express.

The drastically reduced quotas will allow several thousand British Muslims to perform the pilgrimage this year, with the Ministry of Haxhi and Umre advising them with current bookings to require reimbursements from tour operators”.

But travel companies said the sudden change announced by Saudi Arabia in a move to hit fraudulent firms weeks before the start of the pilgrimage to Mecca from 7 July to 12 July could sink them.

Hagi, a duty for employed Muslims, is one of the world's largest religious pilgrimages and usually collects about 2 million people per year. The British charity Council of Haxhi estimates the pilgrimage sector in the United Kingdom is worth about 200 million pounds.

Since 2006 it has been mandatory to book the pilgrimage through licensed travel companies. Possible pilgrims are now required to reserve through an online portal, Motawif, with applicants being selected occasionally by an automated system. Then they can reserve accommodation and direct transportation via the website. All travelers must be under 65 years of age and vaccinated against the Coronavirus.

We were almost completely reserved. But we repaid most of our clients. We lost our money in Saudi Arabia, at least about 35,000 pounds. There is very little hope of turning them”, said Ilyas Master, 56, who for 15 years has offered reservations for the pilgrimage and shorter umra pilgrimage through his Atoll-registered travel agency at Bradford.

Master said he is now looking for alternative means of revenue, including visa services delivery, adding: “If we cannot continue, it will force us to close. ”

Travelers have reported problems with the new online portal. Amal Ulah, from Nottingham, spent more than 10 years saving when she paid 40,000 pounds for a pilgrimage bid for her family through Motawiff. She said: “I checked the portal and there said that the reservation had failed”, despite saying it had received an official email confirming that she and some family members were selected and their visas were in processing.

Some applicants for the pilgrimage have shared their disappointments on Twitter using hashtag #paidbutfasted. Motawif's Twitter account says bidding prices average 35% less than market fees. But Ulah said the offer she received increased by about 10,000 pounds per person, with hotels about two miles from major religious sites.

In 2020, there was an unprecedented decline in pilgrimage pilgrims (about 10,000 people) because of pandemic. Last year's Haxhi was limited to 60,000 vaccinated people, aged 18 to 65, from Saudi Arabia, with pilgrims abroad allowing. Before pandemic, about 25,000 Britons made pilgrimages each year.

People who have reserved with tourist companies protected by Air Travel Organiser's License (Atal) must be given a reimbursement. But many British Muslim travel companies that obtained deposits for flights in 2020 and postponed pilgrimage bids for this year due to the Codweed pandemic have been abandoned financially.

“These businesses probably still have tens of millions of pounds stuck in Saudi Arabia”, said Seán McLoughlin, a professor at Leeds University who interviewed the pilgrimage and umra companies for the first independent report in the United Kingdom's pilgrimage industry, published in 2019.

The Saudi government said the change was part of efforts to crack down on fraudulent travel agencies. The application process for the pilgrimage will also be simplified through electronic visa services. It is unclear whether the system will also be used next year.