No covid19 outbreaks in the Ramadan Umrah season

RIYADH: Saudi Minister of Health, Eng. Fahd Al-Jalajil confirmed a reassuring health status for all pilgrims and visitors to Makkah this Ramadan. He added that no epidemic outbreaks or any threats to public health have been recorded so far. Noting the Saudi government’s keenness to provide the best services for pilgrims and to maintain their health and safety.

Al-Jalajil added that the Ministry of Health continues to provide preventive, and emergency services to pilgrims through hospitals and primary health care centres in Makkah and health centres around the Grand Mosque. Noting that the preventive plan prepared for the current Ramadan Umrah season includes epidemiological investigation procedures and rapid response to any infectious disease cases, carried out by more than 18,000 dedicated health practitioners.

Al-Jalajel pointed out that during the twenty days of the Holy month, more than 7,200 pilgrims were served through emergency centres around the Grand Mosque, 36 emergency surgeries were performed, 291 dialysis cases and 20 cardiac catheters were completed.

The Middle Easted based travel agent Umrahme, recorded a strong growth of 80% during the first 15 days of Ramadan.

Following the launch of its direct to consumer service and customised Umrah packages, the company observed a massive surge in bookings. This led the company to reach the historic milestone of surpassing bookings for 3.5 million pilgrims globally since its inception in 2019. The unprecedented growth is a reflection of Umrahme clinching the coveted award for the Best Online Agent for Hajj & Umrah Pilgrims by the World Hajj & Umrah Care Foundation (The WHUC Foundation).

“We expect a strong finish to the current Umrah season with the largest share of bookings. At the start of Ramadan, Umrahme also became the first company to launch B2C Umrah packages which is why we were able to outperform the industry average by a huge margin and showcased multi-fold expansion. We are particularly delighted to see that our investments towards our product has yielded positive results in a short time,” said Mohammed M.S Binmahfouz, Founder and CEO, Umrahme.

The Umrah industry continues to experience strong activity and growth since the removal of travel restrictions in February. Along with the overall industry growth, pilgrims’ booking patterns have also witnessed a shift. Pilgrims now prefer to have the flexibility to design their own custom itineraries including the selection of hotels to stay in. This is in stark contrast to the traditional booking process where pilgrims had to book through local Umrah agents with very limited customisation options.

Umrahme’s B2C service, offering customised packages to pilgrims globally including flights, hotels, airport transfers, and visas witnessed tremendous growth. During the first 15 days of Ramadan, the company issued visas for over 27 nationalities in just under 4 hours. The majority of these visas were issued for pilgrims from across the MENA region (55%), followed by the subcontinent (33%). Umrahme also became the first booking engine to issue most visas with highest contribution in the industry.

Source: Supplied