At Expo Hajj Opening, Saudi Minister Says Number of Pilgrims To Rise to Pre-pandemic Level

Saudi Arabia on Monday opened Expo Hajj, a four-day conference and exhibition on the services that the kingdom offers to hajj and umrah pilgrimages, which is running through January 12 in Jeddah.

Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq Al-Rabiah told reporters at the opening ceremony that the kingdom planned for attendance at the hajj this year to return to pre-pandemic levels. “The number of pilgrims will return to what it was before the pandemic, without any age limit,” he said.

The hajj and umrah are Islamic pilgrimages to Mecca. The hajj is considered mandatory and must be carried out at least once in the lifetime of an adult Muslim who is financially and physically capable. It involves several specific rituals and takes place from the eighth day to the 12th day of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah, which is the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar. The umrah is a nonmandatory but highly recommended pilgrimage that involves fewer rituals and can be performed at any time.

Saudi Arabia will cut insurance costs by 63% for umrah performers and 73% for hajj pilgrims.

Umrah visas have been extended from 30 to 90 days, and now permit the visa holder to travel throughout the kingdom.

Last year’s hajj season was the first to allow foreign pilgrims since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic; the previous two seasons were limited to domestic pilgrims only. Around 60,000 fully vaccinated domestic pilgrims made the 2021 hajj, and only 1,000 participated in the 2020 pilgrimage. The pre-pandemic 2019 hajj season saw 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world converge on Mecca’s holy sites.