Ibrahim Alawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — Almansak, the official Haj awareness and direction website, announced registration for Haj will begin after Eid Al-Fitr and warned against fraudulent Haj websites and service providers.



Almansak supervisor Khalid Al-Oufi warned against the presence of fake websites that try to trick people into registering and paying for Haj services.



“They ask you to pay as a confirmation of registration but it is all fake. Pilgrims should refer back to the Ministry of Haj’s regulations and instructions to be safe.



We have recently reported a website being run in an Arab country to the ministry. The website is exploiting pilgrims,” said Al-Oufi.



He added the ministry was able to track down the operator of the website, only to learn it was being run by a resident in the Kingdom.



“The website is targeting local pilgrims as well. Almansak offers all the services needed for pilgrims at a reasonable and affordable price.



Haj of 2015 offers low-cost and regular-cost campaigns. For the regular-cost campaigns, pilgrims will stay in Abraj Minah apartment building or other apartment buildings and will camp in areas A, B, C, D, G,” said Al-Oufi.



He added the regular-cost campaigns are priced at SR6,500. “Transportation and travel in the regular-cost campaigns is by plane and buses.



Transportation to the different Haj sites will be by trains and buses. There are 135,000 vacancies in the regular-cost campaigns,” said Al-Oufi.



The low-cost campaigns are priced between SR3,000 and SR5,250. “Pilgrims of low-cost campaigns will camp in areas A, B, C, D, G as well and travel will only be by bus.



Transportation to different Haj sites will also be by trains and buses. There are 50,000 vacancies in the low-cost campaigns,” said Al-Oufi.



He added there is another type of campaign called Al-Maysar and it is priced starting SR3,000 and up. “Pilgrims in these campaigns will stay at apartment buildings in Makkah and will travel by bus.



Transportation to different Haj sites will be by trains except for Muzdalifah and Arafah as transportation to these two sites will be by bus. There are 5,000 vacancies,” said Al-Oufi.