RIYADH — The Ministry of Haj and Umrah has signed a memorandum of understanding with Agoda, one of the world’s fastest growing online travel agents (OTA), to support the Kingdom’s goal of increasing the annual volume of Umrah traffic to over 30 million by 2030 by utilizing Agoda’s technology and travel expertise, marketing platform capabilities, intelligence tools and resources.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Haj and Umrah Dr. Mohammad Saleh Bin Taher Benten in the presence of Damien Pfirsch, VP for strategic partnerships and programs, Agoda, at the ministry’s headquarters on Monday.

Prospective Umrah pilgrims can now visit a dedicated Agoda portal agoda.com/umrah to access select hotels that have been certified by the ministry bookings, as well as the wider reservation site.

Pilgrims can easily find an array of accommodation options and securely book through the multilingual and multi-currency portal.

Under the MoU, the first to be signed by the ministry with a global OTA, the parties will explore how they will redefine the future of travel for pilgrims from across the world to the Kingdom, working in collaboration to help to build future services including guest flow and booking accommodation.

The MoU will leverage the ministry’s knowledge and understanding of the needs of pilgrims to the holy cities and Agoda’s technology expertise, to enable the partners to explore ways to use technology to manage the anticipated increase in visitors to the Kingdom and make accommodation reservations more accessible, easier, faster and secure.

According to Saudi Vision 2030 announced in 2016, the last decade has seen the number of Umrah visitors and pilgrims entering the country from abroad treble.

The annual pilgrimages play a significant role in Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry, with the government aiming to grow this sector to 15 million Haj and Umrah visitors annually by 2020, and 30 million by 2030.

John Brown, chief executive officer of Agoda, said: “We are proud and honored to have been selected by the ministry to provide our best-in-class technology solutions as they strive to implement their 2030 vision. With Agoda’s expertise in accommodation and travel services, global distribution services, e-marketing and digital branding we want to be a key partner helping them to achieve their goals of accommodating 30 million Umrah and Haj guests to the Kingdom.” — SG