Saudi Gazette report

MADINAH — More than 100,000 pilgrims from various parts of the world arrived in Saudi Arabia to perform the upcoming annual pilgrimage of Hajj.

As of Monday, as many as 99,884 pilgrims arrived in the Kingdom. This is in addition to the pilgrims that landed on Tuesday.

According to a report published by the Agency under the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah for the Visit Affairs in Madinah, the number of pilgrims who arrived in the Kingdom on Monday reached 17,132, while the pilgrims arrived through the land ports stood at two.

The report showed the general statistical figures of the total pilgrims who arrived in the Kingdom through all ports until June 13. The total number of pilgrims arrived in the Kingdom by air reached 99,884.

The total number of pilgrims who landed at Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah on Monday accounted for 13,123 pilgrims, and this is in addition to the pilgrims reached earlier that accounted for 73,891 pilgrims.

The report also indicated that the number of pilgrims who left Madinah for Makkah on Monday through the Pilgrims’ Grouping Center in Madinah reached 4,539 while the total number of pilgrims departed through the center stood at 9131 pilgrims. The number of pilgrims remaining in Madinah accounted for 68,543 pilgrims.

The agency is working hard to provide a package of services to pilgrims and visitors to the Prophet’s Mosque. It carried out 189 inspection tours to assess the standard and quality of the housing of pilgrims, and handled 285 cases of housing displacement and 37 cases of leaving the accommodation while the number of lost pilgrims who were guided to their housing reached 121 pilgrims.

The agency carried out 13 inspection visits to hospitalized pilgrims, and 86 visits to assess the performance of service providers. The sample evaluation of the readiness of pilgrims’ housing reached 75 percent, the agency said while noting that no missing of any pilgrims have been reported so far.

The agency is also striving to speed up the time for completing the procedures for receiving the pilgrims upon their arrival. The average time for completing the procedures for a pilgrim outside the airport lounge this year reached 29 minutes, compared to 36 minutes during the Hajj of 1440 (2019).

The average time for completing the procedures for a pilgrim inside and outside the lounge is 102 minutes for this year’s Hajj while compared to the Hajj of 1440 when it was 127 minutes. The average time for completing procedures of a pilgrimage trip under the Makkah Road Initiative was 55 minutes as against 60 minutes for the Hajj of 1440, the report pointed out.