Saudi Gazette report

MAKKAH — Saudi Arabia’s Doyof Al-Rahman Program revealed its ambitious plan to host 15 million pilgrims and develop 15 Islamic and cultural sites during the year 2025.

The program would focus on expanding the infrastructure in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah as well as on digitizing and developing services for the pilgrims to the highest standards. This information was contained in the annual report of the program for the year 2023.

The program will implement renovation and development of Islamic and cultural historical sites in the regions of Makkah and Madinah. The program targets completion of developing 40 sites by the year 2030 so as to make the Kingdom a gateway to rich cultural and spiritual experiences.

These efforts aimed to meet the needs of the guests of the Holy Kaaba, and provide a smooth and seamless experience throughout the entire pilgrimage journey, taking advantage of the latest technologies to achieve this goal.

This came within the transformation of the journey of the Guests of God and the future vision to serve them. The future plan looks forward to hosting 30 million pilgrims by 2030, through easy and facilitated procedures for coming to perform Umrah, and effective and innovative solutions to accommodate the increasing numbers of pilgrims.

The report confirmed that the program seeks to achieve a satisfaction rate of up to 85 percent for the services provided in 2025, with the goal of reaching 90 percent by 2030, by providing world-class services and ensuring a smooth and comfortable travel experience using the latest innovations.

The report indicated that Turkiye was the country with the highest growth rate in the number of pilgrims by 312 percent, while Pakistan came in the first place in terms of the number of pilgrims reaching more than two million pilgrims, followed by Egypt with 1,762,825 pilgrims, and then Indonesia with 1,466,369 pilgrims. According to statistical reports, the city of Makkah ranks 20th in the list of cities that attract the largest number of visitors across the world.

It is noteworthy that Doyof Al Rahman Program is one of the Saudi Vision 2030 executive programs, and that embodied its integration and cooperation with 70 entities in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

The program seeks to bring about a new qualitative leap in serving the pilgrims, and providing services that enable them to perform rituals with ease and comfort, by achieving three strategic goals: facilitating hosting more pilgrims, facilitating access to the Two Holy Mosques, and providing quality services for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims, enriching their religious and cultural experience, while providing all means for the sector’s sustainability.