Sunday, July 22, 2018

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

MAKKAH — As many as 133,000 out of 216,000 seats set aside for domestic pilgrims have been reserved in a week, according to a member of the coordination council of the local Haj companies.

"All the seats were offered on the e-portal of the Ministry of Haj and Umrah," said Mohammed Saad Al-Qurashi.

The local companies are offering three categories of pilgrimage service, consisting of the general, which is the most expensive, the low-cost and the muyasar (facilitated).

"There are only 83,000 seats left after prospective pilgrims have reserved about 60.5 percent of the seats in one week since the registration started on July 14," he said.

Al-Qurashi said the registration could only be done via the ministry's website.

He warned local Haj companies that "sell illusions and fake dreams to simple people wishing to perform the Haj".

"The Haj season represents an opportunity for some of the local Haj service providers to make gains from cheating the pilgrims whether Saudis or expatriates," he added.

Al-Qurashi cautioned the pilgrims against falling prey to such companies so that they would not lose their money and at the same time miss the chance of perform the Haj.

"Domestic pilgrims should be wary of the fake Haj companies," he said, adding that all genuine service providers are listed on the ministry's e-portal for Haj registration.

Source: http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/539572/SAUDI-ARABIA/Over-61-seats-for-domestic-pilgrims-reserved-in-a-week