Increase in Umrah visa fee: Operators start online campaign to avert decision

Umrah operators have started online campaign to avert the decision of Council of Saudi Arabian Ministers regarding unprecedented increase in Umrah visa fee. According to details, Saudi government has revised Umrah and Hajj visa fee by around 300 percent from October 2 (1st Muharram). The pilgrims, coming to perform Hajj or Umrah for the first time, are exempted from visa fee while others have to pay SR 2000 to perform Hajj or Umrah on every entry into Saudi Arabia, which is around 300 percent higher than the current visa fee (SR 500).
Umrah operators and Umrah pilgrims termed the revision in visa fee as unrealistic, saying that Saudi tour operators were also opposing the same, due to expected negative business impact. They said that around one million pilgrims had performed Umrah last year and feared that new revised visa tariffs would affect the numbers. They also apprised that they had started online poll to avert the decision of Council of Saudi Arabian Ministers regarding unprecedented increase in Umrah visa fee. Moreover, they said that poll results would be communicated to the Saudi authorities with the aim to convince them to revise the Umrah visa fee at rational level.
Meanwhile, the issue has also been taken by the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan (TAAP), which appeals to the Khadim-e-Harmain Sharifain King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud for reviewing the decision of Council of Saudi Arabian Ministers regarding the Umrah visa fee revision.
The TAAP in a statement articulated that Pakistan was the second largest Islamic country in respect to its population and around one million pilgrims proceeded to the Saudi Arabia for performing Umrah. Paying homage to the King Salman for expansion of Harmain Sharifain and ensuring unmatched and exemplary facilitations to Hujjaj, the TAAP stated that although they did not receive any official announcement from the Saudi authorities regarding visa fee revision, it had been learnt from media that the Saudi Arabian Council of Ministers had decided to revise Umrah visa fee as well as fee of various other visa categories. Keeping said information in view, the TAAP has requested the Khadim-e-Harmain Sharifain King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to kindly review the said decision to facilitate millions of Pakistani pilgrims at maximum.