ISLAMABAD: Asia has the greatest number of pilgrims in Mecca for the Hajj, based on flight bookings made through Global Distribution Systems (GDS) to airports around Mecca this year, according to a new study.
The study by Travelport stated that advanced flight bookings to airports around the holy city of Mecca ahead of this year’s Hajj have increased from Asia, Europe and Oceania. However, bookings from North America are flat on last year and travel from South America and Africa is slightly down on 2018 numbers.
The large number of people from all over the world flying into western Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj makes it one of the largest annual spikes in global air traffic. To manage these numbers, Saudi Arabia sets quotas for countries based on their Muslim population. Local governments and licensed private travel companies then begin allocating places for citizens. As part of its study, Travelport analyzed bookings made through all GDS to King Abdulaziz International Airport, Ta’if Regional Airport and Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport from early July to August. It then ran comparable data for last year’s Hajj, so trends could be identified. According to analysis, Asia recorded the greatest growth in flight bookings made through GDS to airports around Mecca this year in terms of volume, with bookings up by 11,284 (+5pc). Overall, bookings made in the region represented 64 percent of the total globally.
By country, the greatest growth came from Bangladesh with bookings up by 13,906 (+171 percent).
The South Asian country is one of five countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Tunisia) benefiting from the Mecca Route initiative, a new service offering immigration pre-clearance for pilgrims at their points of embarkation, travelport.com reported. The United Arab Emirates saw the second highest rise, up 3,981 (+17%); followed by Qatar, up 3,278 (+217pc), a country where pilgrims can now register for their Hajj using dedicated ‘electronic gates’.
“In recent years we have seen an increase in efforts to introduce policies and technologies that make the Hajj, which has often been compared to hosting an Olympics Games each year, a more convenient experience for the global Islamic community,” said Damian Hickey, Travelport’s global vice president and global head of Air Travel Partners.
Europe has the second greatest growth in flight booking volume through GDS to Mecca, with bookings up by 1,966 (+6 percent) – representing 10 percent of total global bookings.
The biggest growth and volume of bookings were registered in the UK, up by 2,237 (+13 percent) to 19,798, though this represents a slowdown in the 47 percent growth seen in 2018.
The second and third greatest increases in the region were recorded off low bases from Bosnia and Herzegovina, up 562 (+173 percent) and Sweden, up 310 (+168 percent).
Advanced flight bookings from North America made through GDS were flat this year (bookings up by 221; +1 percent) – and this is 6 percent of total bookings globally. The greatest surge was from Canada with bookings up by 1,362 (+39 percent).
The largest number of bookings were once again made in the United States (15,854). Flight bookings from Africa (20 percent of global bookings) were down by 17 percent this year, largely due to a decrease in the number of bookings made in Egypt (-17 percent). However, the North African country did still record the highest number of flight bookings through a GDS out of any country globally (49,477).
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