Business | Tourism

Hotels fully booked as Madinah accommodates 17% increase in visitors

The holy city of Madinah is currently witnessing influx of a large number of visitors exceed two million during this month of Shaban and the next month of Ramadan.

  • By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
  • Published: 18:30 August 13, 2008
  • Gulf News

Saudi Arabia: The holy city of Madinah is currently witnessing influx of a large number of visitors exceed two million during this month of Shaban and the next month of Ramadan.

This seasonal influx of visitors coming from other parts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries in particular has boosted all commercial activities in the city, particularly the shopping canters and hotels near the central area of the city.

The director general of Umrah Affairs at the Ministry of Haj in Madinah Mohammed Abdul Rahman Al Bijawi told Gulf News that the hotels in the central area surrounding the Prophet's mosque witnessed great increase in the reservation of rooms.

According to him most of the hotels announced since the first day of the current Hegiran month that they closed reservation of rooms up to the end of Ramadan after the rate of occupation amounted to 100 per cent.

He pointed out that the rate of occupation in all other four and five-star hotels range between 90 and 95 per cent thanks to an increase of 17 per cent in the number of visitors compared to the same period last year.

More than 2.1 million visitors have already arrived in the city since the beginning of Umrah season on the 15th of Rabia awal (March 23) and up to the first day of Shaban (August 2). This number is expected to exceed 3.7 million by the end of Ramadan.

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