1.8 million foreigners arrive for Haj

Manama: The number of Qatari nationals who arrived in Saudi Arabia to perform Haj has reached 1,340, the director general of passports said.

Qataris presented a special case this year after Riyadh severed its diplomatic and trade relations with Doha, declaring it complicit with extremism and terrorism.

Qataris were barred from entering Saudi Arabia, unless to perform Umrah or Haj.

The only land border crossing between the two neighbours were opened for Qataris and an operation room with helplines was set up to assist them at all stages of the annual rituals.

The Qataris are among the 1,735,391 foreigners who have entered the kingdom for the annual rituals to start on August 30, Sulaiman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Yahya said, quoted by Saudi daily Al Riyadh on Tuesday.

The overwhelming majority, 1,631,979, flew into the kingdom while 88,585 arrived on land and 14,827 by sea, the figures indicated.

The final number of domestic pilgrims this year is yet to be announced. Initial details show that Egyptians top the list, followed by Pakistanis, Indians and Yemenis.

"We were able to deal with the high number thanks to the plans we had prepared to handle any situation related to Haj," Al Yahya said. "We also have special equipment to help us detect any form of forgery."

The number of pilgrims coming from abroad is already much higher than that of last year when 1,325,372 foreigners arrived in the kingdom to perform Haj.

In 2016, the total number of pilgrims, including the 537,537 domestic pilgrims, was 1,862,909, the lowest since 1999, according to official statistics.

The highest figure ever recorded was in 2012 when 3,161,573 people performed Haj. The statistics showed that 1,752,932 people arrived from abroad and 1,408,641 from Saudi Arabia.

Total number of pilgrims (1995-2016)

1995: 1,865,234

1996: 1,942,851

1997: 1,832,114

1998: 1,831,998

1999: 1,839,154

2000: 1,913,263

2001: 1,944,760

2002: 2,041,129

2003: 2,012,074

2004: 2,164,479

2005: 2,258,050