Dubai: The cost of the lesser pilgrimage, Umrah, has begun to shoot up by four hundred per cent once again as Ramadan approaches.
Hundreds of people from the middle income group are complaining that their aspirations to undertake the pilgrimage are being thwarted by excessive commercialisation of the pilgrimage services by travel agents.
Adding to their woes are the new restrictions, apparently being placed by the Saudi Arabian authorities.
Umrah is a voluntary pilgrimage and part of Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) traditions that can be performed at any time of the year, except during the days of Haj.
However, the month of Ramadan is the peak season for Umrah as millions converge at two of Islam’s holiest sites in Makkah and Madinah.
“I was looking forward to undertaking the pilgrimage along with my family during Ramadan, but at the current rates I don’t think I can afford the trip even if I travel alone. I was planning to spend the last 10 days of Ramadan in Makkah but the travel agents are not accepting my applications now; they are asking me apply only in Ramadan to ensure that I end up paying more,” said Shams Qadir, an Indian resident based in Sharjah.
A seven-day Umrah trip by bus during the off season costs around Dh1,000 per head, including the costs of visa, two-way bus fare and shared room accommodation in Makkah and Madinah. A similar trip now costs around Dh2,000 and, by the second half of Ramadan, it is expected to cost around Dh4,000 to Dh5,000.
Government of Saudi Arabia issues the Umrah visas free of cost but an aspiring pilgrim has to process the application through approved agents who charge around Dh350 to Dh400 during non-Ramadan season.
But to the pilgrims’ dismay, the travel agents have now stopped offering visa-only services, obliging people to purchase packages that include visa, hotel accommodation and travel fare. To top that the visa duration has also been slashed to 15 days.
“We have stopped accepting visa-only applications, because we don’t get the approvals from the Saudi authorities. It is a prerequisite that every pilgrim entering Saudi Arabia on Umrah visa has his or her prearranged accommodation and return tickets, without which we cannot process the applications,” an agent at Sharjah Airport Travel Agency (SATA) told Gulf News.
Understandably, the new requirements have not gone down well with many pilgrims who like to drive to Makkah and make their own arrangements for accommodation.
“The travel agents are forcing people to pay for four-star hotel rooms when actually I can arrange a decent room for myself at an affordable rate. Also, they are not issuing visas to those who want to go on their own because they want to make more money through sale of bus and air tickets. This is blatant exploitation and there is nobody to put a check on these people,” said another aspiring pilgrim.
According to sources, around 150,000 Umrah pilgrims travel from UAE every year, half of them during Ramadan.
There are around 35 approved Umrah travel agents in Dubai and Sharjah and around 12 agents in Abu Dhabi, in addition to dozens of sub-agents.
Each agency has a limited quota of visas that they can process during the peak season that begins a month before Ramadan and lasts till the end of Ramadan and, according to pilgrims, the agents hoard visas to create artificial demand before selling the travel documents at exorbitant rates during Ramadan.
