Iran resumes Umrah after six-month pause with 18,000 pilgrims

Dubai: Iran will resume sending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Umrah after a six-month suspension, with 18,000 people scheduled to travel in the first phase of the programme, official Fars News Agency reported.

Akbar Rezaei, deputy head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation for Hajj and Umrah affairs, said that during the initial phase, one flight will depart every five days from different provinces to Saudi Arabia.

Registration for Umrah will begin in early Shahrivar, the sixth month of Iran’s Solar Hijri calendar, which begins in late August, according to the organisation.

The first phase will involve 18,000 pilgrims, while about five million holders of Umrah registration vouchers are currently waiting to make the pilgrimage.

In previous periods, about 200,000 Iranians travelled for Umrah in less than a year. Towards the end of last year, more than 1,300 pilgrims a day were travelling from Iran to Saudi Arabia.

The continuation and expansion of the programme will depend on the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation finalising flight arrangements and securing the foreign currency required for the trips.

Part of the cost of Umrah is linked to foreign currency, while limitations on available flights could also affect future departures. The pace at which capacity can be increased will therefore depend on both flight availability and access to foreign currency.

Economic expert Hamed Aslani said the foreign-currency costs of the pilgrimage should be calculated using the actual exchange rate, arguing that allocating cheaper foreign currency would shift the financial burden to the government.

Ehsan Malekzadeh, a pilgrimage group manager, took a different view, saying Hajj and Umrah should not be treated as ordinary or leisure travel.

He said pilgrims should not have to bear all travel costs at the free-market exchange rate and called on the government and the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation to provide foreign currency at an appropriate rate and manage costs to prevent prices from rising and excluding some pilgrims.

Experts have proposed that Iran’s central bank allocate a specified share of the foreign currency required by the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation before each phase of Umrah departures and fix the rate for the duration of the relevant contracts.

They said this could prevent fluctuations in the currency market from being passed directly on to the cost of pilgrimage packages.

The Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation could also consolidate its airline and service contracts to reduce the foreign-currency cost per pilgrim and expand the number of departures in line with confirmed foreign-currency resources.

With 18,000 pilgrims scheduled in the first phase and five million voucher holders waiting, the scale of subsequent Umrah departures will depend on the availability of flights and foreign currency.