Mecca markets thrive after 3-year slump

Cairo: After a three-year slump due to the pandemic-induced restrictions, souqs and shops in the Saudi holy city of Mecca are experiencing a boom during the current Hajj pilgrimage season.

Saudi Arabia has lifted limits on the numbers and ages of pilgrims from around the world for Hajj after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the curtailment of the numbers of pilgrims for three consecutive years.

Around 1.8 million pilgrims, including 1.6 million from abroad, attended this year’s Hajj, according to Saudi official figures.

With the large numbers of the pilgrims, markets in Mecca are witnessing a significant revival, according to the Saudi newspaper Okaz.

After the end of each prayer at the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site in Mecca, thousands of worshippers would head to the city’s markets to shop for gifts.

“Particularly before starting the Hajj rites, there was big shopping and marked crowding all the time at the markets in the vicinity of the Meccan Haram (the Grand Mosque),” Ali Al Hakimi, an Iraqi pilgrim, told the paper.

The five-day Hajj rites started last Monday. The pilgrims would leave Mecca after undertaking the “farewell tawaf” around the holy Kaaba housed at the Grand Mosque.

For Sudanese pilgrim Mohammed Ahmed, Mecca souqs are a draw. “Everyone tries to buy some souvenirs for themselves, relatives and neighbours,” he said.

“Despite the large numbers of shoppers, prices of different products are affordable and lower than their prices in some countries of pilgrims,” said Abd Zaid Kadhem, an Iraqi pilgrim.

“There is a variety of souqs here. This is one of the reasons for constant shopping by the pilgrims,” he added.