The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has started preparing plans for the 2030 season with the ultimate aim of targeting 30 million pilgrims.

The ministry asserted that it would cooperate with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue the Umrah pilgrims’ visas ahead of time in line with targets set by the Saudi 2030 Vision to increase the number of pilgrims.

More than seven million pilgrims registered from outside Saudi Arabia during the last Hijri year for both Hajj and Umrah season. Deputy Minister for Hajj and Umrah Dr. Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat that plans have begun to restructure the Hajj and Umrah procedures and services provided for the visitors.

In previous statements, he declared that the target is to increase the number of Umrah pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia to reach 15 million by 2022, and 30 million by 2030. “Now we reached 1.8 mln pilgrims, and the target is to reach five million by 2030,” he said.

Mashat said that one plan would be focused on facilitating the arrivals of pilgrims at airports and reducing the processing time from 40 minutes down to a few by 2030.

“Last year we applied the experiment to finalize the pilgrim’s entrance procedures before their arrival to the Saudi Arabia, in coordination with his originating country’s airport, so that the pilgrim would leave from the plane directly to his bus upon arrival,” he added.

Source: english.alarabiya.net