Tourism Ministry awaits Saudi authorities' reply on the number of their accredited agents and lifting the cap on companies for contracting
Chamber of Tourism Companies calls for increasing agents in Egypt to 15 instead of only 5
By Akram Medhat
Preparations for the 1439 AH / 2018 Umrah season have once again entered a phase of postponement, after a delay in opening authentication of tourism companies' contracts with Saudi agents, which had been expected to start today, December 25, and run until next January 15, according to the recommendation submitted by the Higher Committee for Hajj and Umrah at its first meeting in mid-December, making the fate of Umrah in Egypt even more uncertain.
Travel Yalla News learned from a member of the Higher Committee for Hajj and Umrah, who declined to be named, that a third meeting will be held to complete discussion of the Umrah regulations for the new season. He revealed that the delay in opening authentication of companies' contracts is due to the Saudi authorities not replying to the letter sent by the Ministry of Tourism on December 20 regarding the number and names of accredited Saudi agents, as well as lifting the cap on the number of companies each Saudi agent is permitted to deal with in each country, set at only 5 companies, whereas this was waived for Pakistan because of the huge numbers of Umrah pilgrims coming from there.
The source added that the number of Egyptian tourism companies operating Umrah programmes exceeds 750, and under what the Saudi authorities approved in the new regulations, the number of companies that will have the opportunity to organize Umrah from Egypt will not exceed 270. He noted that the number of Saudi agents last season, 1438 AH, reached 54, and their number had been expected to increase to about 750 agents, according to what the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah announced at the start of the current 1439 AH season.
On the other hand, a letter from the National Committee for Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia to Umrah establishments and companies, a copy of which was obtained by Travel Yalla News, stated that the Egyptian Chamber of Tourism Companies had written to the committee on December 21 seeking contact with the relevant Saudi authorities to approve increasing the number of contracts with foreign agents to 15 agents, instead of 5 agents for each Saudi company.
The National Committee for Hajj and Umrah asked Saudi companies to send a statement with the names of the 15 agents they wish to contract with in Egypt, in a preliminary order of ranking.
