The Religious Tourism Committee of the Chamber of Travel and Tourism Companies and Agencies held a meeting attended by a number of travel companies that organized tourist Hajj trips for the 1447 AH season. The meeting comes as the committee prepares a comprehensive report on the Hajj season, to be discussed within the chamber's board chaired by Dr. Nader El Beblawy, and with Saudi company Al Rajhi, responsible for hosting tourist pilgrims this year.
A number of details and companies' observations were discussed, and the meeting praised the organization of the land and economy Hajj programs and the outstanding, unprecedented services they offered this year, as well as the committee's efforts throughout the past year to support companies and facilitate their mission of serving their pilgrims.
Five-star observations
Regarding the 5-star Hajj programs, a number of companies raised some observations during the meeting about camp No. 102 for five-star pilgrims, including the shortage of workers at the camp, especially at Arafat, which led to some problems with the camp's cleaning system, as well as some delays and slowness in refilling drinks and juices in some places in the camp.
Given the use of giant air conditioning units in the 5-star camps and the problems they cause when they break down, affecting the temperature in the camps, it was agreed to adopt a mechanism ensuring several air conditioning units in each camp, so that if some break down, the others can compensate.
The committee head stressed that a report will be prepared on all the observations raised by companies and discussed with the service provider to determine their causes and their impact on pilgrims and companies, compare them with the signed contract and take measures to guarantee pilgrims' rights.
Land and economy programs continue to excel
It was agreed during the meeting to continue the upgrading and outstanding organization of the land and economy Hajj programs, with the committee promising to work on increasing services for these programs in the coming seasons, especially given the attention the chamber and the ministry pay to these programs, which serve a large segment of citizens at these two levels.
As for the 5-star programs, it was agreed to set up a system for contracting and providing services at the camps that suits the special nature of five-star Hajj and the services provided to it.
Punishing violators
Regarding companies' observations about some violations by a few travel companies at some camps, it was agreed to investigate the matter. The head of the Religious Tourism Committee stressed that appropriate penalties and sanctions will be imposed, in line with the laws regulating travel companies' organization of Hajj and Umrah trips and the regulations governing them, against anyone proven to have committed violations or infringed on the rights of other travel companies.
The head of the Religious Tourism Committee also stressed that an electronic system will be set up to allocate pilgrims' places within tourist camps across all programs, with the system fed with the required information on travel companies, their numbers of pilgrims and the programs they organize, so that pilgrims' places in the camps are allocated without human intervention.
Ahmed Ibrahim added that a broad development drive will be carried out at the chamber's religious tourism department, adding staff to keep pace with the expansion of Hajj, Umrah and religious tourism activities and meet companies' demands.
It was agreed to open year-round communication channels between the committee and travel companies and increase cooperation between them throughout the Hajj season and its preparatory stages, drawing on general assembly members at each Hajj level to follow up on the implementation of the contract with the service provider and to contact the Religious Tourism Committee if the selected monitoring group sees any need for changes.
