Tourism Hajj accounts for around 52% of all Egyptian pilgrims
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities expresses his appreciation for Egypt winning the award
Fathy: a confirmation of the quality of pilgrim services across the three Egyptian missions: tourism, lottery and civil associations
The award reflects the fruits of cooperation and coordination between all entities organizing Hajj in Egypt and Saudi Arabia
For the first time, the Hajj Affairs Office of the Arab Republic of Egypt has won the silver Labaytum Award for Excellence in Serving the Guests of God, in its fifth edition for the 1447 AH-2026 Hajj season, in the Hajj Affairs Offices category. The award is granted by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in recognition of the distinguished services provided by the official Egyptian mission, which comprises 3 missions: tourism, the lottery ("Interior") and civil associations ("Solidarity"), services that helped facilitate the performance of the rituals, enrich the pilgrims' experience and achieve the highest levels of quality and satisfaction.
It is worth noting that the Labaytum Award for Excellence in Serving the Guests of God was launched to spread the concept of competitiveness among service providers, encouraging them to strive for excellence in delivering their services and create a spiritual journey that exceeds pilgrims' expectations and enhances their experience. The award includes 12 categories, among them the Hajj Affairs Offices category, and is in its fifth edition in 2026.
The award encourages service providers to raise the quality of service performance throughout the pilgrim's journey, seeking to increase their satisfaction and make their experience unique. Service providers are evaluated against specific criteria and specifications, most importantly making the Guest of God the focus of their work, achieving excellence in institutional work and integration with government partners, upgrading the private sector system, measuring pilgrim satisfaction, measuring the quality of service performance, and compliance and commitment.
Egypt met all the evaluation elements adopted by the Labaytum Award committee in the Hajj Affairs Offices category, according to the approved criteria and indicators for measuring the quality of services and the efficiency of performance provided to the Guests of God, which earned it the silver award.
For his part, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy expressed his appreciation for Egypt winning this award for the first time, especially as tourism pilgrims account for around 52% of all Egyptian pilgrims, confirming the pivotal role of the tourism sector in serving pilgrims and reflecting the scale of efforts made in organizing tourism Hajj and providing integrated services that meet pilgrims' aspirations.
He added that this achievement reflects remarkable progress in the quality of services and the efficiency of organizing the Hajj season at the level of the Egyptian state through its three missions: tourism, lottery and civil associations. It also reflects the fruits of continuous, integrated cooperation between all entities organizing Hajj in Egypt, led by the Ministries of Interior, Social Solidarity and Tourism and Antiquities, in continuous coordination with the various relevant authorities in Saudi Arabia, which helped the Hajj season come out in an honorable manner befitting the status of the Egyptian state.
For her part, Samia Samy, Assistant Minister for Travel Company Affairs, Head of the Egyptian Tourist Hajj Affairs Office and Head of the Supreme Committee for Umrah and Hajj, stressed that the award is a testament to the excellence of the Egyptian services provided to Egyptian pilgrims and reflects the efficiency of the field and administrative work system, ensuring the finest levels of service for pilgrims at every stage of the journey.
She noted the ministry's keenness to prepare early for this year's Hajj season, around 9 months before it began, by drawing up organizational plans, closely following all operational details and continuing to develop the tourism Hajj system, which helped raise the quality of services provided to the Guests of God among tourism pilgrims.
She also praised the fruitful and effective cooperation between the ministry, the Chamber of Travel and Tourism Companies and Agencies and the travel companies implementing Hajj programs this season, and expressed her appreciation to Major General Ahmed Eida, Assistant Minister of Interior for Administrative Affairs, Head of the Executive Body of the Ministerial Hajj Committee and Head of the Official Hajj Mission, for his notable efforts in leading the mission and coordinating work between the relevant entities, which contributed to the success of the season and helped Egyptian pilgrims perform their rituals with ease and peace of mind.
