Ahmed Ibrahim, chair of the Egyptian Travel Agents Association’s Religious Tourism Committee and a member of the Supreme Committee for Hajj and Umrah, said booking deposits would be refunded to unsuccessful applicants one month after the September 30 announcement of winners in the tourism Hajj lottery for 1448 AH–2027. Refunds apply across programme categories under Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities regulations.
He was responding to a TravelYalla News question at a press conference reviewing preparations for the season and measures to address observations from the previous year.
The ministry-approved booking deposits are:
Five-star Kidana Towers: EGP 150,150.
Five-star camps: EGP 120,150.
Economy: EGP 80,150.
Overland: EGP 50,150.
The EGP 150 electronic services fee is non-refundable.
Applications for the 30,650 tourism Hajj visas were distributed as follows:
Economy: 100,020 applicants, representing 68.73% of the total.
Overland: 25,900 applicants, or 17.8%.
Five-star camps, categories A and B: 9,677 applicants, or 6.6%.
Five-star camps, category C: 5,602 applicants, or 3.8%.
Five-star Kidana Towers: 4,331 applicants, or 2.98%.
Ibrahim urged successful applicants to contact their tourism companies to complete procedures and pay for their Hajj programme within 15 days of the lottery results, in accordance with the rules.
He added that receiving a deposit refund does not remove an unsuccessful applicant’s chance of being selected from the reserve list. If promoted from that list, the applicant can contact their tourism company to complete travel procedures.
