More than 1.6 Million Hajj Pilgrims Arrive in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia – The Directorate General of Passports of Saudi Arabia revealed that 1,655,188 people arrived in Saudi Arabia until Saturday, to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.

Out of that number, 242,272 hajj pilgrims were beneficiaries of the Makkah Route Initiative who arrived by plane, while 60,768 by land and the remaining 6,830 arrived by sea.

The Directorate General of Passports is making every effort to facilitate entry procedures for pilgrims, including equipping passport checkpoints at all border checkpoints with the latest technological devices.

In addition, it also mobilizes officers who master various languages to assist the entry mechanism of pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Mansour Abdullah Al-Tuairqy, head of the Information Services Center at the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, stated that his agency is ready to serve pilgrims who need information about Hajj services.

These services include information on historical places, police stations, hospitals, transportation, and Umrah guides. 

The information is translated into English, French, Urdu, Indonesian, Turkish, Hausa, and Chinese. Al-Tuairqy mentioned that Hajj pilgrims can access the service by scanning the QR code or barcode on their cellphones.

It is known that the Saudi Arabian government officially closed the Hajj flight from King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last Saturday. The closure of the arrival of pilgrims from various countries is ahead of the peak of the Hajj pilgrimage on June 27, 2023.