Saudi pilgrims seek better services, expats low prices

Saudi nationals are more concerned about services, including information on where camps are located and the proximity to the jamaraat.

It appears that Saudi and expatriate Haj pilgrims have slightly different needs, with citizens mostly seeking to know about services offered, while the latter are concerned about prices.
Khaled Al-Mughrabi, a worker at a local Haj company, said there was a large turnout this year for low-cost Haj packages from Arab and Asian expatriates, including Pakistanis and Indians.
Two low-cost Haj packages were offered this year, one starting from SR2,500 and the other from SR7,000.
He said cheaper packages were oversubscribed and pilgrims had to be turned away. There were still a few spots left for the more expensive package, Al-Mughrabi said.
Hassan Asiri, who makes reservations for a local Haj firm, told Arab News that expatriates first ask about price and the possibility of getting a discounted rate.
In contrast, Saudi nationals are more concerned about services, including information on where camps are located and the proximity to the jamaraat, where the ritual stoning of the devil takes place.
“They also ask about transportation and the quality of vehicles, including whether they have air conditioning that suits the desert climate,” Asiri said.
Abdul Hamid Othman, a Haj company supervisor, said that many of those who registered for the low-cost package had changed their minds because of the lack of services.
“This is a result of people not having sufficient information about these packages in the first place,” he said.
Majid Al-Idris, a Moroccan barber, said that his Haj company charged him a lot more money for the same package his friend had bought.
He said the company representatives had told him that prices had gone up because there were only a few places left, and that more services were offered.
He warned that many companies were overcharging pilgrims.
They often offer cooked meals, but then only produce dry, packaged food, he said.
Abdul Aziz Al-Nabhani, an official at a Haj company, said that many pilgrims had insufficient information this year on the low-cost packages offered.
The Haj Ministry had expanded the low-cost program this year to absorb the pilgrims who were sleeping on the streets of Makkah.
The ministry had opened the program for 15,000 pilgrims through registered Haj companies in two phases.
The first phase included 8,000 pilgrims and the second 7,000.
Al-Nabhani said that many who came to book their places at offices nationwide had not known that they were able to do so on the ministry’s website.
He called on the government to provide more publicity to the program next year.