Algeria.. No Umrah trips during next Ramadan

The Algerian government is expected to ratify within a week the decision to return Umrah trips that have been suspended for more than two years due to the repercussions of the health crisis resulting from the spread of the Corona virus, at a time when tourism and travel agencies rule out the possibility of organizing Umrah trips, especially in the month of Ramadan due to the measures imposed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, as well as the financial crisis in which agencies are floundering.

And the Algerian newspaper, “Al-Shorouk”, quoted sources, that the Umrah file is currently on the table of Prime Minister Ayman bin Abd al-Rahman, awaiting the issuance of the final word on the file, which will most likely give the green light for the return of the Umrah and summon the tourism and travel agencies wishing to participate to withdraw the licenses, in preparation. To the process, the same sources add, at a time when agencies rule out the possibility of returning to organizing Umrah at the present time due to the continuing health crisis caused by the spread of Covid 19, and the difficulty of implementing the measures imposed by the Saudi side for those wishing to perform the rituals.

In this context, the tourism expert and owner of a tourism agency, Ali Manasir, confirms that there is still ambiguity surrounding some points related to the organization of Umrah, especially with regard to the quality of the vaccine imposed on those coming to the Kingdom, and the issue of age, which has not yet been decided, especially since Saudi Arabia had identified it in Earlier from 18 to 50 years.

Ali Manasir indicates that the organization of Umrah trips in Algeria has been open for a while with reservation for individuals and not for groups, but after the last correspondence received by the tourism and travel agencies from Turkish Airlines in which it informed them to stop selling tickets for the line – Algeria – Istanbul – Jeddah or Riyadh, without prior Warning or even justifications about the decision, which made the agencies stop the process, leaving the search for another line underway for those wishing to sponsor the transfer of people.

The spokesman believes that organizing Umrah trips during the month of Ramadan, which is no longer separated from us by only 90 days, remains impossible even for major tourism agencies that have not yet settled their outstanding debts with Saudi dealers since 2019, saying: “Signs of returning flights are excluded even if you decide The government opened the Umrah season, as it did during the year 2020,” he added, “at that time, we withdrew the licenses without organizing, and not a single trip to the holy sites.”

Returning to the financial value of the Umrah in the event that the Algerians express a desire to perform it, Ali Manasir says that it carries increases of approximately 2 to 3 million compared to the old prices applied before the emergence of the Corona epidemic.

For reference, the Saudi authorities had determined, before the period of time, the conditions that must be met by pilgrims coming from abroad, who must be immunized with the doses of vaccines approved by the World Health Organization, and institutional quarantine procedures will be applied to them for a period of 3 days, and after 48 hours of quarantine on them a certificate is submitted A negative laboratory test, to go immediately after that to perform the rituals of Umrah, and the Saudi Ministry of Hajj indicated that the period of stay inside the Kingdom for pilgrims coming from outside it has been increased to 30 days.

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