Saudi Arabia to welcome 2 million...

One of the five pillars of Islam, this year’s pilgrimage is scheduled for June

During a press conference held by the Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, it was announced that Saudi Arabia is preparing to receive two million pilgrims during the Hajj season this year.

The kingdom has invested more than SR200 billion in the development projects and infrastructure to provide quality services at the holy sites. These include the Haramain Express Train, which connects Makkah and Madinah via a two-hour journey.

Though strict limits were in place in order to curb the spread of Covid-19, Saudi Arabia has announced that age restrictions and limits on the number of pilgrims for this year's Hajj won’t be enforced for the first time in three years.

In 2019, approximately 2.5 million people took part in the rituals. For the next two years, numbers were drastically curtailed due to the pandemic. In 2022, nearly 900,000 pilgrims, including some 780,000 from abroad, were welcomed to Makkah and Madinah.

For more information, visit www.haj.gov.sa