Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will begin to receive vaccinated foreign pilgrims who want to visit the holy city of Islam, the state media reported Sunday, about 18 months after the closure of the border requested by the Coronavirus Pandemi.
The authorities in the ministry responsible for coordinating foreign pilgrims will start from Monday start “gradually accepting the request of Umrah from various countries in the world,” reported the Saudi press institution.
Umrah is a pilgrimage that can be done at any time – different from the Hajj, which occurs once every year – and usually draw millions from all over the world every year.
Pandemic Covid-19 is very disturbing pilgrimage, which is usually the main income for the kingdom – in normal times, they together sweep around $ 12 billion (10.3 billion euros) every year.
Before the announcement on Sunday, only the resident of pilgrims were immunized in Saudi Arabia which qualified for Umrah’s permission, although Hajj has occurred in an enhanced form since the pandemic began.
Every foreign pilgrim must be immunized with a Saudi-recognized vaccine and agreed to undergo quarantine, the spa report said, quoting Deputy Minister of Saudi Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat.
Riyadh has spent billions trying to build the tourism industry from the start, as part of an effort to diversify its oil and gas economy.
The kingdom which once began to issue a tourist visa for the first time in 2019 as part of an ambitious encouragement to change its global image and attract visitors.
Between September 2019 and March 2020, it was released by 400,000 of them – only for pandemics to destroy the momentum because the limit was closed.
The government has accelerated the drive of national vaccination while moving to revive tourism and other pandemic hit sectors, such as sports competition and entertainment extravaganzas.
Vaccination is mandatory for anyone who wants to enter government and private companies, including educational institutions and entertainment venues, and to use public transportation.
Saudi Arabia has registered nearly 532,000 cases of Coronavirus and more than 8,300 deaths.