30 mln pilgrims by 2030: Travel agents upbeat about their competitive advantages over increasing digitalisation and ‘DIY Umrah’

Last month, Saudi Arabia updated a portal that shows umrah packages offered by licensed travel agents around the world. It’s currently in a rudimentary listing format but the plan is for would-be pilgrims to be able to compare and book packages, flights, and apply for their umrah visas. This Maqam portal, said the Saudi state news agency, is in line with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s “strategic transformation into digitalisation” to “downsize and ease procedures required for umrah”.

Another initiative in line with this “strategic transformation” was the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in December between the Saudi ministry and Singapore-based online travel agent (OTA) Agoda. This was a significant milestone as it was the first time the ministry had signed an MoU with a global OTA. The two parties will collaborate to “build future services including guest flow and booking accommodation”. The first product, which has already been released, is a dedicated site on Agoda for booking hotels that have been certified by the ministry for umrah visitors.

The development of Maqam and the partnership with Agoda are meant to drive Saudi Arabia’s use of technology to manage the anticipated increase in visitors towards the Vision 2030 goal of 30 million foreign umrah pilgrims annually. To put that number in perspective, 6.5 million pilgrims travelled to Saudi Arabia for umrah in 2017: that’s 4.6 times fewer visitors than the 30 million goal. How the Saudi government will reach this goal is another story.