RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has announced to increase number of visas for Umrah from 400,000 a month to 1.25 million pilgrims.
The Saudi Gazette and Okaz newspapers quoted Hajj Minister Bandar al Hajjar as saying that the new system would allow full use of massive expansion projects at the kingdom’s Holy sites.
Umrah can be carried out any time during the year. The Hajj pilgrimage, which all Muslims with the means are expected to complete at least once, this year drew about two million faithful.
The number had declined, particularly because of a multi-billion-dollar expansion which began four years ago at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. The 400,000-square-metre (4.3-million-square-feet) Grand Mosque enlargement is the equivalent of more than 50 football pitches, and it will allow the complex to accommodate roughly two million people at once.
