Ramadan: Low patronage as travel agents roll out Umrah packages

As Muslims commence the Ramadan fast, travel agents in the country have unfolded Umrah (lesser hajj) packages for faithful intending to embark on the spiritual journey to Saudi Arabia.

For Hajj and Umrah operators, Ramadan period is usually a period they make brisk business when many Muslims travel to Makkah to perform lesser Hajj.

The price of the Umrah packages varies depending on the period during the holy month.

While some who can afford the huge expense spend the 30-day fasting period in the holy land, most people prefer to embark on the spiritual journey at the last quarter of Ramadan, a period Muslims are expected to intensify their act of worship.

Findings show that a prospective pilgrim pays between N650, 000 to N3.5million for the package which covers accommodation and visa to the holy land. The package also includes transportation cost to and from Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah.

Price for Umrah visa ranges between N150,000 and N180,000 while extra 2,000 Saudi Riyadh is charged for pilgrims who perform the lesser hajj more than once in a year.

Umrah visa and accommodation cost between N250,000 and N380,000, though this depends on the closeness of hotels to the Haram in Makkah and travel agents’ mother company in Saudi Arabia.

Checks by Daily Trust on Sunday from travel agencies revealed that fewer intending pilgrims have applied to embark on the spiritual journey this year despite the favourable visa policy introduced by Saudi authorities.

Tour operators blamed the low patronage on the economic downturn.

Nigeria’s economy slipped into recession last year and contracted for the fifth consecutive quarter by -0.52 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for the first quarter of 2017 released last week by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This indicated that the country is yet to exit recession.

For Med-View Travelz Konsult, the cheapest price for a 14-day package is N1.1million which covers the cost of visa, accommodation and feeding in Makkah and Madina.

Med-View Travel and Tour is an arm of Med-View Airline PLC designated to operate direct flight from Lagos to King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Jeddah.

All Qibla International Service (QIS), another Hajj and Umrah operator, has N870,000, as the least price for those interested in performing the lesser Hajj. The package also covers Visa, accommodation and air tickets.

CEO of the agency, Alhaji Abdulfatah Abdulmojeed however said the economic downturn had lowered patronage of the Umrah services as many Muslims who would have loved to perform lesser Hajj in Makkah couldn’t afford the huge expenses.

It was learnt that few years ago, the entire package for Umrah was less than N500,000, but the naira devaluation pushed up the air fare.

Al-Halal Travels and Tour, another licensed Hajj and Umrah operator based in Kano has also come up with various packages for prospective pilgrims. Each of the packages covers Visa, accommodation as well as transportation in Makkah and Madinah.

CEO of Al-Halal, Alhaji Kabir Maiwada said the packages vary depending on the air carrier preferred by the pilgrims, the accommodation and the length of stay, adding that the cheapest price is around 600,000 while one could get a package as high as N5million.

“People are not rushing at all. The turnover is very low because the economy is bad. Before we used to package over 200, 300 people for Umrah during Ramadan but now we hardly package 60 people”, he said.

“Government should revive the economy. When the government revives the economy, people would have cash flow. When they have cash flow, they would need services because people like me, I provide services as a travel agent. It is only when people are buoyant that they can afford my services otherwise they cannot”, Maiwada who is the Vice-Chairman, Hajj and Umrah Operators, northern zone added.

The cheapest package of Amco Travel and Tours Limited for two-week stay in the holy land is N650,000 and N1.9 million for the highest. The package covers air ticket, visa, accommodation and local transport within Saudi Arabia.

For the last ten days of Ramadan, the agency’s Umrah package ranges between N750,000 and N3.5 million.

The Managing Director of the agency, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Sani said airline operators and hotel owners in Saudi Arabia take advantage of the high turnout of pilgrims during the last 10 days of Ramadan to hike their charges.

“The visa is not difficult to get but airline operators and hotel owners in Saudi Arabia increase their prices because of high traffic during the last period of fasting.

“Some 5-star hotels around the Haram in Makkah charge as high as 10,000 US dollars during the last period,” he said.

Alhaji Ahmed said Nigerian hajj and umrah operators were at the mercy of foreign airlines because the country has no national carrier.

He however said the current economic realities in the country has not affected patronage, adding “recession or not, people are showing up. If there’s one thing Nigerian Muslims don’t joke with, it is their faith. Anyone who wants to perform Umrah must have been saving money for long.”