A severe shortage of hotel rooms in Mecca has led operators to increase rates by as much as 25 per cent during haj, forcing many pilgrims to cancel their travel plans because the cost is too high.
The demolition of about 1,000 hotel and serviced apartments earlier this year to make way for the expansion of the Mecca Grand Mosque has caused an acute shortage of rooms for pilgrims during the haj season. "It's true; every year the prices of hotels in Mecca during haj increases and I believe this year it's a 20 to 25 [per cent] rise in rates," said an official from the Ministry of Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
"We are suffering from a shortage of rooms here; that's why we have a little bit more control over demand," said Mohammed el Amin, a sales representative at the Makkah Hilton and Towers.
This year, the hotel is offering haj packages from 61,000 Saudi riyals (Dh59,900) for a 25-day stay, compared with 47,000 riyals for the same package last year.
In the US, where unemployment has hit its highest point in 15 years, Muslims are finding the rates unaffordable. "My mother and I were supposed to go on haj this year. In the end, I had to stay back because of the high cost," said Huda Jawad, a student in Dearborn, Michigan, the US city with the largest Arab population.
Ms Jawad said she knew many fellow Muslims in Dearborn who shared her frustrations. "It's a pillar of our faith and a dream for so many to perform the haj. It's really sad to see so many people who want to go and are prevented due to the financial hardship."
Tour operators in the US and Canada are also cancelling their haj trips for the first time. "It was too expensive, so we cancelled this year," said Mahmud Habib, a tour operator for the Toronto-based Hajj Assistance Committee of North America, a five-star caravan that has taken pilgrims to Mecca since 1983. Mr Habib said he would instead take groups of pilgrims to other religious sites in the Middle East.
However, the Saudi government does not expect the number of visitors to drop this year. "Even though the prices are higher, I think that people will still want to come and perform religious duty. This type of tourism is very unlike leisure, where one can afford to cut down," said the official from the Ministry of Hajj.
Up to two million people visit Mecca every year to do haj, one of the five pillars of Islam that is mandatory for "financially able" Muslims to perform at least once in a lifetime.
Religious tourism is the second-largest sector in Saudi Arabia, distantly trailing oil and gas. Revenue from the industry contributes an average of $1.8bn (Dh6.6bn) a year to the economy, according to the kingdom's Supreme Commission for Tourism.
However, until the government releases official figures after the end of the haj season, it will be difficult to predict to what extent the global credit crunch had on the industry, said Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington DC-based advocacy and civil rights organisation.
"But I would not be surprised if fewer people are going in the current economic climate," Mr Hooper said. "People save up their whole lives to go on the haj. Of course, we do not want to see people's life savings and investments be jeopardised by this crisis. We would hope that there would be a range of facilities established for people of limited incomes."
Statistics compiled by Jones Lang Lasalle, a hotel consultancy, showed Saudi Arabia was expected to have about 130,000 rooms by 2010, up from 118,000 last year.
"As the number of rooms increases, this will help the sector grow even more and ease the problem of the supply shortage - that's the main cause of the increase in room rates that we are seeing right now," said a sales officer at Al Tayyar Travel, one of Saudi Arabia's largest tour operators.
abokhari@thenational.ae
abakr@thenational.ae
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Henderson, Pickford, Pope.
Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Dier, Gomez, Keane, Maguire, Maitland-Niles, Mings, Saka, Trippier, Walker.
Midfielders Henderson, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse, Winks.
Forwards Abraham, Barnes, Calvert-Lewin, Grealish, Ings, Kane, Rashford, Sancho, Sterling.
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.0-litre%20twin-turbo%20V6%20and%20electric%20motor%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20power%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20700hp%20at%207%2C500rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20torque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20720Nm%20at%202%2C250rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eight-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E0-100km%2Fh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.0sec%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETop%20speed%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E330kph%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh1.14%20million%20(%24311%2C000)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
