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KARACHI: Pakistan’s Umrah operators said on Sunday they were waiting for a “go-ahead” from ��������Ƶ to resume operations to the Kingdom following its recent decision to allow foreign pilgrims to Makkah, barred earlier under COVID-19 travel restrictions.
To curb the spread of the coronavirus and its new variants, ��������Ƶ has banned transit at, or travel to, a “red list” of 13 countries, which includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, South Africa, Turkey, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.
Last week, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said starting August 9 it would begin receiving Umrah requests from vaccinated foreign pilgrims from countries that were not on the red list.
On Sunday, state-run Saudi Press Agency said permits would initially be granted to 60,000 Umrah pilgrims per month, but the number would eventually be increased to two million.
“We are ready and waiting for the go-ahead signal from the Saudi authorities to resume operations,” Affan Zeeshan, chairman of the Hajj Organizers Association of Pakistan (HOAP) Sindh Zone, told Arab News.
“The decision to resume Umrah is a very encouraging step for the Pakistani travel and tourism sector. The decision has rekindled the hope of the sector’s revival,” said Muhammad Shahid Rafiq, convener of the Central Committee on Hajj & Umrah Services at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).
“We urge our government to take up the issue and get the country off the red list so that Pakistanis who are excited to visit the holy sites could benefit from the fresh Saudi measures.”
Umrah, which can be performed at any time of the year, is a pilgrimage to Islam’s two holiest sites in Makkah and Madinah. It is different from Hajj, which takes place once annually.
��������Ƶ suspended the Umrah pilgrimage following the COVID-19 outbreak last year but reopened it to a limited number of vaccinated residents in October.
Before the start of the pandemic last year, Pakistan’s Hajj and Umrah operators facilitated travel packages for nearly two million pilgrims every year, out of which up to 1.8 million were Umrah pilgrims.
“The sector has lost almost 80 percent of the business activity following the outbreak of COVID-19 last year,” Muhammad Hanif Rinch, chairman of the IATA Agency Program Joint Council, told Arab News. 
Estimates show that in 2019, Pakistan’s religious tourism market, excluding travel to Iran and Iraq, stood at Rs245 billion (approximately $1 billion).
In 2018-2019, 1.8 million Pakistanis performed Umrah, spending an average of Rs80,000 per head, which mobilized Rs144 billion in revenue, according to operators.
According to Pakistani tour operators, 75 percent of their services had previously included pilgrimage packages, which had reduced to 10 percent due to the pandemic.
“The travel industry and airlines are correlated and are operating at around 10 percent of their capacity,” Muhammad Yahya Polani, the vice chairman of the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan, told Arab News.
“Around half of the Hajj and Umrah operators have either switched to other business or are winding up their business due to the depressed conditions … The resumption of Umrah will help this depressed sector revive.”