Saudi Arabia suspends Egyptians from booking Umrah directly

Saudi Arabia has suspended B2C e-visas for Egyptians to perform the pilgrimage of Umrah, following the death due to extreme heat of over 1,300 people during Hajj.

The B2C allows Umrah pilgrims to travel independently of a tour operator.

The deaths constituted the worst heat-related Hajj disaster in 40 years, as temperatures reached 51.8C.

According to Saudi authorities, 83 per cent of those who died were unauthorised to perform Hajj, and therefore walked long distances under direct sunlight without adequate shelter.

At least 658 of those who died were Egyptian, of whom 630 were unregistered pilgrims, according to an Egyptian diplomat cited by AFP.

Basil al-Sisi, from the Egyptian travel agents’ association, announced over the weekend that one category of Umrah visas – a smaller pilgrimage that can be performed any time of the year – had been suspended.

Sisi told Al-Masry al-Youm that the B2C visa, which Egyptians could previously use to directly book packages via Saudi Arabia’s online Umrah portal, had been paused.

He said that this did not mean that Egyptians couldn’t perform Umrah, as they can still book using an official travel agent in Egypt.

Sisi said the pause was driven by the deaths at Hajj this month.

Following the Hajj deaths, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that 16 tourism companies had their licences rescinded for allegedly authorising people to perform Hajj through irregular channels.

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said Saudi authorities had an obligation to protect people from extreme heat.

“Beyond Hajj, they should implement heat protection measures to better safeguard the health of all those at risk. This is especially urgent given Saudi Arabia’s plans under Vision 2030, which includes increasing the annual number of religious pilgrims to 30 million from 8 million,” HRW said.