The Tourism Ministry and the Chamber of Tourism have declared a state of emergency to resolve the problem that has arisen after Saudi agencies stopped working with Egyptian companies to send pilgrims to Umrah.
The ministry contacted other agencies, but they offered higher prices.
Tourism Ministry Undersecretary Ashraf Omar said the ministry sent letters to the Foreign Ministry and the Saudi Ministry of Hajj to intervene in the matter.
Basil al-Sisi from the Chamber of Tourism said one of the solutions is to change the code of the suspended agencies to other agencies with the same conditions and advantages. “There are 153 Egyptian companies working with the suspended agencies,” he said.
There have been more than 870,000 pilgrims that have gone to Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the season. The number is expected to reach one million pilgrims after Ramadan, if the problem is resolved.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
