JEDDAH: Pakistan topped the list of over-stayers in the last 2016-2017 Umrah season with the number reaching 6,905 out of total of 1,453,440 Umrah pilgrims, according to Al-Hayat daily.
Nigeria came second with 1,629 over-stayers, followed by Egypt with 1,081. Indonesia and Sudan came in the fourth and fifth place, respectively, with the same number of 592 over-stayers from each country.
On the other hand, Indonesia came second on the list of top 10 countries for the number of Umrah pilgrims last season, with the number reaching 876,246, followed by Egypt with 608,561 pilgrims. India came fourth with 525,278, and Turkey came sixth with 440,398 pilgrims.
A pilot meeting organized by the National Committee for Hajj and Umrah, chaired by Marwan Shaaban, stressed the importance of the adherence of Umrah companies to the new system which was recently launched by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, aiming to change the field into a professional industry in line with Vision 2030.
The committee indicated in the meeting, which was held on Sunday evening in Makkah, that as of this year, the number of Umrah days will be 300, starting from Muharram 1 to Shawwal 30 (Hijri calendar), and that these companies should work over 12 months with full-time employees.
