This was announced by Director of the ministry's Services Department Abdul Aziz bin Assad Damanhouri on Sunday.
He said the ministry asked the companies to provide it with the number of Umrah visas they plan to have, the nationalities of the pilgrims and their accommodation and transport arrangements. There are about 60 companies and establishments providing services to pilgrims.
Speaking to Arab News, sources working in Umrah services said the occupancy in Madinah hotels has reached 95 percent.
The sources said the Haj Ministry has designated about 500 hotels in Makkah, classified by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, for the accommodation of pilgrims during the Umrah season. They said the hotels are well equipped and well prepared to extend good services to the guests of God.
Meanwhile, the supervisor of the office of the president of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Quaifli received in his office in Makkah on Sunday the visiting American soldier Terry  C. Holdbrooks Jr. who embraced Islam and named himself Mustapha Abdullah. The soldier was one of the guards at Guantanamo Bay camp.