Indonesia Hopes Could Send Umrah Pilgrims to Saudi Arabia During Pandemic

Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian government has communicated with Saudi Arabia to be included in the list of countries allowed to send Umrah pilgrims during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said that so far there had been no further notification from Saudi Arabia but Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi had conveyed Indonesia’s hopes directly to the Saudi government.

“Among other things, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has spoken with the Saudi Foreign Minister,” Faizasyah said in a written message on Monday.

He said the Saudis had positively noted the wishes of Indonesia.

The Saudis will allow Muslims from abroad to perform Umrah from November 1, 2020. But the Saudis have not announced which pilgrims from which countries will be allowed to enter.

Indonesia as a country with the largest Muslim population in the world is also the second largest sender of Umrah pilgrims after Pakistan.

A total of 947,650 Indonesians performed Umrah in 2019, while in 2018 the number reached 1 million.

However on the other hand, Covid-19 cases in Indonesia are still growing with a total of 307,120 people as of Monday, of which 232,593 patients have recovered and 11,253 patients have died.

Indonesia is the country with the second highest Covid-19 case in Southeast Asia after the Philippines.

Indonesia is one of the largest umrah sending countries in the world.

According to the data from the Ministry of Religion, there were 1,005,336 Umrah pilgrims from Indonesia in 2019.

In addition, the Ministry of Transportation said there are more than 100 Umrah flights from Indonesia per week.

In Indonesia, Umrah business is a sector with considerable value and involves many parties.

With an average cost of around Rp. 25 million and the number of worshipers reaching 1 million people, the business value is around Rp. 25 trillion per year.

Those funds are distributed to travel agencies, visas, airlines, catering, transportation, hotels, equipment and souvenirs both in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. (T/RE1)