Saudi Arabia places a significant emphasis on the Comfort and Safety of Hajj Pilgrims

Custodianship is Saudi Arabia’s most vital principle due to the Two Holy Mosques; the kingdom perceives the Hajj season as a golden opportunity to demonstrate its highly-priced efforts to serve pilgrims. Amongst the kingdom’s priorities is the care of pilgrims; everything is done to offer the best services and comfort. 

Hajj activities are circumscribed to limited space and time and entail a massive congregation of people after adhering to specific religious protocols. These factors make the management of Hajj problematic, as seen in the following description. For quite a long time, Saudi Arabia has constantly been enhancing the Hajj management, considering these dimensions to balance security and safety hazards and those posed by climatic aspects. 

 The creation of the Saudi state introduced changes in the practice of hajj in former periods. Since then, security has been one of the vital characteristics of the pilgrimage, along with the growth of all transportation methods. This has facilitated the ease by which Muslims worldwide can embark on the Hajj, hence the ever-increasing number of pilgrims. 

In turn, data from the Saudi General Authority for Statistics shows that over the 50 years, 19 hajj seasons have covered more than two million pilgrims. In the last 25 years, millions of pilgrims have visited KSA for Hajj, where over 54 million pilgrims have performed Hajj, out of which over 23 million have only done so in the last decade. Like in many other spheres, the number of pilgrims dropped during the COVID-19 crisis, but it is growing again. 

This change has put a lot of pressure on all tiers of services and crowd regulation. Through the years, Saudi Arabia gained much practice in anticipation and crowd control regarding organizing the Hajj and increasing the Muslim population; the country’s infrastructure was modified accordingly. 

Thus, pilgrims’ behavior influences the situation significantly, occupying an essential place regarding security maintenance. Coordinating the hostilities of millions of Muslims with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds is already a problem, let alone the influx of settlers. 

Saudi Arabia coordinates with other Islamic countries to regulate the number of pilgrims to holy places. Some three decades ago, the Kingdom was part of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and all the member states agreed on concrete LPOs for each member state based on demographics. Further, Saudi Arabia has developed a special permit for domestic pilgrims and tends to tighten the measures on the beneficiaries. Last year, security forces prevented over three hundred and odd desperate people from being allowed to enter Makkah without permission. 

 The developments and improvements can be easily seen and noted, especially inside the Two Holy Mosques. For this purpose, the Hajj administration has been working on preventative measures, including providing electronic bracelets and CCTV surveillance of pilgrim movements. 

The KSA is about basic security and facilitating the pilgrims’ welfare through technological interventions. This helps pilgrims accomplish their rites in a calm, quiet place to realize their religious purposes. 

 In line with Vision 2030, the Guests of God Service Program started in 2019 with a vision to offer the best services and enhance the religious and cultural tourists’ experience. Some of its accomplishments are the Haramain High-Speed Railway and the construction of a city of black tents in Mina, the largest tent city in the world, which was built with state-of-the-art technologies and, most importantly, toy safety. The attempts to enhance greening in ritual zones and the conflict over farmland have escalated. 

 Several electronic procedures have been launched, including the Makkah Route Initiative, which enhances the organization of travel processes in the pilgrims’ countries of origin. This program is being extended to many more countries as it has proved to be of the utmost significance. One more recent accomplishment is using heat-resistant paint on asphalt surfaces near the Masjid Al-Namirah, which helps reduce the temperature and makes the climate more pleasant for pilgrims.

Substantial budget allocations support these efforts. Frequent visitors to the Two Holy Mosques can observe significant enhancements in various areas with each visit. Despite these achievements, some voices overlook these efforts, instead fabricating issues in the management of Hajj to serve political and ideological agendas that oppose anything Saudi Arabia does, even when it benefits the pilgrims.