Shahid Maitla from Madinah— In an exclusive interview with Bloom Pakistan, Dr. Abdulrahman shams, assistant deputy minister of Hajj and Umrah, shares the details of kingdom’s efforts to enrich the experience of pilgrims and visitors during their visit for Umrah and tourism, at the Umrah and Ziyarah forum in Madinah. The three days event through interactive sessions, workshops, and hackathon discussed the recommendations, actionable proposals and facilities to improve the experience of pilgrims and visitors. Forum held under the Pilgrim Experience Program which is one of the major components of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. In response to a question Dr. Abdulrahman shams told, “approximately 1500 agreements in various sectors are signed between Saudi Umrah companies and external agents to facilitate the pilgrims and visitors”.
He further said, “more than 13 million visitors were served by kingdom last year while expecting much bigger number this year, and that’s why Saudi Government have held Umrah and Ziyarah forum bringing government entities and private sector working together”.
While answering the question that how this year would be different than previous ones with regard to services, he noted the openness of kingdom to welcome the visitors across the globe, “unlike past people now have multiple channels and choices to visit the country instead of coming for Umrah through travel companies. They can visit any city and take part in activities at various places in the kingdom”.
When asked about having witnessed the special focus of Kingdom Saudi Arabia to develop the religious and historical tourism as industry, along with Islamic, he highlighted that many initiatives are taken to promote the Islamic and historic tourism under the astute leadership of Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. He told that country is rich with religious and historical heritage, so many tourists places and sites are being developed and established. People can visit the country for religious obligations as well as sightseeing and tourism. “Yes, for sure, We are concentrating on whole journey to enrich the experience, he further elaborated, visitors can come to visit many Islamic and historic places in Madinah and countryside now”.
Saudi Arabia has recently made two state of the art museums in Madinah alone nearby Masjid e Nabawi; one is beautiful 3-D museum on biography of Hazrat Muhammad PBUH, and other is Safiyyah museum on prophets, their miracles and historical accounts. Kingdom Saudi Arabia is keenly boosting its tourism sector by redefining its approach to enrich tourists sites and museums of religious, cultural heritage, and Islamic history.
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