Al-Qalam 
The longer it takes for Saudi authorities to start issuing Umrah visas, the harder it becomes for local Muslim travel agents to survive in the SA Hajj and Umrah travel industry, writes an Al Qalam Reporter.
With still no news from Saudi authorities as to when they will start issuing Umrah visas, Muslim travel agents across South Africa which specialise in Hajj &Umrah travel are flabbergasted and barely keeping their head above water.
There is a real risk that if things go on like this any longer, many Muslim travel agencies – that served the community for decades – may have no other alternative but to completely shut down their operations.
Ever since the lockdown eight months ago, some have already fallen on hard times and closed their businesses, a few are barely operating on skeleton staff while the rest have ventured into alternative businesses to keep the oils burning.
Ismail Olla, Secretary General of the South African Muslim Travel Operators Association (SAMTOA) said members of his association had to either lay off staff or locate them to other establishments within the industry.
He told Al Qalam that many of his members had to find alternative ways to survive in a tough economic climate. Some have gone into food catering, others are wholesaling a variety of goods from home or from their premises which once served as busy travel booking hubs.
“We had no choice but to do this in order to continue to pay rentals, to pay skeleton staff and to pay for other overheads.”
Olla, who runs Crest Travel, in Durban, said he himself has gone into manufacturing of bags to maintain his cost of living.
Although the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in Jeddah had announced last month that Umrah travel was once again open, local operators have not been told yet when the Saudis would start issuing visas. Without this communication, it was impossible to put together packages with Saudi hotels and related service industries.
“Frankly speaking, I cannot tell you when Umrah travel will resume again. It could happen towards the end of December or perhaps it could be in January, it’s impossible to say at this stage,” Olla added.
Even if visas were to be issued today, it would take weeks to put together multi-tiered travel packages with Saudi hotels. NO individual travel is allowed. Pilgrims would have to travel in groups of 50 and all would have to quarantine for three days in their hotel rooms with full catering.
Olla said: “Right now, there is no appetite for locals to travel overseas, especially with the pandemic still rampant in many parts of the world. In terms of Umrah travel, Muslim travelers are being cautious and deferring travel to another time in the future, especially so for Umrah travel under the strict Covid-19 rules” Olla said.
Olla told Al-Qalam that the strict rules for Umrah had deterred many of their clients.
When Saudi authorities announced that it would gradually allow international visitors from November 1, there was no rush from local people to book tickets.
Perhaps, what was putting them off was the restrictions that only persons between the ages of 18 and 50 years-old would be allowed to enter the Kingdom to perform Umrah and secondly that all passengers entering KSA must hold a PCR-COVID negative test not older than 72 hours upon arrival.
But the most severe restrictions that have put people off is that Pilgrims must quarantine for three days in a hotel before venturing out.
“These are very restrictive conditions and many people I have spoken to don’t like it,” Olla concluded.
