Makkah & Medina
From The Report: Saudi Arabia 2018
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Due to the importance of Makkah and Medina in the Muslim world, and the millions of pilgrims they attract, the two holy cities form a major component of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy. The pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah are performed each year, with worshippers’ fees, food, transport and accommodation totalling some $12bn in revenues. Makkah is home to the Masjid Al Haram, known as the Grand Mosque, which houses the Kaaba – Islam’s holiest site – and is also the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. Medina, meanwhile, is home to the Masjid an-Nabawi, or the Prophet’s Mosque, another important place of pilgrimage for worshippers during the Hajj and Umrah. With religious tourism such a vital source of non-oil revenue, much of the development in and around Makkah and Medina over the coming years is directly linked to the goals laid out in Vision 2030, which include plans to significantly boost pilgrim numbers as well as increase the country’s appeal as a wider tourist destination.

This chapter contains an interview with Osama Al Bar, Mayor of Makkah.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Grand plans: Sustained focus on raising pilgrim numbers and expanding beyond religion-oriented tourism
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Due to the importance of Makkah and Medina in the Muslim world, and the millions of pilgrims they attract, the two holy cities form a major component of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy. The pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah are performed each year, with worshippers’ fees, food, transport and accommodation totalling some $12bn in revenues. Makkah is home to the Masjid Al Haram, known as the Grand Mosque, which houses the Kaaba – Islam’s holiest site – and is also the birthplace of the…

Interview

Expanding a region: Osama Al Bar, Mayor of Makkah, on increasing the number of visitors to the cities
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Interview:Osama Al Bar What needs to be done to reach the goal of 30m annual Umrah visitors to Makkah by 2030? OSAMA AL BAR: Makkah already handles more than 12m Umrah visitors from outside Saudi Arabia and more than 8m domestic visitors per year, so it has already met the 2020 goal of 20m Umrah visitors. For Hajj, work is in progress to increase the housing capacity of Mina with a number of projects. With the completion of the first phase of this capacity expansion the Kingdom will be ready…

Analysis

More room: Development of Al Faisaliah to ease pressure on Makkah and Jeddah
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With Saudi Arabia aiming to significantly increase the number of pilgrims visiting Makkah and Medina each year, the issue of providing sufficient housing for the cities’ permanent residents has been a cause for growing concern. To take pressure off both Makkah and Jeddah – cities that have seen substantial population increases over the past decade – the government in 2017 unveiled plans to build Al Faisaliah, a mega-city located on the Red Sea coast that will provide 995,000 housing…