Saudi Arabia: Insurance premiums cut for hajj and umrah pilgrims

Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Feb 2023

The costs of insurance for pilgrims on the 2023 hajj and umrah have been reduced by 73% and 63% respectively, announced the minister of hajj and umrah Tawfiq Al-Rabiah.

The comprehensive insurance premiums will be SAR29 ($7.70) for each hajj pilgrim, down from SAR109 previously. For the umrah performer, the premiums will be slashed to SAR88 from the previous amount of SAR235.

Dr Al-Rabiah also announced that the number of pilgrims will return to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and spread, reported Arab News. There will be no age restrictions during hajj 2023.

The hajj season in 2022 was the first one to allow foreign pilgrims to participate after the outbreak of the pandemic, as the previous two seasons were limited only to domestic pilgrims. About 60,000 fully vaccinated domestic pilgrims took part in the pilgrimage in 2021 and only 1,000 in 2020. In pre-pandemic 2019, about 2.5m pilgrims participated in the hajj season in Saudi Arabia. M

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