Some British Muslims who booked pilgrimages to Mecca could not fly after problems with a new system.
British and other Western pilgrims could previously book via Saudi-licensed agents in their home countries.since 2011, and said the new system was "part of Saudi Arabia's strategy to centralise and simplify packages sales".this year as it accommodates foreign visitors for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.
However it is not clear how many Hajj visas are being allocated to the UK, which was designated about 25,000 in 2019. Prof McLoughlin said figures have ranged from 3,000 to 12,000."While the previous system was sometimes exploited by fraudsters, the best agents sought to make the complexities of Hajj easier for their pilgrims," he said.
"Motawif's failed miserably as it's come far too late - it's not been piloted or trialled, and it hasn't proved as flexible or competitively priced as first claimed. "The other problem is that Motawif is not communicating clearly and is contradicting itself - they don't seem to have the capacity to deliver and their technical system has let them down badly."
He said the process was "at crisis point" as people were "turning up at airports and being told they could not travel".Yasmin Qureshi MP, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hajj and Umrah, had previouslyShe warned it was "not going to work" and asked Hajj minister Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah if refunds would be given.has said it is "aware that not all problems have been resolved and continue to seek information from the Saudi authorities".
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