Saudi Arabia to allow one million Hajj pilgrims this year

Saudi Arabia to allow one million Hajj pilgrims this year
The announcement follows two years of drastically pared-down pilgrimages due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
1 min read
The Covid-19 pandemic has hugely disrupted Muslim pilgrimages [Getty]

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it would permit one million Muslims from inside and outside the country to participate in this year's Hajj, a sharp uptick after Covid-19 restrictions forced two years of drastically pared-down pilgrimages.

The Hajj ministry "has authorised one million pilgrims, both foreign and domestic, to perform the Hajj this year," it said in a statement.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hugely disrupted Muslim pilgrimages, which are usually key revenue earners for the kingdom, bringing in some $12 billion annually.

Hosting the pilgrimages is a matter of prestige for Saudi rulers, for whom the custodianship of Islam's holiest sites is their most powerful source of political legitimacy.

In 2021, the coronavirus outbreak forced Saudi authorities to dramatically downsize the Hajj for a second year, and just 60,000 fully vaccinated citizens and residents of the kingdom took part.