ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): The Saudi Arabian government has decided to introduce a new system of “Nusuk food vouchers” for Umrah pilgrims from Pakistan, India, Egypt and Bangladesh.
Under this new system, each pilgrim will have to pay about 20 Saudi riyals additional for daily meals, and this amount will already be automatically included in the total cost of the pilgrims’ Umrah visa fee.
Under this initiative, Saudi authorities have integrated hotel bookings, transport, food, and all other travel facilities on a single digital platform, the Nusuk app.
The project includes about 10,000 restaurants in Makkah and Madinah.
As per details, each umrah pilgrim will be given a special code linked to his visa, with the help of which the pilgrims will be able to easily get their food from any restaurant included in this network. The new policy will be implemented from the 1st of Rabi-ul-Awwal.
The main objective of introducing this new system by the Saudi authorities is to provide quality food and drink facilities to the pilgrims, improve the quality of services, and discourage unregistered service providers.
On the other hand, this new policy is likely to increase the overall cost of Umrah packages.
As a result, tour operators from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Egypt will have to include mandatory catering charges in their Umrah packages, due to which they are reviewing their packages and prices.
Experts say that in the coming days, the effects of this new system may be significant on both the companies providing Umrah services and the pilgrims.
