7 - 13 June 2001
Issue No.537
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 7 - 13 June 2001 Issue No.537 |
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Religious visits suspended
Egyptian travel agencies are not arranging umra trips to the holy sites in Saudi Arabia until a solution is found to problems arising from new Saudi regulations. Rehab Saad reports
This year and for the first time ever, Egyptians have not been able to travel to holy sites in Saudi Arabia to perform the umra rituals (out-of- season pilgrimage) coinciding with Mulid Al- Nabi (the birth of Prophet Mohamed). This situation appears likely to continue for some time.
The general assembly of the Egyptian Travel Agents Association (ETAA) has recently decided to halt all umra trips until a solution is found to the problems arising from new regulations by Saudi authorities. At an extraordinary assembly meeting on Sunday, members unanimously agreed not to organise a single umra trip until the problems are solved. "We are ready to stop umra trips for a whole year or even two," said an angry travel agent. His words were met with applause.
The drama began unfolding a few months ago when Saudi authorities issued new executive regulations for umra trips originating from other Islamic countries. For Egypt, the regulations stipulated that Saudi travel agencies are entitled to deal with any number of Egyptian travel agencies, offices or representatives, whereas each Egyptian travel agency may only deal with a single Saudi travel agency. Each Egyptian travel agency is required to provide the Saudi travel agency dealing with it with a certified cheque equivalent to the full cost of the umra trip before it receives the entry visas for the pilgrims. Additionally, each Egyptian travel agency must supply Saudi authorities with an annual letter of credit, or insurance bill, worth 100,000 Saudi riyals (SR), which is certified by a Saudi insurance company. In a later development, Saudi authorities decided that the sum of SR100,000 could be paid by a Saudi insurance company on behalf of the foreign travel agent who would repay by instalment over a one-year period.
Furthermore, in the event of a dispute between Egyptian and Saudi travel agencies, only Saudi courts have the jurisdiction to look into the issue.
"We can't deny that Saudi Arabia has the full right to issue the regulations organising umra trips. It is a country that has full sovereignty over its land. However, we [Egyptian tourist authorities and travel agencies] are also fully entitled to preserve our rights as well as those of our pilgrims," said Hassan Gamaleddin, first undersecretary at the Ministry of Tourism.
In a recent statement, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid said that "we respect the regulations stipulated by the Saudi government and will abide by them. However, if Egyptian travel agencies face problems, the Egyptian government should intervene and overcome these problems."
Egyptian travel agencies have three demands. First, only Egyptian travel agencies should be allowed to organise umra trips from Egypt. That is, no umra trips should be organised by syndicates, organisations, clubs or associations and Saudi travel agencies should be required to deal only with travel agencies. "Moreover, Saudi travel agencies should deal only with three Egyptian travel agencies in three different governorates and not with any number of agencies. This is an internal Egyptian issue and we are free to decide what we want for our benefit," said Elhami El-Zayyat, head of the ETAA.
He added that Ebeid backed this demand. "From this moment on only travel agencies will do the job and we will not register any umra contract if we find that the Saudi travel agency deals with more than three Egyptian travel agencies," El-Zayyat stressed.
The second demand deals with the required letter of credit to which all Egyptian travel agencies are opposed. "This letter of credit that will cost each travel agency SR100,000 is a heavy burden on their budgets especially given that the majority of agencies deal with travellers who pay in instalments. Moreover, this will raise the cost of an umra trip by more than 35 per cent," said Shabaan Abdel-Halim, head of a travel agency.
Another travel agent, Seif El-Nasr El- Awamri, pointed out that this letter will also affect the national economy as well as foreign exchange rates. "There are 650 Egyptian travel agencies organising umra trips. If each pays SR100,000 annually, the total amount that will be paid will be SR65 million. This amount will be wasted and will lead to an increase of the dollar and the SR exchange rates," he told Al- Ahram Weekly.
"If each Egyptian travel agency is going to pay the cost of the umra trip in advance, as stipulated by the new regulations, what is the need then for this letter of credit?" asked El- Zayyat.
As for the third demand, El-Zayyat said that the idea of confining arbitration in any dispute to Saudi courts only is unacceptable. "They [Saudi travel agencies] will receive the money for umra in advance as well as a letter of credit worth thousands of riyals, so what kind of additional guarantees are they looking for?" El- Zayyat said.
Saudi Arabian officials were not available for comment.
Travel agencies organised umra for 450,000 people last year -- representing about 45 per cent of total umra pilgrims.
El-Zayyat also pointed out that the Saudi Ministry of Commerce had ordered Saudi hotels to raise their prices. "But if prices are high this year, umra pilgrims will stop going until the prices go down. Umra is not a farida [religious obligation] like hajj ," he said.
The general assembly of the ETAA has decided to keep its session open-ended until a solution is reached to the problem.
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