Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities
Saudi Arabia Enters New Phase in Aviation Investment aawsat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aawsat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Abu Dhabi: A little over a year after the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse effects on the world’s economies, positive signs have appeared on the horizon for the recovery of the economies of Haj and Umrah in Mecca and Medina, with expectations of a higher number of people coming to perform Umrah than was recorded in the last season, experts said.
Ramadan, according to experts, will be a turning point with which expectations and the influx of ritual performers will rise to reach 40 per cent in the recovery phase.
April 3 coincides with the Saudi authorities’ imposition of curfew in Mecca and Medina last year, as a precautionary measure to stem outbreak of COVID-19.