Morocco boycotts Umrah trips until Saudi abolishes new fees

The National Federation of Travel Agencies of Morocco (FNAVM) yesterday decided to boycott Umrah trips following a Saudi decision to impose a fee of 2,000 riyals ($533) on any pilgrim travelling to the kingdom to perform the religious rite.

Moroccan travel agencies also agreed to boycott all Hajj and Umrah exhibitions in Saudi and to contact Saudi authorities to work on abolishing the new fees to help Muslims perform Umrah and not to add hurdles in their path.

The Egyptian Travel Agents Association (ETAA) has also decided to boycott all Hajj and Umrah exhibitions and to form committees in cooperation with the foreign ministry to travel to Saudi Arabia and persuade the Ministry of Hajj to overturn the decision.  

A number of Egyptian tourism companies’ owners called for boycotting Umrah trips, while EETA officials said they would wait until contact had been made with the Saudi authorities.