Despite current high oil prices, the kingdom knows this and has embarked on an ambitious project to diversify its sources of revenue for a post-oil future. One such source is pilgrimage, an eternal monopoly that has a potential market of nearly two billion Muslims. “Unlike [the energy sector], where Saudi Arabia must always worry about future competitors, in the Hajj and Umrah area, they are guaranteed zero competition in perpetuity, “said Omar Al-Ubaydli, research director of the group. Bahrain-based Derasat from around the world return to Saudi Arabia this week to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage after a two-year hiatus caused by Covid-19 restrictions. Muslims fulfill a unique religious obligation in life, but also an opportunity for the economy of Saudi Arabia’s sacred cities to get off to a good start.The pandemic brought the number of Hajj pilgrims down to 1,000 by 2020 , but increased to about 60,000 in 2021, when the Hajj opened only to residents of Saudi Arabia.This year, the kingdom authorized one million Muslims to perform the rites.Experts say that with the prices of the oil hovering around $ 100 a barrel, generating mile rs millions of dollars a day, the economic benefit of the pilgrimage is marginal in comparison. in the long run, untapped potential could bring significant wealth to the kingdom. “Religious tourism in Saudi Arabia may not have the current capacity to generate revenue from the oil and gas sector, but the religious significance of Mecca and Medina will never dry up,” said Robert Mogielnicki, senior researcher at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “It serves as a crucial basis for developing the broader Saudi tourism sector and marketing it to local, regional and international audiences.”
The potential for expansion is significant, says Steffen Hertog, an associate professor at the London School of Economics. For example, pilgrims could be encouraged to extend their trips to the country to visit other religious sites or engage in recreation, especially during the year-round minor pilgrimage, the Umrah, where the necks of bottle related to the Hajj, he said.
According to Mastercard’s latest global destination city index, Mecca attracted $ 20 billion in tourism in 2018, just behind Dubai. Prior to the pandemic, pilgrimage revenues were projected to average about $ 30 billion annually and create 100,000 jobs for the Saudis by 2022. That was when the kingdom attracted about 21 million faithful. annually during the 10-day Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, according to official data cited. by Reuters.
The number of pilgrims has dropped significantly during the pandemic, but the government is targeting 30 million pilgrims by 2030, which some analysts say is an ambitious figure.
The pilgrimage has meant a depletion for government finances due to the cost of infrastructure, maintenance and security, according to Hertog, but it has made a lot of money for the private sector.
The horizon of Mecca around the millennial pilgrimage site is full of elegant skyscrapers that house Western hotel chains overlooking the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure that Muslims travel to five times a day. . A night at the iconic Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower, overlooking the Kaaba, costs up to $ 4,000 for its most opulent suites for this year’s Hajj season. But the government has been trying to get a piece of this cake. In two years, the state-owned Public Investment Fund plans to open the Rou’a Haram Al Makki project just under a mile from the Kaaba, with 70,000 new hotel rooms and 9,000 residential units. It is expected to contribute 8 billion rials ($ 2.1 billion) to the Saudi economy. In a coup for private overseas travel agencies that organize pilgrimages for Muslims in the West, the Saudi government announced this year a new booking platform that requires foreign pilgrims to register and pay for the process directly at through the new system of government called “Motawif.” “The system is designed to speed up the application process, but it has left overseas travel agencies out of business. In the UK alone, the sector is worth about $ 240 million, and many Hajj operators are now ‘face liquidation, according to the Independent newspaper.
Saudi authorities did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The only threat to Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to capitalize on the pilgrimage “is the decline of religiosity around the world,” Al-Ubaydli said. “But as long as Muslims continue to want to visit these places, they will represent massive economic opportunities for Saudi Arabia.”
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report
The summary
Iran is adding demands to nuclear talks, the U.S. says
Iran added “unrelated” demands to the discussion table during the last round of talks on its nuclear program, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said in an interview on Tuesday. National Public Radio, adding that it has made “alarming” progress in its uranium enrichment field that would allow it to manufacture a nuclear weapon “in a matter of weeks.”
- Background: The last round of indirect negotiations between Iran and the US took place in Doha, Qatar, last week, and was mediated by the European Union. The talks were the last hope for both sides to reach an agreement that would revive a 2015 nuclear deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear weapons capabilities. The two-day talks stalled, however, Malley described them as “a missed opportunity.”
- Why it’s important: Iran is getting closer and closer to the amount of enrichment needed to make a nuclear bomb, with Malley saying it would only take them “a few weeks” to get one. “They’ll have to decide sooner or later,” Malley said, “because at some point the deal will be a thing of the past.”
Ben & Jerry’s sues Unilever for blocking the sale of the Israeli business
Ben & Jerry’s is suing its parent company in an attempt to cancel the sale of its business in Israel to a local partner who would continue to distribute its products in the West Bank.
- Background: Vermont-based ice cream maker filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, where it filed a lawsuit against Unilever “to protect the brand and social integrity that Ben & Jerry’s has past decades building “. Last week, Unilever announced that it had sold the Israeli Ben & Jerry business for an undisclosed amount to American Quality Products (AQP), which distributes ice cream in Israel.
- Why it’s important: Since 2021, Ben & Jerry’s has fiercely opposed the sale of its products in the West Bank, saying it would be “incompatible with” the brand. Ben & Jerry’s has been doing business in Israel since 1987, but in recent years has been pressured to sell to West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
Nazi war criminal Eichmann heard bragging about the role of the Holocaust in audio recordings
Audio recordings have appeared of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann boasting of his role in the Holocaust. The recordings, made in 1957, have Eichmann praising his part in the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish people.
- Background: Eichmann was captured by Israeli secret agents in Argentina in 1960 and taken to Israel where he was tried for crimes against humanity. In his defense he argued that he only followed orders and that key decisions were made by other higher Nazi leaders. Eichmann was convicted at his trial and murdered in 1962.
- Why it’s important: The recordings, which have been in a German archive for decades, have been aired for the first time as part of a new documentary about Eichmann called “The Devil’s Confession”. He can be heard saying that it would challenge his innermost beliefs to deny that the Nazis did something wrong. “If we had killed 10.3 million Jews, I would say with satisfaction,‘ Well, we have destroyed an enemy. ’Then we would have accomplished our mission,” he said.
Around the region
Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur made history on Tuesday at the Wimbledon turf courts, becoming the first Arab woman to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam.
The world number 3 overcame a nervous start to bounce back from a low set and beat Marie Bouzková 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 on the center court.
After reaching the final four, he said he had spent a lot of time for her personally.
“I’ve been hoping for a long time to get to this stage. I fought a few times in the quarterfinals,” Jabeur told the media afterwards.
“I was talking a bit with (the former world number 22) Hicham Arazi, and he said to me, ‘The Arabs always lose in the quarter-finals and we’re fed up with it. Please break that,'” he added.
The 27-year-old will face his also semifinalist Tatjana Maria for a place in the final.
By Ben Morse
Time capsule
Algeria has this week celebrated 60 years of independence from France after a bloody war of independence whose wounds have not yet healed.
France began its rule of Algeria in 1830. The city of Algiers was originally taken by the French as a military measure, but as more settlers began to arrive with French protection, France’s borders continued to advance. .
In 1954 the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) was formed as a guerrilla group to liberate the country from its colonizer. He began an uprising that lasted the next seven years, known as the Algerian War, which led Tunisia and Morocco to gain independence from France in exchange for militarizing its borders with Algeria.
On March 16, 1962, an agreement was signed in France that promised Algeria’s independence pending a national referendum, and on July 5, Algeria celebrated its independence from France.
After their independence, most of a million Europeans returned to their countries. More than 100,000 Muslims were killed in the seven-year Algerian war. Algeria says more than 5.6 million were killed during 130 years of colonization. French President Emanuel Macron …