The growing number of pilgrims arriving in Saudi during hajj season puts crowd management skills to the test. The Kingdom is heavily investing tens hajj-related infrastructure and digital solutions to support this year’s pilgrims, expected to be more than the 1.8 mn pilgrims received last year.

To ease pilgrims’ experience in Arafat, over 84k sqm of so-called “white roads” were built with recycled materials to reduce surface temperatures by some 12°C, Saudi Gazette reports. A 4 km cooled, accessible pedestrian path with reduced vibrations now leads to Mount Arafat, along with 16k sqm of flexible rubber asphalt installed between Namira Mosque and Arafat Train Station to improve safety.

Similar developments, worth over SAR 33.7 mn, were launched in Mina and at Namira Mosque, including 70 cold water units capable of serving up to 140k pilgrims per hour, shade umbrellas and misting fans, and new lighting, sound, and air systems, Arab News reports.

ALSO- The National Water Company (NWC) completed 18 projects costing SAR 400 mn to upgrade water infrastructure for the 2025 Hajj season. The water network in Makkah and the holy sites now boasts 3.5 mn m3 of storage and an average daily pumping capacity exceeding 760k m3, which can rise to over 1 mn m3 on peak days.

On the transport front, Saudi Arabia Railways scheduled over 4.7k trips on its 453 km Haramain High-Speed Railway, connecting Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdulaziz Airport, and Medina. More than 400k extra seats were added to bring the line’s capacity to about 2 mn seats during the hajj season. Mobile fuel stations from Saudi Automotive Services Company (Sasco) will also be deployed on the Hijra road to assist with traffic emergencies.

THE DIGITAL PUSH-

The Kingdom implemented many digital solutions aimed at improving safety and mobility for pilgrims — including the Pilgrim Experience Program, which was launched in 2019 to streamline pilgrim journeys, partly through digital tools like e-visas. That same year, the Makkah Route Initiative was rolled out to allow pilgrims from selected countries to complete pre-clearance in their home countries, assisting some 322.9k pilgrims in 2024, according to data from the General Authority for Statistics (Gastat).

Drones are being increasingly deployed to assist with everything — from surveillance using drones equipped with high-resolution cameras to spot pilgrims without permit, to firefighting with the help of AI-powered drones, to healthcare via the rollout of medicine-delivering drones in order to overcome the complicated logistics of attending to sick pilgrims amid overcrowding

AND- A host of services are provided to pilgrims through Nusukand Tawakkalna apps. Nusuk serves as a comprehensive digital tool for Hajj and Umrah, enabling pilgrims to apply for e-visas, book hotels and flights, and plan their itineraries, while Tawakkalna provides a broader platform for various online government services.

To bolster crowd management and pilgrim support, several digital tools are intended to address health, traffic, and navigation. For health and emergencies, the Seha app (App Store | Google Play) provides remote medical consultations, Asafny (App Store | Google Play) allows users to send distress calls with precise location tracking, and an IoT-enabled e-bracelet monitoring pilgrims’ health and location in real-time.

To facilitate navigation and manage congestion, the Al Maqsa app (App Store | Google Play) offers real-time maps and optimized walking routes, while the National Water Company’s Tarwiah app (App Store | Google Play) helps pilgrims locate holy sites and access Zamzam water with a user interface available in seven languages.

A VITAL MARKET-

The religious tourism market is our second-largest income source after oil, contributing USD 12 bn annually (20% of non-oil GDP and 7% of total GDP in 2024), according to AstroLabs. Religious tourism drove 55% of total tourist spending in 2023, amounting to SAR 77.4 bn, according to a Tourism Ministry whitepaper.

The Kingdom is targeting 37 mn hajj and umrah pilgrims annually by 2030, as part of a broader national goal of attracting 150 mn tourists to contribute 10% to GDP. As of last Tuesday, 1.4 mn pilgrims have landed in the Kingdom, with anticipation that the number would exceed last year’s 1.8 mn pilgrims, but it would likely remain below the pre-pandemic levels.

Collectively, the holy cities host over 75% of the nation’s hotels. Makkah alone has around 1.2k hotels with 450k rooms, while Madinah offers 75k rooms, according to AstroLabs.

More to come: Some 221k new hotel rooms will be added through 2030 in the holy cities, including major developments like Makkah’s Abraj Kudai, set to be the world’s largest hotel with 10k rooms, the Makkah Masar Destination adding 24k rooms, and the Rua Al Madinah project providing over 47k rooms.

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