+ A
A -
Malek Helali
Doha
IN the first few hours of the announcement of a blockade against Qatar, the authorities in Saudi Arabia had made it clear that Umrah pilgrimage would, however, remain unaffected. But, their assurance seems to be misleading as many Qatar citizens and residents are still unable to perform their religious duties in the holy city of Makkah during Ramadan.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune recently, Sales and Customer Service Manager of Labbaik Group for Hajj and Umrah, Amr Mohammad, said that 95 percent of their reservations for Umrah during the second half of the Holy Month of Ramadan were cancelled because of the ongoing blockade.
He explained that, although authorities in Saudi Arabia assured that Umrah trips will not be affected, no arrangements in this regard as promised have been really made since the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Doha was shut after the decision to impose the blockade, and the consul was not answering any phone calls from Umrah tour operators.
"Around 80 paid and approved visas were cancelled soon after the decision, and customers' passports were returned. Additionally, fully prepaid contracts and Umrah packages that were reserved even before Ramadan were cancelled costing our company nearly QR4 million on hotel reservations alone, apart from air tickets and transportation expenses," Mohammad added.
Mohammad confirmed that the company has been in contact with many other Umrah travel companies in Qatar who face similar situation as no company was able to get any visas for citizens or residents after the blockade.
He further said that people who obtained visas before the blockade were only able to enter Saudi Arabia by land. On the other hand, those who had visas and planned to travel by air were unable to do so as their plane tickets were cancelled. He also said that alternative flights were much more expensive and unrealistic as they required more than 12 hours of transit through Jordan, Kuwait or Lebanon.
"Basically, the situation has dealt a heavy blow to us with no income and large amounts to refund. We are currently operating only to receive cancellation requests from customers," Mohammad said.
The manager said that the company has contacted the Qatar Chamber of Commerce to arrange for compensations, and many lawyers offered their services to represent the company in any upcoming legal disputes should the situation remain unclear and no settlements are achieved to refund the customers.
"We understand the customers' concerns and frustration and we are trying our best to compensate them, but we are currently the biggest losers amidst this situation. Even residents who booked flights for Eid Al-Fitr to the UAE and Egypt are cancelling out of fear of not being able to return given the irresponsible statements by the governments of their countries," Mohammad concluded.
Moreover, many Qatari citizens took to social media to express their frustration for preventing them from practising their religious rights and duties because of the 'un-Islamic blockade'.
One such Qatari citizen was travelling for Umrah with his family. He has recorded a video explaining that the family changed their flights from Qatar Airways to Oman Air as directed by Saudi authorities only to find out that the Oman Air reportedly received orders not to board Qataris, according to an airline agent seen in the video.
The video went viral in the social media clearly showing the inconvenience people are facing even after the assurances given by Saudi authorities to pilgrims from Qatar travelling to perform Umrah in the Holy Month of Ramadan.
