18 million Umrah pilgrims welcomed from abroad

Before

The Hajj and Umrah have always been at the heart of Saudi Arabia's identity. But for years, the practical experience of pilgrimage — visa logistics, transport between holy sites, crowd management, accommodation, information — was a source of stress as much as spiritual focus. Pre-2019, the international Umrah process was paper-heavy and country-by-country.

Initiative

The Hajj & Umrah Program (a V2030 program) integrated visa, transport, accommodation, and information services into a single digital ecosystem anchored by the Nusuk platform (super-app, 12M+ downloads, 14 languages), Makkah Route (immigration cleared before departure for pilgrims from 7 partner countries), Haramain High-Speed Rail (Makkah ↔ Madinah in <45 min, +2M seats added in 2025), and AI-driven crowd-flow management with 2,000+ drones during Hajj 2025.

Outcome

In 2025, international Umrah arrivals reached 18.03 million — a record, surpassing the 15M annual target. Combined with Hajj (1.67M pilgrims in 2025), Saudi Arabia hosted nearly 20 million pilgrim journeys in a single year. Pilgrim satisfaction reached 94%. Makkah ranked 5th globally for international visitors; Madinah 7th in the Tourism Performance Index.

For citizens

Honoring the duty of serving the guests of God at scale — and at quality — is part of Saudi identity. Beyond identity, the religious tourism sector contributes about $12B annually (~7% of GDP and ~20% of non-oil economy) and supports hundreds of thousands of Saudi jobs in hospitality, transport, retail, and pilgrim services.