Haj travellers have ranked tour groups, which host pilgrims within the Oman camp higher than those operating outside of it, officials said.

The Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs has published an evaluation of Haj pilgrim services for last year’s Haj season, (1437 H). 

The evaluation included an assessment of companies/tour groups that pilgrims travelled and stayed with for 2016. The tour groups are split into three categories: companies outside the “Oman camp” at the Haj site, companies inside the “Oman camp,” which travelled by air, as well as companies inside the “Oman camp,” which travelled by road.

Saudi Arabia organises camp grounds by country for Haj. Therefore, companies from Oman would traditionally reserve an area within the “Oman camp” land, due to reduced costs.

“Companies from Oman, which operate outside the Oman camp, however, usually pay larger amounts for camp areas that are closer to the “Jamarat” pilgrim site, as well as offer VIP services, such as luxury bedding and catering,” a tour operator explained.

Evaluations were split into five criteria: Poor, Acceptable, Good, Very Good, and Excellent. 6,684 pilgrims were surveyed for the rankings.

The evaluation of firms inside the Oman camp, which travelled by air, outranked companies outside the Oman camp, as more than 80 per cent of surveyed Haj travellers ranked services as “very good” to “excellent.” Companies outside of the “Oman camp,” as well as companies inside the Oman camp travelling by road, both had a 75 per cent ranking of “very good” to “excellent.”

Haj travellers may have ranked companies inside the camp as higher than those outside, due to the change in price range for the two services.

While joining a non-Oman camp tour group costs between OMR2,500 and 3,700, joining an Oman camp organisation travelling by air costs OMR1,250 to 2,950, which is a significantly lower price range.

Similarly, Haj pilgrims travelling by road only paid OMR600 to 1,800 for their trip, and seemed to have the highest number of “excellent” reviews at 12 per cent, implying a better satisfaction for services.

Haj pilgrims joining companies outside the Oman camp also featured the highest score of dissatisfaction, at “acceptable” to “poor,” with 13.4 per cent of those surveyed. Meanwhile, only 4.35 per cent and 3.1 per cent of those who stayed inside the Oman camp and travelled by air or road, respectively, found their services dissatisfying.

Haj registration and contracting with tour groups has been progressing, as individuals must sign up with a group in order to travel to Haj. Last week, 850 additional applicants were notified of their eligibility for Haj, after Haj selections were revoked for those, who did not complete their registration procedures before the deadline.
Source: Timesofoman