MUSCAT – Sultan bin Said Al Hinai, Director General of Administrative and Financial Affairs at the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs – Head of the Omani Hajj Mission for the year 1444 AH, held a media conference today to explain the mechanism for managing the Hajj electronically and for selecting members of the delegations of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, as well as to provide details of the service package in the Mina and Arafat camps.

Of the total share of 14,000 pilgrims from Oman, 13,500 were for Omanis, 250 for Arab residents, and 250 for non-Arab residents. The head of Oman’s Hajj mission explained that the total constitutes 86.9 percent of obligatory pilgrims, 1.8 percent of the pilgrims carrying out a will on behalf of a deceased person, 1.8 percent of pilgrims on behalf of the incapacitated – 9.5 percent of the voluntary pilgrims are female relatives or companions; women constituted 49.3 percent of the total pilgrims, compared to 50.7 percent of men.

The top age group for Hajj for the year 1444 AH is 30-45 years with a rate of 43 percent, followed by 46-60 years with a rate of 35.1 percent, over 60 years with a rate of 16.6 percent and the 18-30 years group with a rate of 5.3 percent. With regard to the average cost of Hajj, he stated that the cost of the route by air amounted to OMR 2054, compared to OMR 2221 last year, showing a decrease of 7.5 percent. The contracts of pilgrims with Hajj companies amounted to OMR 24,191,480.