Saudi Arabia imposes $106 fee on domestic pilgrims

Riyadh, July 8 (IANS) The Saudi Haj Ministry has imposed a $106 fee on each domestic pilgrim to be paid by organisations and companies offering services for them, the media reported on Saturday.

The fee will be in the form of a bank guarantee of 30 per cent of the value of services provided by the ministry.

The fees should be paid before registering domestic pilgrims through the online portal for the upcoming pilgrimage season. The fees should be transferred to the ministry's account through local banks that are registered with the Saudi Monetary Agency, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ministry warned the organisations against hiking their prices in order to make the pilgrims to pay for the new fee, while ordering them to allocate all administration, reception and data processing jobs to Saudis.

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