Minimum price of private Hajj travel packages up by Tk 150,000

Privately-run Hajj travel agencies have set the minimum price for this year’s pilgrimage package at Tk 672,618 per person, nearly Tk 150,000 up from the previous year.

The decision was announced by M Shahadat Hossain Taslim, president of the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh, or HAAB, at a press conference in Dhaka on Thursday.

The rate did not include the cost of the animal sacrifice ritual. Each pilgrim will have to carry the money to pay for the qurbani themselves, he said.

The minimum price for last year’s pilgrimage package under the privately-run Hajj travel agencies was set at Tk 522,744 per person.

Under the HAAB package, air tickets will cost Tk 197,797, accommodation in Makkah and Madinah at Tk 204,444 and transport at Tk 35,162. Food and ‘service charge’ will cost Tk 160,630.

Registration for the Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia will begin on Feb 5. The pilgrims will have to collect passports with a validity date until Dec 27, 2023 by themselves, Taslim added.

On Wednesday, the government announced the Hajj packages for this year. The government’s package will cost Tk 683,018.

The government announced two separate package plans last year, package-1 was set at Tk 527,340 while package-2 was at Tk 462,150.

The price of private Hajj packages should be set between the government rates and the minimum private rate, according to the rules.

The Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia will begin around Jun 27, with the exact date subject to the appearance of the moon.

This year, 127,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh will be able to make the journey. Of them, 15,000 will be able to do so through a package trip offered by the government, while the rest will travel through private agencies.