Mecca, a city in Saudi Arabia is preparing for the largest influx of hajj pilgrims since tough regulations were implemented following the coronavirus pandemic.
Two years of drastic restrictions on the number of pilgrims who could perform the hajj emptied shops and hotels across the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca.
But business owners are hoping for a quick recovery as hundreds of thousands of worshippers flock to the region this week.
“We had few customers (during the last two hajj seasons), but today business is back, thanks to God. It’s the same as before, and even better,” 30-year-old Mekhlafi told AFP.
One million people, including 850,000 from abroad, will be allowed at this year’s hajj, one of five pillars of Islam which all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once in their lives.
In 2019, about 2.5 million people took part in the rituals, which include circling the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, gathering at Mount Arafat and “stoning the devil” in Mina.
The following year, after the pandemic took hold, foreigners were barred and the total number of worshippers was capped at 10,000 to stop the hajj from turning into a global super-spreader.
That figure rose to 60,000 fully vaccinated Saudi citizens and residents in 2021.
