The interest of Indonesian the 4th most populous country in the world and also the largest muslim citizen in the world to fulfill their religious obligations Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, is powerful. Even though Islam is decisive that the obligation to perform Hajj is only for those who do can shoulder the burden of travel expenses as well as nothing else hinder the fulfillments of these obligations, but many people Indonesian Islam — which has not really been able to — “impose” itself collect the expenses of the pilgrimage by selling goods or owe.
In Islamic terminology, Hajj is a pilgrimage made to the Kaaba, the “House of God”, in the sacred city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat and Sawm. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God (Allah). The word Hajj means “to attend a journey”, which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions.
There is an impression that Indonesians place more importance on the Hajj than many other nations, and that appreciates society against the pilgrims it is higher. This situation may be associated with traditional Indonesian culture. This annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime.
Globally during 2019 there’s 2,489,406 attendance come in 2019 and in 2020 it drop significantly due to COVID-19 to 10,000 attendance only. Hajj pilgrimage counted as the largest human religious gathering in the world. As Hajj approaches, the millions of pilgrims descending on Makkah will test the city’s ability to cope to the absolute limit. Restaurants, accommodation providers and travel companies, every business will operate at its optimum. Everyone who have done Hajj knows that there’s a lot of offer and packages involve to Hajj.
The Hajj industry is probably one of Saudi Arabia’s most valuable treasures due to the money it generates for Makkah and Madinah, and the wider Hajj logistical train
Not only to Saudi Arabia, even to Indonesian most travel agency that offer not only Hajj but Umrah have shows that there’s a 4% to 10% margin (Umrah only) and By 2017 alone there’s 12,9 Trillion Rupiah fund allocated to Hajj by Indonesian, with most fund were spent on accommodation, and land transportation cost at Saudi Arabia, that seems to fluctuate YoY but show general increase.
That being said there’s effort in innovating and solving the problem in the industry, among those Wadi Makkah owned by Umm Al Qura University founded in 2004, is an accelerator/incubator investment firm based in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Has invest in startup such as Lucidya and Dentacarts They have shown support to Hajj focus industry such as UmrahPro booking.com for accommodation for the period of Hajj and Umrah.
