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| Source: PRNewsfoto/Agoda. Agoda and Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Hajj and Umrah sign MoU to achieve Vision 2030 goal of 30 million pilgrims. The agreement was signed on 3 December, 2018 by HE Dr. Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten, the KSA minister of Hajj and Umrah (right) in the presence of Damien Pfirsch, VP Strategic Partnerships & Programs Agoda. |
Agoda, the online travel agents (OTA), and the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in KSA have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) supporting the KSA Vision 2030 goal to increase its capacity to over 30 million pilgrims by utilising Agoda's technology and travel expertise, marketing platform capabilities, intelligence tools and resources.
There is now a dedicated Agoda portal to access selected hotels that have been certified by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah for umrah visitors and pilgrim bookings. Pilgrims can easily find an array of accommodation options and securely book through the multilingual and multicurrency portal.
Under the MoU, the first to be signed by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah with a global OTA, the parties will explore how together they will redefine the future of travel for pilgrims from across the world to the kingdom, working in collaboration to help to build future services including guest flow and booking accommodation.
The MoU will leverage the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah's knowledge and understanding of the needs of pilgrims to the holy cities and Agoda's technology expertise, to enable the partners to explore ways to use technology to manage the anticipated increase in guests to KSA and make accommodation reservations more accessible, easier, faster and secure.
John Brown, CEO, Agoda, said: "With Agoda's expertise in accommodation and travel services, global distribution services, e-marketing and digital branding we want to be a key partner helping them to achieve their goals of accommodating 30 million umrah and Hajj guests to the kingdom."
According to Vision 2030, which was announced in 2016, the last decade has seen the number of umrah visitors and pilgrims entering the country from abroad treble. Pilgrimages play a significant role in KSA's tourism industry, with the government aiming to grow this sector to 15 million Hajj and umrah visitors annually by 2020, and 30 million by 2030.
Headquartered in Singapore, Agoda is part of Booking Holdings and employs more than 3,700 staff across 53 cities in more than 30 countries. Agoda.com and the Agoda mobile app are available in 38 languages.