Additional eight hotels in Madinah for Malaysian pilgrims

Tabung Haji (TH) has provided an additional eight hotels to accommodate Malaysian pilgrims here, following the additional quota given by the Saudi Arabian Government this year.

Its Madinah director for the 1438H Haj operations, Mohd Zawawi Bostam said this brought the number of hotels for Malaysian pilgrim accommodation to 11 this year.

"There are three and four-star hotels. The distance of the 11 hotels to the Nabawi Mosque is between 50 and 300 metres," he told a press conference at the Madinah Haj operations centre today.

He said the hotels were divided into three zones as compared to two last year, with various services provided such as counselling, pilgrims services office and money withdrawal counters.

There are 600 TH staff from various sectors to serve the pilgrims, of which 205 will be in Madinah and the rest in Makkah.

Mohd Zawawi said the operations office was officially opened today to serve 50 per cent of 30,200 Malaysian pilgrims who would be arriving in Madinah for the first phase, while the rest would be here after the pilgrimage.

Meanwhile, he advised the pilgrims to follow the TH staff's instruction to ensure everything went smoothly throughout their stay in Madinah and Makkah.

"I advise the pilgrims to keep their documents such as passport and health record books in their sling bag," he said, adding that TH was ready to receive the gradual arrival of Malaysian pilgrims in Madinah, beginning July 24.

-- BERNAMA