 |
| Lavish
facilities are provided to the super-rich pilgrims in luxury
tents in Mina.
(Arab News photo)
|
MINA, Jan 9 — From the inside, it looks like a modern, luxury
apartment in Manhattan, complete with Swedish furniture and indoor
plumbing. From the outside, it is just another tent in a Hajj camp
in the middle of the holy site of Mina, Saudi Arabia.
Five-star service is what the pilgrim who has rented this
ornamental tent is going to receive when he and his entourage arrive
at the Adwaia Al-Iman pilgrims’ camp.
It is not common to see such a tent next to those of the
commoners in Mina or in any other holy site during the Hajj season.
But, nowadays, some companies are betting there are wealthy pilgrims
eager to shell out prices far greater than those of any luxury
executive suite on Park Avenue.
Tariq Saeed Hussein, the owner of the company that operates the
service, told Arab News that this luxurious tent was constructed for
a VIP pilgrim who wanted a special and comfortable place during his
Hajj journey.
The interior designing, partitioning and construction of the
company’s showcase tent took three days. The process included
building an internal restroom and setting high ceilings.
“It is more like building a small room than setting a tent, since
providing the internal bathrooms requires heavy plumbing jobs,” said
Khalifa Kamil, the senior coordinator at the luxury camp near Mina’s
Al-Jisr Hospital.
The tent is divided into two main sections. The first section has
three lavish bedrooms, a large living room and two bathrooms (one is
in the master bedroom). The other section is smaller and it has one
bedroom, one bathroom and a medium living room.
Even by the standards of the rich pilgrims that seek out
Hussein’s services, this tent is an extreme example.
“The charge for providing this tent is SR800,000 ($213,000) for
five days only,” said Hussein. “But this charge also includes
five-star transportation and meals.”
That amounts to SR160,000 ($42,000) per day, compared to the
highest price for a plebeian’s tent of SR3,000 ($800), which also
includes meals and transportation.
Hussein says that the cost reflects the difficulties of
establishing an urban haven in the middle of the harsh desert
environment around Mina.
His company offers other, more affordable plans, including the
reservation of an entire tent for one pilgrim. The cost of reserving
an entire 16-square-meter tent at this camp is between SR15,000 and
SR20,000 (between $4,000 and $5,300).
“The government charges us by the square meter of leased land in
Mina, and we have to utilize every meter within our authorized
territory,” he said. “The guest must bear the cost of phasing out
other people from the tent.”
“This will give the guests a feeling that they are staying in an
urban area,” said Kamil. “Many companies are now specializing in
five-star services for upper class and VIP pilgrims, and many others
are heading in this direction.”
Based on his experience in managing Hajj tours, Kamil said that
combining regular and extravagant services will become the next
trend in the industry, and it is in the benefit of most regular
camps to offer it in an attempt to upgrade their service and
diversify their client base. (Source: Arab News)
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