High demand for religious tourists during Ramadan causes prices to rise in Saudi Arabia

Many people do the Umrah pilgrimage during Ramadan, and travel companies and tour operators are taking advantage of the holiday rush. Prices and demand for flights from Riyadh to Jeddah are both going up.

A manager at a travel company in Riyadh named Mohammad Aslam Jameel said, “There was an offer on Saudi Founding Day, so some people got cheaper tickets. But when Ramadan started, tickets went up.” It will cost between SR1,700 ($453) and SR2,000 for a round-trip ticket to Jeddah right now.

He also said that passes for odd times are cheaper, but they will still cost about SR1,500 to SR2,000 during Qiyam, the last 10 days of Ramadan. As of recently, Mohammed Iqbal, who recently made an Umrah pilgrimage, told Arab News that the price of the bus tour package has almost doubled to SR200 per person in Riyadh.

“There was a giant crowd because it was Ramadan, and most people wanted to spend the month in Makkah and Madinah, which are holy cities,” he said. A worker at the city’s Al-Fajr trip company also said that the higher prices were because demand was so high.
Even foreign flight prices have gone up near Eid Al-Fitr because so many people who live abroad want to go home.

Asif Ahmed, an Indian who works in Riyadh and is going home with his family for Eid, told Arab News, “When I checked with the tour operator two months ago, the price for the same time for a round trip was about SR2,000.” Ticket costs for the round trip have now gone up to SR4,000.

Syed Faiz Ahmad, a Pakistani living in Saudi Arabia and working in Yanbu, told Arab News, “I’ve been here for 28 years.” When I was younger, it wasn’t too expensive to fly to my home country during Eid. But as the years have gone by, all the companies have started to raise the prices far too much to deal with the holiday crowds. This has made it pricier to go home for the holidays, especially with family.

The religious tourism industry in Saudi Arabia is growing rapidly. Travel demand is expected to rise sharply in 2024 and 2025. Skyscanner, a website for planning travel, found that people around the world are becoming more interested in pilgrimage travel.
Travel records from the beginning of 2025 already show that demand is high, so the trend of more religious tourists is likely to continue.

In January 2025, there were 21% more searches for flights to Saudi Arabia than in the same month the previous year. The most popular month to travel was March 2025, which was also the start of Ramadan. In 2024, there were also big jumps during Ramadan (March–April) and Hajj (June).

There are 54% more looks for flights to Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport every year than there were last year, showing that Madinah has become a popular place for pilgrims to visit. Religious tourism is still an important part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan and a key part of the Kingdom’s economic change. The Kingdom is investing a significant amount of money to enhance infrastructure, expand flight routes, and enhance the pilgrim experience.

The Haramain High-Speed Railway and the Makkah Route Initiative for Hajj travelers are two important projects that help with these goals. As prices were going up, the railway gave discounts on two-way travel between Makkah and Madinah for the first 20 days of Ramadan.

The Saudi Press Agency reported that the railway has added 130 more trips a day between Makkah and Madinah for the last 10 days of Ramadan to handle the large number of people performing Umrah during Qiyam Al-Layl.
With a speed of 300 km/h, the Haramain High-Speed Railway is one of the fastest railroads in the world. It also added two terminals and raised the number of station gates from eight to twenty-four.