SR12bn Umrah shopping bonanza: Call to focus on local products
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ARAB NEWS
Published — Monday 20 July 2015
Last update 20 July 2015 2:26 am
JEDDAH: Economists have called for more home-manufactured goods to boost the economy and lessen the dependence on oil, as Umrah pilgrims spent about SR12 billion in the last nine months in the Kingdom.
Most products bought by the pilgrims are foreign made and that there is an urgent need to set up small-scale and large-scale industries in Saudi Arabia, which will also generate employment for nationals, the experts were quoted by local media as saying.
The Foreign Ministry said 5.8 million Umrajh pilgrims visited the Kingdom in nine months.
Abdulaziz Al-Daghstani, an economist, said the “early grouping” program led to an increase in the number of pilgrims and ensured there was no logjam during Ramadan. This increase in the number of pilgrims resulted in healthy business, he said.
The volume of expenditure of each pilgrim in terms of buying presents is at least between SR1,500 and SR2,000, Al-Daghstani said, adding that these are not high in the light of increasing prices.
Economic Society member Essam Khalifa said the pilgrims concentrate on buying clothes, prayer mats, prayer beads and gold.
“There is a need to hold a conference to discuss how Saudis can benefit further from the Umrah returns. Factories must be established in Saudi Arabia to produce goods as most of those sold here are imported.”
Another economist, Abdullah Al Maghlouth, said it is necessary to focus on holding national exhibitions during the Umrah and Haj seasons to introduce people to national industry. He said that this direction conforms to the state's plans to verify the production base and lessen dependence on oil
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