Tabung Haji To Introduce City Check-In For Returning Pilgrims

MADINAH | Tabung Haji (TH) will introduce a City Check-In System in Madinah to facilitate Malaysian pilgrims returning home after performing the haj. Madinah haj operations director Mohd Zawawi Bostam said with the pilot project starting this year, the pilgrims need not check-in their baggage at the airport. Tabung Haji To Introduce City Check-In For Returning Pilgrims

"This system will be introduced to pilgrims returning  home from Madinah and if it is found to be effective, it will be introduced for pilgrims returning home from Makkah.

"The City Check-in System offers check-in of pilgrims and baggage at the door of the hostel room. They no longer have to wait to check-in their baggage at the airport," he told reporters here today.

Mohd Zawawi, who is also the Malaysian Vice-Consul in Jeddah (Haj Management) said TH has also installed scanners at the entrance of hotels in Madinah where Malaysian pilgrims are staying. A total of 22,320 pilgrims on 65 flights from Malaysia will perform the haj in the Muslim holy land this year, a decline of 20 percent from the previous year. This followed the quota reduction worldwide imposed by the Saudi Arabian government due to the upgrading project of Masjidil Haram (Grand Mosque) in Makkah.

He said the first batch of 1,600 pilgrims were scheduled to arrive in Madinah on September 7 and would travel to Makkah on September 15. TH has set up two zones to serve Malaysian pilgrims in Madinah. Zone 1 operates from Al Haram Hotel while Zone 2 operates from Anwar Movenpick Hotel. Each zone provides a wide range of services including the withdrawal of money, health clinics, counseling, baggage and guide.

©NST