How many people are performing hajj 2010

Many took buses but some had already set off on foot overnight as they headed to the vast plain of Mina, a small village about five kilometres three miles east of Mecca that comes to life for just five days a year.

Authorities say permits have been granted to 1. This year has seen a crackdown on pilgrims who do not have the requisite papers as authorities attempt to prevent numbers getting out of hand. A driver caught transporting unauthorised pilgrims faces a fine of 10, riyals 2, dollars for each individual. Vehicles with a capacity below 25 passengers have also been banned from entering hajj sites to streamline the flow of buses transporting pilgrims.

The passage to Mina marks the official launch of the hajj on the eighth day of the Muslim calendar month of Dhul Hijja. The day is known as Tarwiah Watering as pilgrims in the past stopped at Mina to water their animals and stock up for the following day's trip to Mount Arafat.

At Mount Arafat, some 10 kilometres six miles southeast of Mina, the pilgrims spend the day in prayer and reflection. Business reports conclude that Saudi tourism, especially the religious variety, is recession proof. Business Monitor International forecasts there will be , rooms, up from , in in Saudi Arabia. The country's strengths, it adds, are its "strong and growing" religious tourism industry and, with some understatement perhaps, "the financial resources" for infrastructure investments.

King AbdulAziz International airport in Jeddah will also expand its capacity, from 30 million travellers by to 80 million when finished. The latest efforts to improve the pilgrimage experience is the al-Mashaaer al-Mugaddassah metro, which will carry people between Muzdalifah, Mina and Mount Arafat, important locations for pilgrimage rituals. At its peak it will transport 72, passengers and go some way to relieving the interminable congestion and frayed nerves experienced every year.

The view from al-Bait reveals the physical impact of this soaring ambition. All around the Grand Mosque and the Ka'bah, which are overshadowed by cranes and skyscrapers, construction continues at a frenzied pace.

Mountains have been razed to make way for towers— a pile 'em high and sell 'em high approach to hospitality — and homes demolished. The mountains of Mecca — Omar, Kaabah, Khandama — will no longer exist. The Shamiya district has all but disappeared. From the terrace of al-Bait to street level there is a stench of machine oil and cement that mingles with the more familiar odours of hajj — sweat, hardship and flipflops.

As many towers as possible are being built, says Helal. The Mecca opportunity is growing. Show source. Show detailed source information?

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