MAKKAH — The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah announced the suspension of existing contracts with 1,800 foreign travel agencies for committing violations. The punitive measures were taken against these agencies out of a total of 5,800 agencies operating in the Umrah sector. The ministry has granted these agencies a 10-day grace period to address deficiencies identified during the periodic evaluation, which revealed shortcomings in performance and service quality. The ministry sources noted that the suspension applies only to the issuance of new visas and is part of a regulatory approach designed to help agencies address classification issues and improve compliance with approved standards. Contracts will be reactivated once the requirements are met within the grace period. The ministry emphasized that pilgrims with valid visas or existing bookings will not be affected, and services will continue uninterrupted. Ministry Spokesperson Ghassan Alnwaimi stated that regulatory action will be taken against any agency that fails to correct its deficiencies by the specified deadline. He said the ministry will continue to apply monitoring and evaluation tools to strengthen the reliability of the Umrah sector and safeguard the rights of pilgrims.