Foreign Umrah visits drop 11.6% in early 2026
Umrah pilgrims statistics from GASTAT: 15.2 million people performed Umrah in Q1 2026, flat on a year earlier, but arrivals from abroad fell 11.6%.
Saudi Arabia counted about 15.2 million Umrah performers in the first quarter of 2026, almost exactly the same as a year earlier. The flat total hides a fall in the part hotels live on: pilgrims arriving from abroad were down 11.6%.
Key figures
| Figure | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Umrah performers | 15,233,767 | Q1 2026 | GASTAT bulletin |
| From abroad | 5,769,271 | Q1 2026 | GASTAT tables |
| From abroad, year on year | -11.6% (from 6,523,630) | Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025 | GASTAT Q1 2025 |
| From abroad, full year | 17,952,470 | 2025 | GASTAT Q3 2025 |
| Makkah hotel occupancy | 56.5% (Madinah 76.3%) | H1 2025 | Ministry of Tourism |
Two different counts added together
The headline adds pilgrims from abroad, counted from administrative records, to residents of the Kingdom, who are estimated from a household survey. Residents make up 62.1% of the total. GASTAT does not print a year-on-year comparison, so the drop below is our own arithmetic on its files.
Set the two quarters side by side and the total barely moves. 754,359 fewer people came from abroad, and the survey found roughly the same number of extra residents. For a hotel in Makkah or Madinah, only the first line pays for rooms.
Madinah fell harder. Foreign visitors to the city dropped 15.2%, to 3,741,460, which suggests fewer foreign pilgrims added Madinah to their trip.
Growth was already slowing
The foreign line is the only one comparable across years. It rose 24.0% in 2024 and then 6.8% in 2025, to 17.95 million, before the first quarter of 2026 printed a fall.
Don't multiply one quarter by four. Q1 2025 was 2.76 times Q2 2025, because Ramadan fell in that first quarter. The lunar calendar also moves Ramadan about eleven days earlier each year, so the peak shifts inside the quarter.
Why Makkah hotels sat half empty
Q1 2025 also saw about 15.2 million Umrah performers, the same as Q1 2026. Yet across the first half of 2025, Makkah hotels ran at 56.5% occupancy. That was below the national 58.5% and well below Madinah at 76.3%.
Most of the headline is residents, and 43.0% of them live in Makkah region itself. In the last stay data GASTAT published, for 2019, 64.8% of domestic performers stayed one day, while 48.0% of foreign pilgrims stayed two weeks (GASTAT 2019 bulletin). Most residents come for the day and do not book a room. Stock and rates are on the Makkah hotel market and Saudi hotel occupancy pages.
Read the data with care
GASTAT revised Q2 2025 without a note, adding 80,698 foreign performers (+6.1%) months after first release (original, revised). It has never published foreign pilgrims by nationality, and the 2026 tables on who travelled with family or friends contradict each other.
What to watch
The Vision 2030 goal is 30 million pilgrims from abroad by 2030 (Pilgrim Experience Program), and 2025 already passed the 15 million milestone. A multiple-entry Umrah visa launched on 20 July 2026 (SPA) is not yet in any published figure.
Q2 2026 data should arrive between mid-November and early December 2026. It will tell hotel investors whether the foreign fall was Ramadan timing or a trend. Ask for the quarterly Umrah series with revisions marked.
Sources
- GASTAT, Umrah Statistics Q1 2026 bulletin: link
- GASTAT, Umrah Statistics for Q1 2026 tables: link
- GASTAT, Q1 2025 Umrah release: link
- GASTAT, Q2 2025 release as first published, 20 November 2025: link
- GASTAT, Q2 2025 as republished August 2026: link
- GASTAT, Q3 2025 Umrah statistics: link
- GASTAT, Umrah Statistics Bulletin 2019 (length of stay, archived): link
- GASTAT, Methodology and Quality Report for Umrah Statistics, V-4.1: link
- Ministry of Tourism, Hospitality Sector Performance H1 2025: link
- Pilgrim Experience Program, About: link
- Saudi Press Agency, multiple-entry Umrah visa, 20 July 2026: link