JAKARTA - Vice President (Wapres) Ma'ruf Amin said the government will evaluate the total cost of hajj travel in 2023, reflecting on the costs incurred by the congregation this year.
"Indeed, currently due to the global crisis there is an increase in the cost of hajj, so the government must evaluate it for preparation for next year," he said after attending the 2022 Islamic Book Fair at the Jakarta Convention Center, quoted from Antara, Friday, August 5.
The Ministry of Religion and Commission VIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives agreed that the cost of hajj pilgrimage in 2022 was around Rp. 39.8 million per person, higher than the cost of hajj in 2018 to 2020 which averaged around Rp. 35 million per person.
Hajj travel costs include flight costs, visa processing fees, living costs, and accommodation costs while in the cities of Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia.
The Vice President stated that the implementation of the hajj pilgrimage this year was different from previous years.
"Of course it's a bit different, because this is the first time after two years," he said.
The government of Saudi Arabia has for two years implemented strict restrictions on the implementation of the pilgrimage to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
In 2020, Saudi Arabia will not accept pilgrims from other countries. The Saudi Arabian government in 2021 also only allows Saudi citizens and expatriates who have settled there to perform the pilgrimage.
The Indonesian government will not send pilgrims to the Holy Land in 2020 and 2021.
The Vice President stated that although overall the hajj service was going well, problems almost always existed in the process of departing to repatriating hajj pilgrims.
"There is always a problem in the hajj, that's for sure, taking care of hundreds of thousands of people in other countries, moving them from Indonesia...," he said.
"Difficulty will always be there, but much less, the casualties are also few, the hajj service is much better," he added.
He said that the government from year to year evaluates to improve the implementation of hajj services.
In the implementation of the Hajj pilgrimage in 2022, Indonesia will receive a quota of 100,051 people to the Holy Land, consisting of 92,825 regular pilgrims and 7,226 special pilgrims.
Indonesia's 2022 hajj quota is the highest compared to other countries, but only 46 percent of the hajj quota before the pandemic.
Currently, the implementation of the hajj pilgrimage has ended and the Indonesian hajj pilgrims have been gradually returned to the country.
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