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Travel agencies CNA spoke to said they are monitoring developments closely, with trips still scheduled to proceed.<\/span><\/p>\n A group with Noor Mohamad Services & Travel left Singapore for Jeddah on a direct Saudia Airlines flight on Wednesday and arrived in Mecca on Thursday morning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Director Ustazah Juyda Noor Mohamad said the pilgrims had been communicating through a WhatsApp group ahead of their departure and were ready to proceed with the trip.<\/span><\/p>\n The agency said it took the MFA and MUIS advisories seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n “Our priority is the safety and well-being of our pilgrims, and our position is to encourage them to defer their journeys while security risks remain heightened,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n Another agency, Shahidah Travel, said all its Umrah departures remain on track, with no changes to its travel arrangements as of Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n The agency currently has a group in Mecca performing Umrah, with all its pilgrims in good condition.<\/span><\/p>\n It said it would continue to monitor flight schedules and coordinate with relevant parties, with any changes or disruptions communicated to affected pilgrims.<\/span><\/p>\n It has also registered its pilgrims through MFA’s eRegister portal to facilitate communication and coordination if necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n As part of its emergency preparations, an appointed staff member would also carry copies of pilgrims’ passports and passport-sized photographs.<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Travelconnect is reviewing upcoming departures with airlines and its ground operators in Saudi Arabia.<\/span><\/p>\n As of Wednesday, about 5 per cent of customers booked for year-end departures to Saudi Arabia had contacted the agency about either postponing or cancelling their trips, said its director Mohamed Nafis Rahman.<\/span><\/p>\n But some customers have also expressed a desire to proceed with their trips, he added.<\/span><\/p>\n “We understand their intentions but any decision to proceed must take into account the official advisories, flight availability and the safety of the ground arrangements,” said Mr Nafis.<\/span><\/p>\n For pilgrims already in Saudi Arabia, tour leaders and ground operators are maintaining close contact with them, checking on their welfare and monitoring their return flights, he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hamidah Travel & Tours told CNA on Wednesday that it planned to speak to its pilgrims following the advisory issued by MFA and MUIS.<\/span><\/p>\n The agency’s director, Badruzzaman Abdul Majid, said it would continue to monitor the situation. If flight cancellations affect its pilgrims, the agency would arrange alternative flights.<\/span><\/p>\n The company had a group of pilgrims in Madinah as of Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n While agencies are monitoring the security situation and keeping upcoming departures under review, pilgrims who decide not to travel face another consideration: how much of what they have paid can they get back?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n TRAVEL AGENCIES MONITORING DEVELOPMENTS Travel agencies CNA spoke to said they are monitoring developments closely, with trips still scheduled to proceed. A group with Noor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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