With the advent of the peak Umrah season, the sale of gift items will increase by 200 percent over previous seasons and exceed SR2.8 billion, according to experts. More than two million pilgrims buy their basic needs and gifts in Madina markets, where they can find a variety of choices, Amir Sulaihim, Secretary General of the Madina Chamber of Commerce and Industry told Asharq Alawsat Arabic daily. About 17 percent of pilgrims' spending goes to buying souvenirs that remind them of their spiritual experience in Madina, Sulaihim said. The average family of pilgrims spends more than SR3,200, in Madina and other Saudi cities, he added. Madina, though, has special importance for pilgrims, who make sure to buy their gifts there, and they stay in the city for five to eight days, longer than their stay in other cities, Sulaihim said. “According to a study conducted by the Economics Research Center of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for the Haj Research, 17 percent of pilgrims' money goes into buying gifts,” he said. Pilgrims from Gulf countries spend about SR5,960 while those from Indonesia spend about SR1,180, according to the study. “Madina dates had the lion's share of pilgrims spending,” he said. “Pilgrims love to buy dates as gifts because dates have a religious significance.” Madina villages and towns have over three million palm trees covering 185,000 hectares. They produce over 117,000 tons and over 125 types of dates, the most famous of which are Al-Ajwa, Al-Ghabra, Al-Rothana and Sukariya, to name but a few. A study conducted by the Madina Chamber predicted that the revenue of malls, hotels, and residential complexes in Makkah and Madina will hit SR18 billion by 2015, with the Umrah laws in force. In light of the increasing number of malls, the Madina Chamber conducted a study by the Economic Information Center and found that there were six large malls with at least 100 stores, a 200-percent increase over the last five years. Abu Muhammad, a salesman at a central mall near the Prophet's Mosque, said business is picking up and that there has been a 200-percent increase over previous years. “Gifts pilgrims buy include dates, clothes, toys, watches, CDs, electric appliances, Saudi traditional costumes and Muslim rosaries,” he said. Abu Muhammad said Saudi companies should set up factories to manufacture gifts for pilgrims and Umrah performers, especially with the huge increase in the number of pilgrims every year. “What happens now is that most stores import gifts,” he said. “Some pilgrims check the origin of the gift before buying it. Some get surprised when they learn the gifts were manufactured abroad and some want to know if the gift is locally manufactured.”
