Ways to Book Umrah Packages at an Affordable Cost

by Safeena Rahman Travel Addict

An Islamic pilgrimage undertaken by millions of Muslims from different corners of the world every year, Umrah is also referred to as 'lesser pilgrimage' by many. The major pilgrimage in Islam is Hajj, which is among the five pillars of the religion and an obligation for all physically and financially capable Muslims. While the major pilgrimage is performed in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, the lesser pilgrimage can be performed at any time of the year and is usually accomplished within a few hours. Umrah is held in high regard by Muslims all over the world as it is Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) Sunnah.

More than two decades ago, the Muslims living in countries far from Saudi Arabia had to depend on a travel agent near their homes to get the journey to Makkah arranged. Often, the overall cost of the journey went beyond their budgets and they were forced to put off their plans of performing the lesser pilgrimage. However, things have changed today with so many tour operators or travel companies that have come up over the past few years at several places. The Umrah packages that they provide have significantly reduced the cost of travel to Makkah.

Today, almost all these tour operators or travel companies have their websites where they have all their packages listed. These websites have also been made mobile-friendly to help Muslims browse through the available packages using their smartphones and book their chosen packages. Upon booking the package of their choice several months in advance, the prospective pilgrims can get a considerable amount of discount. Before choosing a package, they have to be certain about their date of departure and the number of days that they wish to spend in the holy city of Makkah. Once they decide their dates well in advance, they can go ahead and book their preferred package months earlier.

One of the other ways that can get a low-cost package for Muslims intending to perform their Umrah is searching for a package on the popular search engines. Upon searching online on these sites, they would get plenty of options in packages as well as the tour operators providing them. Once they have selected a few of these packages, they can make comparisons between them and choose the one that suits their budget the most. The next step is to see whether the tour operator offering the package has been authorised by the Hajj Ministry of Saudi Arabia. It must also be seen whether the tour operator has a good track record of customer satisfaction. This can be done by going through the feedbacks of past customers on reliable review sites.

Signing up for alerts on the websites of these tour operators is also a great way to get affordable packages for the lesser pilgrimage. Once the Muslims register on these sites, they would receive emails or text messages about the latest deals and special offers that are released by the tour operator from time to time. It would be quite irritating for them to keep deleting all those unwanted promotional emails, but once in a while, they would surely come across an attractive offer.