More than 110,000 Egyptians will not be allowed to make the Umrah pilgrimage because of new age restrictions put in place by Egyptian authorities.   Egyptian Tourism Chamber Deputy Chairman Naser Turk said the decision to ban people younger than age 25 from travelling to Umrah denied more than 110,000 Egyptians from making the pilgrimage.  He said these applicants had already filled out their forms and received approval, before the ban was put in place.

Mr. Turk explained many thousands of people are likely affected by this ban which will reduce the number of Egyptian pilgrims by 35%.   Many families were forced to cancel their pilgrimage because a family member was either over age 65 or younger than 25.   The owner of one of the biggest tourism and travel companies in the Kingdom says the rules have caused confusion.  He said “To their disappointment, some pilgrims are coming to Cairo from distant places only to find out that they have been banned from entering the Kingdom.”