SHAFAQNA-Starting next year, a Turkish cruise company will start umrah pilgrimage voyages from the historic city of Istanbul to Mecca. “We’re planning to start Umrah journeys via ship by 2023,” Ay Cruise CEO Cetin Ay told Anadolu Agency.
“With the Istanbul-Jeddah voyage, many people from the Muslim world will come to Istanbul and have the opportunity to go to Umrah by ship. They will be able to do both a cruise ship voyage and Umrah.” Saying that Turkey has a serious cruise ship tourism potential, Ay underlined they are taking a major step forward on this with the new Istanbul-Jeddah tours.
Spain boasts 6.5 million cruise ship passengers annually, he said, adding: “We’ve been developing this project for a year-and-a-half. In 2023, our Istanbul-Jeddah tours will start under halal (Muslim approved) tourism.” “During the Ottoman era, visits were made to the holy land by train. So this has been an unfulfilled desire for me,” he added.
Source: aa