Staff Reporter:
The Ministry of Religious Affairs is set to announce three government-arranged Hajj packages today for the next year’s (2026) pilgrims, with costs expected to be lower than this year due to reduced airfare, officials said.
They said the announcement will be made on Sunday (Sept 28) following an executive committee meet-ing at the Secretariat.
According to sources at the ministry, three packages will be offered under government management, compared to this year’s (2025) two.
As before, they said, private management will also have a single package set by the government, below which agencies will not be allowed to set their own packages.
The Hajj management executive committee, headed by the Religious Affairs Adviser and comprising top officials from various ministries, divisions and agencies, will meet on Sunday afternoon.
Officials at the ministry confirmed that the packages will be announced once they are approved.
This year, airfare for Hajj was Tk 1,67,820.
Despite extensive negotiations, the officials said, the final fare could not be settled.
Sources said discussions the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tour-ism on airfare between have been going on for several days through meetings. Both advisers have been present at the meetings, but those ended inconclusively.
The Religious Affairs Ministry insisted on fixing the airfare at USD 1,000 (Tk 1,22,000 excluding tax), while the aviation ministry proposed continuing with last year’s rate of Tk 1,67,820 until a further re-view could reduce the fare.
On Wednesday (Sept 24), Adviser for Civil Aviation and Tourism Sk Bashir Uddin held talks with Ad-viser for Religious Affairs AFM Khalid Hossain at the Secretariat.
Also present at the meeting were Religious Affairs Secretary AKM Aftab Hossain Pramanik, Hajj Agen-cies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) President Syed Golam Sarwar and General Secretary Farid Ahmed Mojumdar.
The meeting concluded with the Religious Affairs Ministry sticking to USD 1,100 (Tk 1,34,200 exclud-ing tax), while the Aviation Ministry proposed USD 1,200.
Aviation officials suggested they would review the matter further and announce whether the fare could be reduced, at which point the adjustment would be made for pilgrims.
Officials at the Religious Affairs Ministry have said that, based on current decisions, airfare for the next Hajj will range between Tk 1,55,000 and Tk 1,60,000, meaning a reduction of Tk 8,000 to Tk 10,000 compared to this year.
Adviser Khalid Hossain told , “There has been a discussion regarding airfare. Talks are going on with the National Board of Revenue on reducing duties and with Civil Aviation on fees. The packages will be announced on Sunday.”
Adviser Sk Bashir said, “We are trying to finalize the airfare. A figure has been set, but we do not want to disclose it yet. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has proposed USD 1,100—look, my efforts are end-less. We are trying to reduce it as much as possible. But if we announce a figure now and fail to main-tain it, that would not be good. We have given them a preliminary calculation, and we are trying to see if it can be improved further.”
This year, under government management, Package-1 cost Tk 4,78,242, while Package-2 cost Tk 5,75,680. In the private sector, the minimum cost was set at Tk 4,83,156, upon which agencies based their own packages.
Next year, one package will provide hotels 500 to 700 meters from the Haram Sharif, with upgraded facilities compared to this year’s Package-2, making it the most expensive option.
Another package will offer accommodation within two kilometers of the Haram Sharif—this year’s Package-1—which will cost slightly less than before. The third will cover more affordable accommoda-tion in the Aziziyah area, with the cost expected to be around Tk 4.5 lakh.
For private management, officials confirmed that costs will also be reduced compared to this year.
The ministry is also yet to decide whether food and Qurbani costs will be included in the packages or kept separate. A decision is expected on Saturday.
As per Saudi Arabia’s roadmap, arrangements for the 2026 Hajj must be completed earlier than in pre-vious years. Bangladesh’s quota remains 1,27,198 pilgrims, although it was not fully utilised in the past two Hajj seasons.
This year’s Hajj took place on 5 June. The government had announced the packages for that season on 30 October last year.
For next year, preliminary registration opened on 27 July, requiring a deposit of Tk 4 lakh. Final regis-tration must be completed by 12 October through payment of the full package cost.
As of Saturday morning, 954 people had registered under government management and 1,135 under private management. Officials said interest has remained low as packages and costs are yet to be an-nounced.
HAAB General Secretary Farid Ahmed Mojumdar said, “Registration is progressing slowly. We want the Hajj packages to be announced quickly. The delay is hampering registration. Once packages are an-nounced, we hope to see the pace increase. We also expect that, in the pilgrims’ interest, airfare will be set at a reasonable level.”
The Hajj in Saudi Arabia next year is expected to take place in the last week of May, subject to the sight-ing of the moon.
