A large number of people wish to travel to Saudi Arabia since the kingdom has lifted travel restrictions on passengers from Pakistan.
In this regard, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has issued new guidelines. According to them, foreign Umrah pilgrims inoculated with any of Saudi-approved vaccines, i.e., Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca, will not be required to serve institutional quarantine.
This only applies to Umrah pilgrims, if you are visiting Saudi Arabia for other purposes you will be quarantined.
Quarantine Requirement in Saudi Arabia
Passengers traveling from Pakistan or any other country, not on Saudi Arabia’s travel restriction list, will have to serve a three to five-day mandatory quarantine on arrival, which must be booked in advance.
The authority said that passengers who received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine outside Saudi Arabia will have to quarantine in designated hotels for five days, while those who got at least one dose in Saudi Arabia will spend three days in quarantine.
Arrival Procedure
In a Twitter post, the GACA has stressed the implementation of the following arrival procedures:
- Presenting a valid PCR certificate 72 hours before the flight.
- Registration on the Qdoom platform.
- The application of the institutional quarantine procedures for a period of (5) days, regardless of the immunization status outside the Kingdom.
- The adherence to taking a medical swab on the first and fifth days of the institutional quarantine.
Starting from today, 1/12/2021.
The decision to allow direct entry into the Kingdom go into effect from the following (6) countries: (The Republic of Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Egypt, and India.
— هيئة الطيران المدني (@ksagaca) November 30, 2021
Quarantine Packages for Saudi Arabia
Hotel quarantine packages are different in different cities of the kingdom, and passengers can book packages by providing the PNR number of the air ticket. Different airlines have introduced services to book quarantine packages on their websites for the convenience of passengers.
Airlines have created a separate portal on its website, through which passengers can select three, four, and five-star hotels for quarantine after providing the name of the city and the date of arrival.
Saudi Airlines
Saudi Airlines has announced quarantine packages for various hotels in Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, and Dammam.
The quarantine facility in Riyadh is available at 2,920 Saudi Riyals (SAR) for three-star hotels, SAR 4,965 for four-star, SAR 6,880 for five-star (Hilton Hotel), and SAR 7,744 for five-star (Lemeridian Hotel).
In Jeddah, the rates are SAR 2,425 for a three-star hotel, SAR 3,010 for a four-star, SAR 4,375 for a five-star (Casablanca Grand Hotel), and SAR 8,608 for a five-star (Jeddah Hilton hotel).
A three-star hotel in Dammam is available at SAR 3,100, and a room in a four-star (Star Hotel) can be booked at SAR 3,424. Medina has the rates of SAR 2,443 for a three-star hotel, SAR 2,460 for a four-star and SAR 3,352 for a five-star hotel.
The packages offer five nights’ stay, two COVID probes per person, three meals, and a trip from the airport to the hotel, and a room for five nights.
Flynas
Flynas, formerly known as Nas Air, is offering quite economic quarantine hotel packages, which include a five-night hotel stay, a full-board meal plan, one-way airport transportation, and two PCR tests.
A three-star hotel quarantine package in Riyadh starts from SAR 2,435, four-star hotel packages start from SAR 2,870, and five-star from SAR 3,780.
In Jeddah, the three-star hotels for institutional quarantine are available from SAR 1,730, four-star hotels from SAR 2,460, and five-star from SAR 3,705.
Dammam has the rates of SAR 2,195 for a three-star hotel and SAR 3,630 for four-star hotels.
PIA
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) offers a three-star hotel quarantine package in Jeddah and Dammam at 1825 Saudi Riyals and a five-star hotel package at SAR 3050 for five days.
Similarly, the three-star hotel quarantine package in Medina is available at 2225 Saudi riyals, while the four-star hotel quarantine package is available at 3125 Saudi riyals.
A quarantine package of SAR 1650 is also available in Riyadh.
All of these packages include one-way transport from the airport to the hotel, accommodation, three meals a day, and two PCR tests for coronavirus. The first COVID PCR test will be taken upon arrival, while the second will be taken five days after the completion of quarantine.
