Short answer. For an Umrah agency in Algeria in 2027, the piece that matters most is not the website presenting the offers, it is the pilgrim file and instalment payments. One file per person, with the documents, the signed contract, visa and flight status, room sharing and group; one instalment entered at each payment, in cash, by CIB or Edahabia card, or in euros from France, with a numbered receipt sent by SMS and a visible balance. Around it: a space where the pilgrim and their family see the file and the programme, a guide app that works without a connection in Mecca, and a roll call at boarding, at the hotel and on the return flight.
This guide is written for agencies licensed for Umrah, organisers working with partner agencies, agencies licensed for Hajj, and the diaspora founder who wants to pay for their parents’ Umrah from France. It does not cover licensing rules, which belong to the Office, nor Saudi visa formalities, which change from one season to the next; it covers what the agency must hold, every day, so that its pilgrims leave and return without a hitch. It extends what we describe for Saharan tour agencies and for travel agency software.
What the season 1448 figures say
According to Algérie360, reporting the National Office for Hajj and Umrah’s review on 17 October 2026, 768 agencies applied for season 1448 (2026-2027), including 69 that had never organised an Umrah; the Office examined 598 files, shortlisted 490 and rejected 108. The previous season’s final list, published in December 2025, had 602 agencies, and the Office announced 552 for 2025. The Office has not published a pilgrim count for the season, so we do not quote one.
The framework has tightened. The rules announced in May 2025 for the 2026 season, reported by Algérie360, require agencies to have a travel contract signed with each pilgrim, available on an official platform before departure, guides certified by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, declaration of programmes and their costs, at most five subcontracting contracts per licensed agency, monthly and annual reports, and the obligation to ensure pilgrims leave Saudi territory at the end of the programme. For Umrah 2026 the Office set 3 April 2026 as the last day of entry and 18 April as the last day of exit. Sanctions go as far as licence withdrawal and a two-year ban.
On scams, the Office warned in October 2026 against fake pages, fake calls requesting electronic payment, and impersonation: in late September 2026, Blida police arrested three people posing as a licensed agency. For Hajj 2026, 41,300 Algerian pilgrims left on 144 flights from twelve airports, registered and paid on the Bawabet El Hadj platform by CIB or Edahabia card. The sector has therefore already moved to digital files and traced payment on the State’s side; this guide describes how an agency does the same on its own side.
A pilgrimage that holds, in six moments
The system has to hold each of these six moments. The first three happen at the agency; the next three, at a distance.
The request records the period, the hotel, its distance to the Haram and a written price, because those four points are where disputes are born. The file gathers the passport, photos, vaccines, the mahram where relevant, and the signed contract the regulations require before departure. Payment is made in instalments, each entered with its method, its numbered receipt and the remaining balance.
Visa and flight have a status per pilgrim, with missing documents and alerts before the entry and exit deadlines. On site, the pilgrim has the programme, the guide’s number and the hotel card in their pocket, even without a connection. The return, finally, ticks each pilgrim onto the flight, confirms exit from the territory, collects a review and offers the next departure, often the following Ramadan.
«An Umrah agency lives on complete files on time and balances collected in full; everything else plugs into that.»
What to build: files and payments first
The temptation is to start with a website presenting the offers and a contact form. It is useful, but an agency lives on complete files and collected balances.
Files and groups are the backbone: one file per pilgrim, one group per departure, the room sharing and flight lists that follow from them, and a board that shows at a glance who is complete, who is waiting for a document, who has a visa. Instalment payments follow the logic we set out for a retailer’s till: each instalment is entered with its method, cash counted at the counter, CIB or Edahabia card, transfer, or euros from France; the receipt goes by SMS, the balance is visible to the pilgrim, and reminders are automatic before each due date.
Contracts and declarations produce, from the file, the signed contract, the lists to declare and the monthly reports, instead of retyping them. The guide app, offline, carries the day’s programme, meeting points, the hotel card in Arabic and an emergency button. Roll call happens at boarding, on the bus, at the hotel and on the return flight: that is what makes it possible to confirm exit and inform a family. Passports and health data are protected under law 18-07 and restricted to authorised staff.
What hand-kept follow-up costs
An example on assumptions, to redo with your figures: an agency sending 600 pilgrims a season, in fifteen departures of forty.
Eight contacts per pilgrim, missing document, instalment due, flight date, meeting time, hotel, return, at five minutes each: 400 hours of phone and WhatsApp over the season, two full-time people for the three busiest months. When the pilgrim sees their file, receipts and programme on their phone, and reminders go out on their own, about two contacts remain: 100 hours, and 300 hours given back to sales and to looking after groups. We know of no public measurement of this time in Algerian agencies; these figures are assumptions to show the order of magnitude.
The other cost is financial and shows in balances: an instalment paid in cash and noted in a notebook gets disputed, lost or forgotten. Over 600 files, a few incomplete balances at departure are enough to wipe out the margin on several pilgrims. The check is simple: on your last departure, count the calls received in the week before the flight and the balances settled at the counter on the day.
«Four hundred hours of phone a season is two people not selling for three months.»
Six risks, six counters
The risks of an Umrah season are well known; the Office repeats them every year. The system answers each one.
The impersonated agency is the risk that hits pilgrims first, but it lands on the agency: a fake page carrying its name, a fake call asking for a deposit. An official pilgrim space, numbered receipts and the licence displayed on every document make the difference between the agency and its imitation. Cash without a receipt is the most frequent risk inside the agency; the counter is immediate entry of each instalment and a receipt that goes by SMS before the pilgrim has left the counter.
A late visa or flight is usually discovered the day before departure; a status per pilgrim and alerts before the deadlines reveal it weeks earlier. A hotel not as contracted is the costliest dispute in reputation; the name, category and distance to the Haram written in the contract, with photos on file, close the discussion. The lost pilgrim and the overstay are the two risks that play out on site: an offline app with the hotel card and the guide’s number, then a return list ticked at the flight, with the family informed, cover them.
The Umrah paid from France
Paying for their parents’ Umrah is one of the most common gestures of the diaspora. The need is precise: choose a licensed agency and a date from France, pay in euros, and follow elderly parents’ departure and return without calling them ten times a day.
The mechanism matches the one we describe for the Booking of Algeria: a euro card payment credited to a specific person’s file, a receipt for the payer, a confirmation for the traveller, then a family space showing the flight, the hotel and the roll call on return. Receiving foreign currency is settled with the agency’s bank before opening this service. For an agency, it is a clientele that books early, pays in full and returns; for a diaspora founder, it is a natural way into the market, provided they work with agencies on the Office’s list. We detail this way of launching a project from France in the four-trip calendar.
Which model to build
Six possible models, from the agency equipping its counter to the offer comparison site.
An agency already operating is the safest starting point: the files exist, the calls can be counted, and the effect shows on the first departure. The organiser working with partner agencies, within the five subcontracting contracts allowed, needs a portal where each partner enters its files and sees its quotas, and clear liability for what is entered by others. The agency licensed for Hajj keeps the same files with an imposed calendar and reports to produce.
The multi-wilaya network consolidates its figures and pools its groups, at the price of different rates and hotels per agency. The diaspora offer is the most promising in the short term and the simplest to add to an existing system. The offer comparison site is tempting but requires constant checking of licences and real hotels; it is a separate product, close to what we describe in launching a SaaS in Algeria in 2027.
The calendar to season 1449
About twelve weeks between scoping and a pilot on a January departure, to arrive ready for Ramadan.
November: scoping, the model file, instalments, room sharing and the contract. November to January: files, groups and payments, then the pilgrim space and SMS. January: the pilot on a real departure, with calls counted before and after. February and March: Ramadan 1448, around 8 February to 9 March 2027 depending on the sighting of the crescent, when groups are largest.
May: Hajj 2027 for licensed agencies, then season 1449 from the summer, with the same files and new departures. These durations are consistent with those we set out in how long it takes to build an app or platform; the guide app and the family space can follow after Ramadan.
What makes this kind of project fail
- Starting with the offers website. A handsome site that feeds a notebook changes nothing at departure.
- A file without a status. If you cannot see who is complete and who is waiting for a document, the day before departure stays a lottery.
- Instalments outside the system. An instalment noted elsewhere does not exist for the balance or the receipt.
- A guide app that needs a network. In Mecca, the programme and the hotel card must open without a connection.
- Forgetting the family. The father leaves, the daughter calls: a family space avoids half the calls.
- Poorly protected passports. Passport copies and health data restricted to authorised staff, on a server in the agency’s name.
- Accounts in the developer’s name. Server, domain, SMS and payment account in the agency’s name from the first week.
Frequently asked questions
- How many agencies are authorised to organise Umrah in Algeria for season 1448?
- According to the National Office for Hajj and Umrah’s review reported by Algérie360 on 17 October 2026, 490 agencies are on the preliminary list, out of 768 applicants and 598 files examined. The previous season’s final list had 602 agencies. Always check that an agency is on the Office’s list before paying.
- Why start with files and payments rather than the website?
- Because an agency loses money and reputation on incomplete files, untraced instalments and hotel disputes, not on the absence of a website. The website and the pilgrim space plug into files and payments that are already kept.
- Can a pilgrim pay in instalments with an Edahabia or CIB card?
- Online card payment is possible through the approved platforms, instalment by instalment, and every payment, even cash at the counter, must be entered with a numbered receipt. The system shows the pilgrim their balance and reminds them of due dates.
- Can a family in France pay for their parents’ Umrah?
- Yes, if the agency accepts a euro card payment credited to a specific person’s file, with a receipt for the payer and a confirmation for the traveller. Receiving foreign currency is settled with the agency’s bank before opening this service.
- Does the guide app work without a connection in Mecca?
- It must. The day’s programme, meeting points, the hotel card in Arabic and the guide’s number are stored on the phone and sync as soon as a connection returns. We cover these choices in building a mobile app in 2027.
- How long to be ready before Ramadan 2027?
- About twelve weeks between scoping and a pilot on a January departure, with files, groups, payments and the pilgrim space. The guide app and the family space can follow after Ramadan.