Latest updates from top global and Saudi news sources
Last updated: 13 Sep 2026, 11:08 AM (Saudi time)
Smart robots offering multilingual guidance, sanitisation robots, and AI-driven crowd analysis are expanding services at the Grand Mosque in Makkah as the 1448 Umrah season gets under way, with the Nusuk app tying the digital services together.
An exhibition in Makkah is displaying six marble tiles from 1881 CE that once adorned the Grand Mosque, part of a wider effort to preserve the architectural heritage of Islam's holiest sites.
Saudi authorities have set fixed daily entry times for Hijr Ismail at the Grand Mosque, with women admitted in the early morning and men later in the day to ease crowding near the Ka'bah.
Knight Frank reports that Makkah and Madinah hotels stayed resilient in early 2026, with Makkah the Kingdom's top market, as Saudi Arabia builds toward 30 million pilgrims a year by 2030.
King Salman has approved opening completed sections of the King Abdullah expansion at the Grand Mosque, adding space for at least 500,000 more worshippers as Umrah demand rises.
A Makkah exhibition is displaying six 19th-century marble tiles that once decorated the Grand Mosque, part of a Saudi effort to preserve and showcase the heritage of Islam's two holiest sites.
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