SDAIA President to SPA: Authority is Resorting to AI to Facilitate Pilgrims’ Procedures for Entering the Kingdom and Performing Hajj

The President of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, confirmed that SDAIA has harnessed its advanced technological efforts to serve pilgrims and the two Holy Mosques during the Hajj season of 1444 Hijri by providing them with all facilities, under the support and concern of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He noted that this Hajj season witnessed implementing integrated projects with several government institutions to facilitate the journey of pilgrims who came from across the world to perform Hajj.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on the occasion of the preparation for the Hajj season for 1444 Hijri, Al-Ghamdi said that these efforts exerted by SDAIA are part of directives by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Prime Minister, and Chairman of SDAIA, who always stresses the importance of providing all means to use advanced technologies supported by HRH the Crown Prince to help the authority play its role in promoting the fields of data and artificial intelligence (AI), stimulating their growth and utilizing them to serve humanity.
He added: “These efforts are based on the tasks of SDAIA as a national reference in all aspects of data and artificial intelligence in organizing and developing all means to ensure that the Kingdom improves to leadership in data-based economies and artificial intelligence.”
The president added that SDAIA annually intensifies its efforts during the Hajj season to ensure digital empowerment of government entities working in Hajj and provide advanced technological support to help them carry out their tasks, starting from pilgrims’ procedures of traveling from various countries of the world to the Kingdom through the Makkah Route Initiative and through the services provided to them while arriving at Saudi air, sea and land ports until they reach Makkah. Efforts continue during pilgrims’ performance of Hajj rituals at the holy sites through logistical services that seek to help pilgrims and facilitate their Hajj journey, in support of targets of the Pilgrims Experience Program, one of the programs of the Saudi Vision 2030.
He noted that SDAIA, through the National Information Center, sought to ensure technological readiness and technical support for 15 border crossings in Saudi Arabia, sorting sites, and security control centers by providing systems, services, and technical products and raising the level of integration with other government agencies -- such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah -- in a way that ensures that pilgrims’ data are provided prior to their arrival at border crossings to reduce the time necessary to register their entry into the Kingdom, along with providing the necessary technical support by SDAIA around the clock to receive pilgrims and complete their procedures, whether through the Makkah Route Initiative at the airports of the countries benefiting from the initiative, or inside the Kingdom through services and products that contribute to the safe arrival of pilgrims.
Al-Ghamdi pointed out that SDAIA also applied preventive maintenance of data rooms, network devices and workstations through an action plan that covers periods before, during, and after the Hajj season, and the preparation and programming of devices and dealing with cyber threats, monitoring the data rooms and communication services at the border crossings, ensuring the sustainability of their work, and providing mobile bags for comprehensive services. The agency also trained the employees of the sectors involved in the Hajj season on new regulations and updates, receiving reports, providing technical support for e-services, and solving technical and technological problems and failures.
In a bid to harness data and AI technologies to serve the pilgrims and ensure a safe and easy experience, Dr. Al-Ghamdi highlighted that SDAIA provided the “Banan” product, which is a mobile device that aims to provide services for identifying and verifying the identities of individuals through their vital features for the parties operating in the field, to enable the automation of procedures for managing crowd verification operations in various locations to enhance a facilitated experience, adding that this product contributes to querying and verifying travel and pilgrimage records and verifying the validity of permits.
Emphasizing the importance of the role of SDAIA in providing technical solutions, Dr. Al-Ghamdi stated that the agency made available through the "Tawakkalna" system several services for the pilgrims, including the rituals portal, reviewing the pilgrim's ID card, and allowing the review of entry permits to the holy sites for vehicles and individuals concerned with the Hajj season in cooperation with Public Security, in addition to providing help services, SOS calls, volunteer cards, as well as other services such as the Holy Quran, prayer times, and the direction of the qiblah.
Concerning serving the pilgrims abroad, Dr. Al-Ghamdi underscored that SDAIA has participated for years as a digital enabler for the Makkah Route initiative, one of the initiatives of the Pilgrim Experience Program in the Saudi Vision 2030, including those implemented by the Interior Ministry during the year 1444 Hajj Season in seven countries including Morocco, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Côte d'Ivoire, as part of its efforts to provide capabilities related to data and forward-looking capabilities and enhance them with continuous innovation in artificial intelligence.
Dr. Al-Ghamdi said that SDAIA, represented by the National Information Center, has worked on this initiative since 2017 by developing a set of highly specific technical systems that are compatible with the service requirements of the initiative and include borders, Hajj, and passenger registration, in addition to preparing mobile bags equipped with recording devices of vital features, providing backup systems to ensure operational continuity.
He indicated that the SDAIA team in the initiative includes a group of engineers and technicians who work in airports of the aforementioned countries around the clock to connect, activate, and operate multiple workstations equipped with the latest technology linked to safe and high-speed communication circles to facilitate the completion of travel procedures for pilgrims in record time.