MAKKAH WNAM MONITORING): More than 39,000 volunteers participated in Saudi Arabia’s Hajj 2026 operations, helping support over 1.7 million pilgrims as part of a successful seasonal plan coordinated by the National Center for the Non-Profit Sector (NCNP), the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
The NCNP said its operational plans and specialized initiatives for this year’s pilgrimage were implemented successfully, highlighting the growing role of the Kingdom’s non-profit sector in supporting one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings.
According to the center, more than 39,000 male and female volunteers were mobilized to provide services at the holy sites, border crossings, pilgrim cities, miqats, roadside rest areas, and locations across Makkah and Madinah.
The volunteer effort formed part of broader initiatives aimed at enhancing pilgrim services and strengthening community participation in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which seeks to expand the social and economic impact of the Kingdom’s non-profit sector.
The center said volunteers underwent intensive qualification and training programs before deployment, improving their readiness to assist pilgrims throughout the Hajj season.
A key component of the operation was the third edition of the Hajj Volunteer Operations Center, which served as a real-time command and coordination hub. The center linked 16 government and non-profit organizations through a unified digital platform and operational dashboards, helping accelerate response times and improve the management of volunteer activities across the holy sites.
The NCNP attributed the success of the operational plan to the support provided by the Saudi leadership and the integrated efforts of government agencies and non-profit organizations involved in serving pilgrims.
More than 1.7 million Muslims performed Hajj this year, according to figures released by the General Authority for Statistics. The total included 1,546,655 pilgrims arriving from abroad and 160,646 citizens and residents who performed the pilgrimage from within the Kingdom.
Saudi authorities have increasingly incorporated volunteer programs, digital coordination tools and cross-sector partnerships into Hajj operations as part of wider efforts to enhance pilgrim services and improve the management of large-scale crowds during the annual pilgrimage.
