Millhouse

They will have a new airport at Medina in a few years.

Roadking

What? Really low cost; land yourself with the aid of.....

coffindodger

Your own private magic carpet.
Just see the aircraft pan and Med all those lovely carpets .
Better than these big airplanes!!

Norm_uk

It's so obvious Muhammad (if he actually existed - there's no contemporary evidence of this, same as Jesus) made a deal with the Meccans to convert and he would ensure a steady stream of money in the form of pilgrims coming into town...

Mecca would probably have vanished centuries ago but for the hajj and it's status as a holy site (although saying that it was a holy site to the pre-islamic peoples for centuries too...had a nice collection of idols and stones - apparently they kept one of them but that insinuates that middle eastern monotheism is actually recycled paganism which could never be the case right

Bahtatboy

Read an article in one of the local rags this morning, over my McMuffin, that the whole area is booming, and they expect the number of religious tourists to double within the next couple of years, Medina and another aiport to increase capacity fivefold-ish, there's already a huge range of hotels from those with Asprey toiletries costing $1,000 a night down to basic level, but even the basic level are too expensive for many of the pilgrims. Whichever twat wrote the article explained that Turks, Brits, Morrocans (and a few other nationalities, can't remember which but don't think they were Arab) preferred the high-class hotels, while Pakistanis preferred the cheaper ones. Yeah, like I prefer my VW to an Aston Martin.

Anyway, its becoming big business for Saudi, and looks to be recession and inflation-proof. I think theme park's the right idea.

typical

Yeah, a Saudi friend of mine was explaining the difference between the "cheap" tents - 50 people, one toilet between them, still costing 2k pounds - and the "luxury" ones, with beds, studies, internet access, full bathrooms etc, costing 20k pounds up.

Meow

Making money out of people in the name of religion?

I am shocked. Truly shocked I tell you...

NorthernLad

There is a good National Geographic documentary on Mecca, worth downloading. It looks mental when the Hajj is on. It shows where the sheep are slaughtered, as well as banning infidels from Mecca it looks like they also banned health and safety officers.

Romulan

There's plenty of evidence that Muhammad existed. Unless all of Arabia at the time was delusional and he nothing but a figment of their collective imagination, both the pagans and the Muslims.