Abstract

Saudi Arabia receives every year more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform Hajj (Pilgrimage) during a specific period of the year in a specific and limited space.  In spite of the effort government agencies devote to this event, a variety of disasters usually take place each year. As the number of pilgrims is increasing by the year the problem becomes an alarming one.  More and more resources are allocated to eliminate the occurrence of such disasters. More than one strategy has been proposed to achieve Hajj safely. Knowing that the problem is very complex as it involves numerous actors, and many entangled criteria and elements, the question is which alternative is best.

This paper presents The Analytic Network Process as a sound methodology to structure the Hajj problem and to design an analytical model to find which strategy to focus on to manage  safe pilgrimage.

Key words: multi criteria decision making, Analytic Network Process, pilgrimage, Hajj, management, strategic planning, Saudi Arabia