Business & Money | Sunday 16 August, 2015 5:07 am |

Many shops in the city are planning to change their commercial activities during the Haj season to meet the demand of pilgrims and thereby earn profits, an official has said. He, however, clarified that stores not involved in the sale of food items will not be allowed to enter this kind of trade in view of the safety of pilgrims' health.
At least 20 percent of the shops would modify their activities and applications have already started arriving for the purpose, Muhammad Al-Fotawi, director of Environmental Health at Makkah Municipality, told local media.
“The Haj season represents very special time for commercial shops and activities. Here at our department, we only seek to achieve the best interests of all parties, especially the commercial activities such as adding on their list the sale of new products and goods to meet the needs of pilgrims of gifts and fabrics or any other needs”.
He said the locations where the majority of the shops had applied for the change in business were “Al-Aziziyah, Al-Rawdah, Al-Maabdh and parts of Al-Mansour street".
The department receives applications from shop owners on an annual basis, prior to the haj season, to obtain the required license to switch their businesses. Al-Fotawi, however, is firm that stores that are currently not involved in the sale of food would not be allowed to switch to it as “such activity could jeopardize the safety of pilgrims".
Al-Fotawi concluded his statement by identifying the requirements of the secretariat that need to be fulfilled by shops seeking to modify their trading activity. He said shops need to ensure that no health requirements are violated and that safety and comfort of customers are given top priority.