Saudi 'nets $16.5 bn from pilgrims'

Saudi Arabia raised $16.5 billion from Muslim pilgrimages this year to Mecca and Medina in the west of the kingdom, a Saudi newspaper reported on Thursday. Al-Hayat, citing religious tourism sources, said a total of 12 million pilgrims visited Islam's holiest sites during the annual hajj which took place this year at the end of October or for the year-long umra, or minor pilgrimage. The pilgrims -- including 3.1 million who made the hajj, including 1.7 million from abroad, according to official figures -- spent 62 billion riyals ($16.5 billion), a rise of 10 percent over 2011 because of increased costs, it said.