Travelport revealed that flight bookings made from in Asia were up five percent compared to last year. Bangladesh (13,906, +171 percent), which saw the highest growth rate, along with Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Tunisia benefit from the Makkah Road initiative that targets finalizing organizational procedures of pilgrims in coordination with official authorities in airports of countries of the initiative. Majid al-Hokair, chairman of the Committee for Tourism and Entertainment Riyadh Chamber, said that the increase of flights to Makkah during the Hajj and Umrah seasons reflects the fundamentals and infrastructure that the Kingdom is working on. Hokair expressed optimism with the inauguration of the new King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and the launching of other sustainable projects. Bookings from Europe were up six percent this year, with the UK registering the greatest volume (19,798), although Bosnia and Herzegovina (+173 percent) and Sweden (+168 percent) came third, according to Travelport. Europe has the second greatest growth in flight booking volume to Makkah, representing 10 percent of total global bookings. Unlike Muslim-majority nations, countries with a minority Muslim population in the West are not subject to the same Hajj quota of 1,000 pilgrims per million of population. Meanwhile, advance flight bookings from North America remained flat this year (+1 percent), although there was a surge in Canada (+39 percent to 1,362). The US again accounted for the largest number of overall bookings in the region (15,854). The volume of flight bookings in South America dropped 27 percent and the total was also down by 17 percent in Africa. The country with the most bookings was Brazil (52 bookings), with an estimated 200 Brazilians expected to travel to perform Hajj this year. Advanced flight bookings from North America were flat. They represent six percent of total bookings globally. The North African countries did still record the highest number of flight bookings out of any country globally (49,477). Flight bookings from Oceania shot up +204 percent this year, largely driven by strong demand in Australia (+238 percent), which recorded 2,344 bookings.