About Shamsa

Background

Under Article 44 of Iran's Constitution, the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization sought to involve the private sector in operations while it supervised their proper execution.

After the fall of Saddam, in 2003–2004 the unplanned flow of pilgrims into Iraq far exceeded the capacity of its cities, especially Karbala and Najaf. Middlemen, brokers and hotel owners exploited the situation: prices rose while service quality fell. Unhealthy competition among some caravan managers and agencies for hotels, large advance payments to middlemen, pilgrims stranded at the borders and other incidents showed that the private sector had to take part in an organised, unified way.

Provincial central companies were therefore created: in each province the offices licensed by the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization joined to form one central company. The result was 30 provincial companies plus Kashan and, later, Alborz (Karaj). There were 1,174 pilgrimage service offices at the start; today there are more than 2,400, organised in 32 central companies.

Founding of Shamsa

Representatives of the provincial companies then met in Tehran, and the parent company, “The Central Company of Pilgrimage Service Offices of Iran (Shamsa)”, was registered in July 2005 under no. 249873. Shamsa represents 32 provincial central companies and more than 2,400 pilgrimage service offices across Iran, all of which are its shareholders and executive arms.

On 18 July 2005 the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization signed the first memorandum on sending Iranian pilgrims to Iraq with Iraq's then Minister of Tourism and Antiquities in Tehran, and introduced Shamsa to the Iraqi side to contract licensed Iraqi companies on behalf of all of Iran's pilgrimage service offices. Shamsa was later also authorised to operate in Syria.

Supervision by the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization

1. All Shamsa contracts with Iraqi and Iranian parties must be approved by the relevant officials of the Organization, in particular its legal department.
2. Facilities offered by Iraqi companies — accommodation (hotels), transport (buses), catering, the travel and pilgrimage programme, and security and equipment — are approved by the Organization's representatives before contracting.
3. Services from Iranian companies and organisations, including insurance, the Red Crescent and airlines, are also approved before contracting.
4. The price of each service and each company's capacity must be approved by the Organization.
5. Contracts signed between Shamsa and Iraqi companies take effect only after the Organization's approval.
6. Dispatch quotas are distributed among the provinces under the Organization's full supervision and coordination.
7. The final trip price for pilgrims is set by the Organization and applied in the national registration system for the holy shrines.
8. The Organization fully manages and supervises Shamsa's finances and, once final dispatch is confirmed, authorises withdrawals from pooled pilgrim funds through the system.
9. All service and supervisory staff — caravan escorts, fixed and mobile staff — are vetted by the Organization before dispatch.

Shamsa's main activities

1. Obtaining Iraqi visas for all pilgrims, fixed service and headquarters staff, and caravan escorts nationwide.
2. Interviewing, selecting and dispatching fixed hotel staff, fixed and mobile supervisors, cooks and other service staff.
3. Representative offices at the Khosravi, Mehran, Chazabeh and Shalamcheh borders to schedule caravans, track exits and entries, list pilgrims who did not travel and resolve problems.
4. Planning and running rest facilities at the exit borders for pilgrims' overnight stay before entering Iraq.
5. Planning dispatches and distributing annual and monthly quotas among provinces with the Organization; each provincial company distributes quotas to its own agents.
6. Insurance cover for pilgrims through contracts with reputable insurers.
7. Medical care in Iraq under a contract with the Red Crescent: clinics, doctors and medicines in Karbala, Najaf, Kadhimiya and Baghdad.
8. Permanent offices in Karbala, Najaf and Kadhimiya and mobile teams along pilgrim routes and in Samarra to oversee contracts and solve problems.
9. Working with the Civil Aviation Organization and contracting approved airlines to fly pilgrims.
10. Contracts with domestic and foreign organisations for insurance, medical and emergency care, air and ground transport, accommodation, hospitality and catering.