The activities of the 18th Scientific Meeting for Hajj and Umrah Research taking place currently at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah with the participation of a constellation of researchers in the Saudi universities, scientific centers, specialists and the parties related to Hajj, Umrah and Visit affairs in the public and private sectors started its first session titled:" Achievements and Initiatives in Serving Pilgrims", with five researches focusing on crowd management in the corridors of the Grand Mosque  based on the applied experience, methods of controlling and developing these crowds according to the scientific foundations and the current challenges. In this regard, the researcher Mohamed Bilal Al-Zahrani from the affiliates of the Special Forces for the Security of the Grand Mosques submitted a strategic vision to developing crowd management system based on the  descriptive and historical approach of  presenting experiments of the General Security in controlling crowds in the vicinity of the Grand Mosque and access ways and areas leading to it.     

In his presentation, Researcher Dr. Adnan Mohamed Al-Harthi from Umm Al-Qura University shed light on the worshippers' crowd organization and transportation management at Bab Ali station in the Grand Mosque to achieve the balance between the numbers of worshippers and space of the station. He reviewed methods of taking advantage of the buses fleets designed to transport worshippers at Bab Ali square in the direction of Mahbas Al-Jin down to Jamarat and setting a proper mechanism to manage crowds in the square beside educating the manpower responsible for work in the site by the relevant parties and the drivers of the transportation means.  

Concluding his research, he referred to the importance of directing the creative capabilities in serving the pilgrims and provide them with the needed comfort in the different seasons.  

Whilst, the researcher Hussein Ahmed Al-Baloushi from the affiliates of the General Presidency for Affairs of the Grand Mosques and the Prophet Mosque submitted a proposal to create special routes for kissing the black stone leading to performing this rite in a short time. He used statistics approach, routes, gates and length of time taking into consideration the negatives and positives and the implications and requirements of the project besides the design that must fit with the huge expansion witnessed in the Grand Mosque and  will contribute to making the pilgrims perform their rituals smoothly and conveniently in line with the objectives of the Kingdom Vision 2030. 

However, the researchers Eng. Hassan Mohamed Falatta and Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Kholaifat from the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet Mosque compared between planning of the preventive maintenance in the Grand Mosque and the experiments of some pioneering institutions in this field to identify points of strength and weakness in the maintenance planning method and how to carry out work commands by designing a questionnaire to assess the current status of preventive maintenance works and the short and long term planning in this regard and its compatibility with the vision of the General Department of Operation and Maintenance aimed at achieving leadership in the operation and maintenance of the electromechanical works in the Grand Mosque and its facilities. 

Within the same vein, the researchers in the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Hajj and Umrah Research Dr. Abdullah Mohamed Abdullah, Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Hilali, and Dr. Tariq Mohamed Al-Aqla relayed on  a field study  about the negative phenomena in Makkah and Al-Medina during the Ramadan season of the year 1438 H to monitor evolution of such phenomena during Hajj and Umrah seasons and analyze changes in this regard to reduce these phenomena at the present and future phases and directing efforts to provide awareness for the pilgrims and visitors in this regard in their original countries or during their existence in the Kingdom to perform Umrah or visit.