Maryland lawmakers aim to regulate tourism industry after Hajj deaths

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Maryland lawmakers will consider a bill to regulate the tourism industry after a Muslim community in Prince George’s County was shaken last year by multiple deaths that took place during the Hajj, Islam’s holiest pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Adrian Boafo (D-Prince George’s) in the House and Sen. Dawn Gile (D-Anne Arundel) in the Senate, would require tourism companies to register with the state so that travelers could see whether an agency was in good standing before booking an international trip.

Boafo said the legislation, scheduled to have its first hearing Wednesday, was inspired by The Washington Post’s reporting that exposed an unregulated cottage industry of tour companies that charge thousands of dollars to take travelers on unsanctioned pilgrimages to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims. At least three Marylanders died on one of those unauthorized trips last year.

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“We have a responsibility when things like this happen in our state, and we realize that there’s holes in policy, to fix them,” Boafo said. “No one wants this to happen again.”

About a year ago, Alhaji Alieu Dausy Wurie, 71, and his wife, Haja Isatu Wurie, 65, were preparing for the journey of a lifetime.

The Wuries were getting their money together to travel from Maryland to Mecca for the Hajj – a sacred annual pilgrimage that is one of the five pillars of Islam. The journey can be treacherous, especially for older pilgrims, because of the extreme heat and long distances that have to be walked or traversed in car rides that can take hours. The couple paid a travel agency more than $11,000 each to help get them there safely, their children told The Post.

Instead, the Maryland-based tourism company they entrusted with their care did not provide them with proper Hajj visas, blocking the couple from cooling tents along the pilgrimage route and restricting their access to medics, food and water. The couple never made it home.

Alieu Wurie and Isatu Wurie, pillars of their Prince George’s community, died in record-breaking heat in Saudi Arabia in June. Another Maryland woman, Fatmata Koroma, 61, who paid the same tourism company, died there, too.

Ehajj and Umrah Tours, a Silver Spring-based company established in 2022, was not in good standing with the state after failing to file required annual reports to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, according to public records. But there was no easy way for customers like the Wuries to find that information when they booked a trip to Saudi Arabia last year.

Boafo and Gile’s bill would require travel agencies to pay a $350 fee to register with the Maryland Labor Department, so that customers could look up whether a company is in good standing before booking international travel.

To prove financial security and ensure that travel agencies have a vested interest in following the rules, the bill would also require companies to put up a surety or cash performance bond ranging from $10,000 to $50,000, depending on a company’s annual profits. Boafo said the bonds, modeled off a similar policy in Washington state, would prevent companies from simply disappearing if they encounter trouble.

That’s exactly what happened with Ehajj and Umrah Tours, Boafo said. Maryland families were left to deal with the fallout of the disastrous pilgrimage, but no one could find a way to hold the tour company accountable because they could no longer find it.

“All of a sudden, they just dissolved,” Boafo said.

For the Maryland families still mourning the loss of loved ones in last year’s Hajj, the Don’t You Worry Act – named in honor of the Wurie family – offers a chance to protect other families from similar tragedy in the future.

“When you’re grieving and you say, ‘Everything happens for a reason,’” Alieu Wurie Jr., 39, named after his father, said. “This is one of the things that’s going to happen that may be able to save a lot of people on a larger scale, and maybe they had to die for that.”

Saida Wurie, 34, the Wuries’ daughter, said the family heard from the office of Gov. Wes Moore (D) a few weeks ago about a bill named after her parents. In a statement shared with The Post, the governor expressed support for the bill.

“The loss of Marylanders Alhaji Alieu Dausy Wurie and Haja Isatu Wurie on a pilgrimage to Mecca was a terrible tragedy,” Moore said. “We must do all that we can to help promote accountability and to help keep Marylanders safe as they are traveling.”

On Wednesday, she and her brother will testify in support of the bill. Doing so will honor their late parents, who were passionate about politics and involved in civic engagement, often participating in local campaigns and elections.

“I can just see her now, just so excited that she’s really leaving a legacy,” Saida Wurie said of her mom. “She is the strongest woman that I know.”

Two of the Wuries’ three children traveled to Saudi Arabia following their parents’ death, though they weren’t allowed to enter the cemetery where they were buried. They offered prayers for them from afar.

They recovered the couple’s belongings, including passports and IDs, watches, a few personal items and cellphones. They read their parents’ last text conversation.

“Honey, is this all worth it?” Alieu Wurie asked his wife in his final text message to her, Saida Wurie said.

“If it’s Allah’s will, it is,” Isatu Wurie replied.

Alieu Wurie and Isatu Wurie, each an eldest sibling, were the “glue to the family,” Saida Wurie said. Her father carried himself coolly, never angry in situations that might upset someone else. Her mother always saw the best in others. She said she misses her dad’s long-winded storytelling and her mother’s generosity.

Since that tragedy, the family has endured another: The couple’s eldest child, Mohammed Wurie, was fatally shot several months after his parents’ deaths.

“We were all in this together,” Saida Wurie, the youngest of the three children, said of the siblings’ bond.

She took solace in the impact their parents can now have on others.

While the bill may be named after the Wuries, Saida Wurie said, its prospect reaches beyond them.

She knows of other families whose loved ones came back sick from the trip and were hospitalized. Because the Hajj happens every year, she said she wants the bill to deter companies from ever cutting corners again.

“This could have been avoided had people taken the proper procedures,” Saida Wurie said. “But everything happens for a reason, and I think it’s at this point our duty to make sure that this doesn’t happen to another family.”

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