Muslim worshippers perform prayers around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on August 15, 2018, prior to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city. (AFP photo)

RIYADH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia announced Thursday that more than 1.7 million visas for Hajj pilgrims have been issued by its diplomatic missions abroad.

Tamim Al-Dosary, undersecretary of the Ministry of Consular Affairs, said that Saudi diplomatic missions abroad, as well as temporary Hajj missions in countries without permanent Saudi missions, have issued a total of 1,720,680 Hajj visas so far, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Al-Dosary attributed the fast processing of visa issuances to the high-tech technology that links the ministry and the missions.

As of Thursday, more than 1.6 million pilgrims from across the world have arrived in the kingdom to perform Hajj, Saudi authorities said.

Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to the Saudi city of Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims.