AN ASSESSMENT OF THE 2012 HAJJ PROVIDING SERVICES, PILGRIMS AND HAJJ AGENCIES STANCE AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Abstract

Annually, millions of Muslim pilgrims take the journey to Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to perform the holy pilgrimage. Due to the potential ramifications of such a large gathering, caring for the needs of pilgrims occupies the top priority among the Kingdom’s concerns. This research was conducted to investigate the level of the health related services that were provided during the 2012 Hajj to the pilgrims and Hajj agencies to ensure the safety and accessibility of the public services. With the support from the Ministry of Hajj, 225 Saudi citizens residing in Jeddah, participated in 2012 Hajj answered and completed the study survey. A total of 48 employees who worked in Hajj agencies as a subsidiary to the Ministry of Hajj were also selected for the study and completed the survey. For the data collection, electronic questionnaires were provided to both pilgrims and Hajj agencies. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0 program. The study aimed to evaluate the new preparedness plan for the event and provide feedback for decision makers. The results showed that on average the majority of pilgrims were satisfied with the overall services (85%). Moreover, on an average 76.8% of the pilgrims were satisfied about the health and the accommodation services in 2012 Hajj. However, there was no significant difference of satisfaction on the overall services in various age groups but there was significant difference in health and general services among various educational levels (p=0.034). Similarly, on average the majority of the agents were satisfied with the overall services during Hajj 2012 (83.1%) but there was no significant difference on overall service satisfaction among agents having different educational levels.