The Role of Information Technology as a Tool to Improve Customer Satisfaction in The Saudi Arabian Tourism Industry

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN THE SAUDI ARABIAN TOURISM INDUSTRY
The Role of Information Technology as a Tool to Improve Customer Satisfaction in The Saudi Arabian Tourism Industry
Introduction
Hospitality is one of the characters embedded in the culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The King’s title: “The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” shows the dedication to hospitality and for welcoming Muslims from all over the world to visit KSA. Islam requires that every healthy Muslim should make a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. Therefore, Saudi Arabia has been known to offer millions of people an experience that changes their perspectives on life issues within a safe, hospitable, and relatively comfortable environment. In this case, thousands of pilgrims usually extend their holiday visit to other places of pilgrimage and antiquity, therefore, enjoy the wide range of Saudi hospitality and tourism sites (MCIT, 2011). Also, the Saudi Arabian’s Vision 2030 placed great importance on the tourism industry to help in the government’s objective to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil.
Information technology presents a strategic assets that could be utilized to improve the delivery of services within the toursim tourism industry. Technological inventions have currently posed a relevant, proactive purpose within the market place. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) asserts the importance of analysis of the technology’s strategic value alongside the understanding of the existing dynamism of the technology-adoption process within the industry. Technology is easily applicable for to the analysis of the decision-making process within hotels, thereby acting as a crucial tool for improving service performance. The emergence of information systems as well asnd internet technology, reinforces the upgrade of the client-business interactions capable of handling changes in customer demands (Oliveira & Martins, 2011). Information technology application enables easy retrieval, organization, saving, as well asnd the creation of valuable data concerning customer trends (Zhang et al., 2020). Information technology enables senior management to predict and manage customer behavior easily. However, the process requires careful integration of specific IT concepts such as software customization, data warehouse, and application of helpdesk alongside internet automation processes.
The coronavirus (Covid-19) has impacted e-commerce, technology, business travel, and the world economy. The pandemic took so many lives and still poses a threat to the world population and further lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus(Meyer, 2020). Indeed the increasing threat of the novel coronavirus within the public health domain has presented a crisis that hampers the macroeconomy as a whole. Moreover, the virus may influence the cutting off of the supply chain of various businesses, posing significant challenges to the production and manufacturing sectors (MoEngage, 2020).
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) entails commerce driven by the internet that enables the trade of goods and services for money. In this case, it entails the pre-sale as well as post-sale of activities across the supply chain by use of the internet. In some instances, e-commerce is always referred to as electronic business (e-business). E-commerce entails various aspects that are classified into different models that encompass Business to Customer (B2C), Business to Business (B2B), Customer to Customer (C2C), Peer to Peer (P2P) as well as Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) (Zhang et al., 2020). From its inception, the Saudi Arabian electronic systems focus majorly on the development of Saudi e-government, with e-commerce being second. This is contrary to the development of e-commerce in Western countries that is basically driven by competition amongst organizations for market share with a focus on business independence. E-commerce is the new normal of all organizations since their business and market strategies are highly dependent on technology. However, technology being used by the public and organizations poses a threat to organizations owing to the threat of insecurity that could breach important information. That why policies mainly within the organization system have to be structured and modeled to suit the current market environment. The need for proper framework and policies is mandatory for the organizations’ safety, having in mind the threats of using technology (MCIT, 2011).
The level of technology innovation is evolving at a much faster rate as compared to the changes that take place concerning organizational cultures. The IT departments are required to make radical changes in their manner of operation, such as their means of producing goods as well as services, management of technology and data assets, owing to expansion in the use of cloud services alongside mobile devices. The governance policies continuously evolve to align with the modern business environment. An effective IT governance model requires further IT considerations capable of supporting the achievement of long-term and sustainable business outcomes (MCIT, 2011). The IT policies should be defined in terms of business objectives at every level. Such should operate in line with the general corporate strategy and be directed and supervised by senior management. The var...