Al-Qahtani: Issuing a Set of Saudi Standard Specifications for Hajj and Umrah Services Soon
SASO held the first workshop for the development of standard specifications for Hajj and Umrah services, at SASO's branch in Makkah Province with the participation of government bodies concerned with Hajj and Umrah services.
For his part, Eng. Abdullah bin Awadh Al-Qahtani, Deputy Governor of SASO for Standards and Laboratories, declared that SASO will issue a package of Saudi Standard Specifications for Hajj and Umrah services, God willing, pointing out that SASO is currently working on the completion of its strategic plan for the issuance of standard specifications for services in general. SASO decided that the first standards to be started with will be in the most important and honorable field God granted us, i.e., Hajj and Umrah.
He said, "We are currently working with various relevant sectors to set priorities. There are special international standards for services we examined, for our services to be institutionalized and the beneficiary receives the highest quality of service. In addition, the standard specification always helps bodies to adjust and develop their services."
He pointed out that the first workshop held at SASO's branch in Makkah Province is an introduction to other efforts and events that will be set in the next period with the help of Allah, to introduce an accurate standard specification that improves the efforts of the relevant bodies in this service. The Kingdom is proud to offer this service for guests of Allah; the visitors of the Two Holy Mosques.
He indicated that SASO aims to cover all services, with a focus on strategic priorities, through making an experience of success in a particular field and then applying it on the rest of sectors. He expressed his hope that SASO, and its partners, can be able to issue an initial set of standards before the end of the current Hijri year. He emphasized that issuing such standards is essential, as it complies with the Kingdom's Vision 2030 which focused on raising the proportion of pilgrims and Umrah performers. There is no doubt that the quality of services would be a very influential factor to raise the satisfaction levels among the Kingdom visitors, and then to increase the number of pilgrims and Umrah performers.
He continued, "In general, what determines the importance of standards in the field of products is their danger and sensitivity to the consumer, environment, economy and national security. The same thing applies for services' standards, and we will start with standards of high importance such as Hajj and Umrah, security services, etc."