THE Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, College of Business Administration, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah celebrated World Tourism Day-2018 in cooperation with Business Confidence Unit, Institute of Research and Consultancy Studies, Makkah by holding a special awareness event in Makkah Mall in the presence of Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Omar Bafil, President, Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Dr. Ehsan Al-Moataz, Dean, Faculty of Business Administration, Dr. Ali Al- Shaeri, Dean, Institute of Research & Consultation Studies. Moreover, a group of guests of honor, academicians, businessmen, media representatives and all stakeholders of tourism industry in Saudi Arabia were also present during the event.

Dr. Ali Al Qassim, Head of Department, Tourism and Hotel Management, said “this celebration is held annually and comes each year with a new theme. The theme of this year is digital tourism and how to use digital applications in various aspects of tourism industry. Focus on tourism has become an important pillar within the vision 2030 of the Kingdom, mentioning the importance of developing the tourism and hospitality sector in order to diversify sources of the Kingdom’s income, to encourage investment from private sector and study development plans of many tourist and historical sites in accordance to highest international standards.”

He added: “It is necessary to keep abreast of the technological and digital developments that commensurate with developments of the modern era and the transformation of digital information in all aspects of life, including tourism and entertainment.” He noted a large number of Saudi and Arab electronic applications that provided self-planning services for your trip and offering fair prices and services, including programs for domestic tourism.

Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Omar Bafil honored the participants at the event along with guests of honor and participating parties, then the event unfolded itself from traditional shows and honoring the winners for the social media contests; “how to be ambassador of your country” in order to mark Saudi National Day 88 and contests for tourism awareness were “the most beautiful picture of a touristic place in the Kingdom” “The best tweet about your village/ town/ province”, and “digital transformation contest”. The competitions, launched on the Twitter account of @cobdth under the Hashtag سياحتنا_رقميه#, in addition to distributing gifts to active participants from on-site community during the event. — SG