At the conclusion of the 17th Scientific Forum for Hajj, Umrah and Visit Research, the participants discussed several working papers in their 8th meeting chaired by UQU President Dr. Bakri bin M'atooq Assas. In that session, from the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques Institute for Hajj and Umrah Research, Dr. Ramzi bin Ahmed Al-Zahrani, Dr. Ibrahim bin Ali Al-Khalidi, and Dr. Khalid bin Saad Al-Qahtani presented a paper entitled "Role of Understanding the Content of Social Media in Improving Performance during Hajj Season: a case study of Twitter during Hajj season of 1436 A.H". 

In their paper, they stressed to the importance of measuring the impressions of pilgrims and workers during Hajj, using the content of social media such as Twitter, as it is a prime resource to conduct several analytical studies on multiple phenomena.

“We categorized data based on spatial and time-related factors, then we worked out a database to deal with the content of tweets and determine their implied impressions.” They added.

From his part, researcher Mohammed bin Bilal Al-Zahrani – Public Security staff – in his paper on “The Kingdom’s Efforts in Crow Management During Hajj” stated that he came up with a model which demonstrates the Kingdom's experience in crowd management and outlines it in a scientific way.

“Saudi Arabia has achieved an outstanding success in this field, integrating all the Kingdom’s government agencies and services in a single mission, guided by a unified strategic vision to ensure optimal security and safety in Hajj season as a great religious ritual.”, he affirmed.

For him, crowd management is both a science and an art, that brings together the principles of kinesiology, mobility, and the skills of crowd management planners and operators. This field is continually evolving. Recently, the Kingdom has initiated some training courses, technical and administrative consultations. Likewise, a considerable literature has developed on crowd management, focusing on two key dimensions; namely theories and experiences.

In the same vein, from UQU Deanship of Scientific Research, Dr. Hanadi Mohamed Behairy participated with a paper entitled: “Self-evaluation of Tawafa Establishments according to EFQM’s Standards”, where she reviewed the experience of Tawafa Establishments in dealing with pilgrims. She stressed the importance of leveraging EFQM’s standards to evaluate these establishments’ services during Hajj, in order to boost their efficiency according to the international quality standards using RADAR assessment framework, so that they should comply with top quality standards.

She added that the EFQM’s Excellence Standards were initiated in 2010, focusing on the need to self-evaluate the organization’s performance using nine standards divided into two groups, namely (standards of the Means) including leadership, workers, partnerships, resources and operations, and (Standards of the Results) including; clients, staff, community and main businesses.

Also, from the Social Services Department of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY), researcher Marwan Yousif Ka'aki presented a paper on “Voluntary Work and Service to Pilgrims, Umrah Performers and Visitors”. Here, he noted that the volunteer does not receive clear instructions. In addition, the pressures he faces with various charitable organizations result in a gap between his interest in and practice of the voluntary work; leading to a considerable decrease in volunteers.

In this regard, he asserted the importance of having specialized centers for volunteers to channel their energies, since volunteering is an integral part of the government action. He added that disregard to a volunteer and leaving him confused discourage him to replicate his experience.

“The worth of voluntary work is maximized when channeled to serve pilgrims and visitors to the Two Holy Mosques. It is a national value and a civic token towards the country.”, added Ka'ak.

Equally, from TU Voluntary Work Office for Hajj and Umrah in Madinah, Dr. Hashim bin Hamza Noor participated with a paper entitled: “The Experience of the Voluntary Work Office for Hajj and Umrah in Madinah in Coordinating and Organizing Voluntary work in Madinah”. Here, he elaborated on the Office’s experience in coordinating the voluntary efforts, and its contribution to educating and qualifying specialized volunteers for Hajj, Umrah and Visit. “The Office encourages scientific research to measure, assess and develop voluntary services, to organize voluntary initiatives, to recruit and distribute volunteers accordingly.

The Office also seeks to map the policy of voluntary work for Hajj, Umrah and Visit, to prepare its strategy, to train and qualify volunteers via professional centers, to support both government agencies and private institutions with competent volunteer, and to secure the necessary financial resources for the voluntary activities for Hajj, Umrah and Visit via marketing them.”, Dr. Hamza said.