Telecommunications Regulatory Authority unveils ICT Rating “TASNEEF” for tourism industry

Dubai - MENA Herald: Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and in presence of high officials from UAE’s tourism-based entities, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has revealed today (12 October 2016) at Four Seasons Hotel in Abu Dhabi, a new digital system that rates the ICT quality in tourist locations (TASNEEF) in the UAE. The initiative aims to provide visitors with sufficient information regarding the quality of ICT services in tourist places by classifying the ICT facilities in hotels, shopping centers and restaurants, among others, that are provided to customers to enhance visitors’ experience.
TASNEEF is one of TRA’s contributions in leading the country to become a global center for tourism and business and help the nation achieve the UAE Vision 2021 by encouraging competition among tourist facilities in providing high quality digital smart services and satisfy customers’ experience. It also aims to push digital innovation and smart services in the tourism sector in time for visitors at the Expo 2020, as well as ensure that sights and attractions across the country are technologically-equipped in their service offerings to help achieve the nation’s ambition to be the most competitive country in the world in terms of smart services across tourist attractions in the country..
H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director General, said: “Advancing the tourism sector’s capability to provide services using smart technologies will help boost the UAE’s transition to mGovernment. It will help the TRA’s goal to bring a step closer the country’s vision of an electronic lifestyle, following the UAE Vision 2021 of providing a socially and culturally rich environment, managed through distinctive government services. Apart from efficient infrastructure systems to meet individual needs, it will also promote the UAE as a globally competitive nation.”
“The initiative also seeks to rate the quality of services in the tourism and hospitality sector and recognize the best service providers in the country to enable customers have the highest level of ‘digital hosting’ experience and allow them to decide and choose accordingly the most suitable places to stay in the UAE” H.E. Al Mansoori explained.
The TRA has identified the criteria and technical standards to assess hospitality firms according to their corresponding level of services, the response rate of the technical support team, accessibility, affordability, availability and quality of innovative ICT services.
The evaluation is based on meeting a set of standards and attain the highest scores in ICT services and ensure excellence in the sector and will include all tourist facilities, based on their tourism classification.
TASNEEF Method
The assessment will use multiple methods to enable the TRA to assess the current status of ICT services in these tourism areas, such as deploying secret shoppers who would pose as customers and will report their ICT experience as customers. The TRA will also arrange meetings with ICT experts of hotels to understand their plans as well as the most pressing challenges for them. Surveys will also be conducted to evaluate customers’ satisfaction related to digital services.
The TRA will display the evaluation results on the customer websites of leading tourist firms for customer information and enable them to choose the most suitable accommodation, having a clear idea about the quality of provided ICT services.