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Doyof Al Rahman Program
Client: DARP
Sector: The Unification of Saudi Arabia’s Pilgrim Service Providers
Duration: 4 Months
Industry: Tourism
Overview
Challenge
Empowering Doyof Ar-Rahman Program employees by enhancing their innovative and guest-centered initiatives capabilities.
Outcome
The unification of the program's departments and members using a three-day training bootcamp.
Impact
An increase in awareness among different sectors about the positive impact of the program and its needs through intensive workshops. This helped publish the initial version of the program's tools and resulted in 170+ new initiative proposals.
Context
The Saudi hospitality industry was one of the many sectors that took a hit in 2020 after the country halted all things travel and tourism. That may sound like an entirely bad situation, but there was still some benefit to it — the industry was given the opportunity to take a step back and reevaluate its operations.
Prior to the Kingdom's Vision 2030 economic diversification objectives, which included the expansion and reinforcement of tourism, the hospitality sector relied majorly on domestic tourism and pilgrimage to run. With millions of pilgrims annually showing up for Hajj alone, the country did not really need to diversify its tourism sector.
Saudi Arabia witnessed the arrival of over 2.5 million Hajj pilgrims in 2019 — one of the world's largest human gatherings. However, that number did not tide over into 2020, as the Kingdom placed a 1,000-pilgrim cap due to the unfortunate circumstances.
Nevertheless, that move gave the country the freedom to step things up and renew its hospitality efforts — more specifically, to strengthen its Doyof Al Rahman (Guests of God) Program (DARP), launched in 2018 as part of Vision 2030's objective to "enhance the experience and the ability of Hajj and Umrah."
TAM's Approach
DARP's main goal when working with TAM in 2020 was to empower its pilgrim service providers by developing and fortifying their innovation-based knowledge and infrastructure. With DARP's green light, TAM began blueprinting the Guest Centrality Methodology project — structured across six primary courses of action:
Step 1 — Analysis
Analysis of DARP's guest-centrality experience adoption level through secondary and field research — interviews, surveys, past reports, and three collaborative workshops with department representatives.
Step 2 — Capability Assessment
Determining areas in need of development using TAM's proprietary capability maturity measurement tool to identify skill gaps and stakeholder vision.
Step 3 — Methodology Design
Identifying and developing complete guest experience methodologies, tools, and guidelines. The design methodology contained two essential elements — the Compass and the Map — created as detailed guides towards higher quality initiatives and services.
Step 4 — Content & Platform
Developing a unified content and structure base for DARP's forms, guidelines, and awareness campaigns. This included building the "Memory Making" platform — filled with 15 information-packed videos and 38 innovation-stimulating interactive tools.
Step 5 — Three-Day Bootcamp
A three-day bootcamp for DARP employees covering the Compass and its basic components, implementation, and operational training. 52 individuals from 9 different DARP departments attended — covering everything from basics and foresight, to discovery, design, and initiation.
Step 6 — Awareness Workshops
11 intensive workshops revolving around prioritized paths of DARP to test the methodology and generate ideas for initiatives — with participation from 15 different sectors and 171 newly produced initiatives.
"It is rare for one to sit all hours in a seminar with enthusiasm. This is the first camp I have ever enjoyed the whole time."
— Bootcamp Attendee
Impact at a Glance
171+
new initiative proposals generated
52
employees trained across 9 DARP departments
11
intensive awareness workshops held
15
sectors participated in the workshops
15
educational videos added to the Memory Making platform
38
interactive innovation tools built into the platform
Lasting Value Created
The Guest Centrality Methodology project unified DARP's departments under a shared framework for innovation and guest-centered service design. By equipping employees with structured tools, methodologies, and training, TAM enabled the program to independently design and launch powerful pilgrim-focused initiatives — laying the groundwork for a more innovative, cohesive, and experience-driven hospitality ecosystem aligned with Vision 2030.