Methods of Improve Religious Tourists' Satisfaction with Police Services in Mashhad

A B S T R A C TThe effective role of the police in creating order and security is one of the most important variables affecting tourists' satisfaction. The current research aims to identify ways to improve pilgrims' satisfaction with police management services in Mashhad. The research is applied in terms of purpose and mixed in nature. The participants were selected from three groups, including police experts, tourism specialists, trustees, and those involved in the affairs of tourist accommodation places and service, commercial and hospitality centers. The data of the qualitative stage were obtained from 13 semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach. The results of the findings of this stage became the basis for the design of the questionnaire for the Delphi survey. The number of participants in the Delphi survey was 40. The calculation of Kendall's consensus coefficient was based on the consensus in the survey stages. This value is between 0 and 1; the closer the calculated number is to 1, the higher the degree of agreement and consensus. In the second stage of the Delphi survey phase, this value was higher than the acceptable limit (0.5) in all dimensions, and therefore, the opinion polling process was stopped. So, the values of Kendall's consensus coefficient about improving the satisfaction of pilgrims with the police by three dimensions, including urban traffic and transportation, tourist accommodation places, and service, commercial and hospitality centers, are respectively 0.72, 0.71, and 0.66. The results of this research include practical approaches to improve religious tourists' satisfaction with police services in Mashhad Extended AbstractIntroductionHowever, suppose the law enforcement management performs well by adopting effective measures and methods in preventing, confronting, and controlling violations, crimes, and violations. In that case, it can provide a reliable image of the public image of Mashhad as a destination by improving the satisfaction of religious tourists (pilgrims). Draw the main religious tourism in the country, the region, and even the Islamic world in the minds of tourists. After Tehran, Mashhad is considered Iran's largest metropolis and spiritual capital, and its urban population is increasing every year. Every year, millions of eager pilgrims from all over the country and other Islamic countries visit Mashhad to visit the royal court of Hazrat Samen-Al-Hajj. According to the statistics provided by the Director-General of the Pilgrim Welfare Affairs Office of Khorasan Razavi Governorate in 2018, more than 28 million and 590 thousand pilgrims (religious tourists) visited the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), of which more than 3.5 million; it consists of foreign pilgrims (mostly from Arabic-speaking countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, and Urdu-speaking countries from India and Pakistan, as well as Turkey and Azerbaijan). Mashhad also has a particular position in the country due to its geographical, religious, and cultural conditions. It is important to note that over 30 million pilgrims visit the city of Mashhad annually, which is three times the city's population of 3.5 million. Therefore, it is crucial to effectively manage the reception and satisfaction of these religious tourists, especially on such a large scale. Thus, the present study emphasizes increasing the satisfaction of Imam Reza (AS) pilgrims in Mashhad, and the main issue of the research is religious tourism and law enforcement management from the point of view of experts. MethodologyThe present study is mixed research (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of practical purpose and the nature of the data. Tourism and experts in the field of research were identified by the method of "improbable and targeted sampling," and an interview was conducted. For this study, four groups of participants were selected, including police experts, religious tourism specialists, individuals in charge of tourism accommodation and service centers, and those in the business and hospitality industry. Due to the heterogeneity of the groups, initial estimates were made based on every 10 participants, resulting in 40 Delphi panel members. Results and discussionIn the present study, sub-questions were developed according to the purpose of the research. These questions are ways to improve the satisfaction of pilgrims from law enforcement services in Mashhad in three main categories; "urban traffic and transportation," "tourist accommodation," and "service centers." "Commerce and Hospitality." A questionnaire to examine these three categories was used to answer the research sub-questions. Answers to some of the research questions were possible by examining descriptive statistics such as frequency/percentage, mean, and standard deviation of the answers given, and answers to some other questions were possible by the inferential analysis of the collected data by calculating the Kendall coordination coefficient and average categories. According to the results, the Kendall agreement's value for 7 sub-categories related to "urban traffic and transportation in Mashhad" increased from 0.451 in the first round of the Delphi survey to 0.716 in the second round. The value of the Kendall agreement coefficient for 12 sub-categories related to "tourist accommodation places in Mashhad" increased from 0.435 in the first round of the Delphi survey to 0.711 in the second round. The value of the Kendall agreement coefficient for 11 sub-categories related to "service, commercial, and hospitality centers in Mashhad" increased from 0.387 in the first round of the Delphi survey to 0.657 in the second round. ConclusionDue to reaching an acceptable consensus among the members participating in the Delphi survey regarding how to improve the pilgrims' satisfaction with the law enforcement management services in Mashhad, the three main categories of the Delphi survey were completed. Based on the research findings, it is suggested that based on the results, in the discussion of traffic and urban transportation in the holy city of Mashhad, creating one-way routes to the holy shrine of Razavi is the priority in promoting pilgrims' satisfaction, so it is necessary in order to facilitate the passage of pilgrims to the holy shrine, traffic plans around the holy shrine of Razavi have been reviewed, and one-way traffic routes have been created. Also, since in the component related to law enforcement management services in the discussion of traffic and urban transportation in Mashhad, the parking in commercial areas is one of the most critical issues and it seems that parking the car in a suitable place is one of the concerns have been raised. The lack of parking is evident, especially in commercial areas in Mashhad, so it is suggested that appropriate parking lots be constructed around commercial areas. FundingThere is no funding support. Authors’ ContributionAll of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work. Conflict of InterestAuthors declared no conflict of interest. AcknowledgmentsWe are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.