Level of Satisfaction Towards Umrah Management Service by Juara Travel and Tours Company

Tourism that is using the Umrah package is identified to be on the main contributors to Malaysia tourism industry. Many of tourism agencies are promoting their services by offering various of exclusive package to the future pilgrims. Their satisfaction as clients towards the offered service need to be emphasised hence the business tourism in this field able to be widely flourished. This research aims to identify the level of clients’ satisfaction and Umrah management service by Juara Travel and Tours company. This research opted the quantitative approach by distributing the questionnaires to 40 Umrah pilgrims that were choosing the Umrah service package by this respective company. The findings indicate that those Umrah pilgrims satisfied with the early management before performing Umrah and during the Umrah, infrastructure, courses and trainings, appointed mutawwif by Juara Travel and Tours Company. This kind of research is important to upgrade the service quality cum giving the satisfaction and convenience to the future Umrah pilgrims.


Introduction
Tourism industry plays an important role in the development of country's economy and becoming one of the sources of income in country (Henderson, 2009). The scenario shows that Umrah is now becoming part of the tourism aspect since it is an alternative for the Muslims to visit the Holy Land and able to experience the moment of performing 'ibadah in Masjidil Haram, Mecca and Nabawi Mosque in Medina before conducting Hajj. There are certain of Muslims, especially within the context of Malaysian Muslims that are having no chance to perform the fifth pillar of Islam which is to perform Hajj due to insufficient savings or need to wait longer for being called to Mecca for Hajj. Hence, Umrah is a chance for this group to perform 'ibadah and get a chance to visit the historical sites in the Holy Land.
Umrah, in its lexical term means visit, meanwhile in the aspect of syara', it means pay a visit to Baitullah (Kaaba) for the purpose of performing the 'ibadah of Umrah along with the specific intention and conditions (Jamaluddin, 2013). Umrah is an obligatory practice that have to be conducted once in a lifetime for those that are capable to do so. Allah says in His Holy Scripture al-Quran, "and complete the Hajj and 'Umrah for Allah" (Quran: 2: 196). According to the school of al-Shafie, the obligation in doing 'Umrah can be done anytime during their lifetime. An individual (Muslim) is not considered to be sinful if he or she delaying in performing 'Umrah though already in capable state before died. Nonetheless, it is afdal (the best) to quickly performing it in order to letting down one of the responsibilities of each Muslims. Some of the Muslims assume that they are being quite close to Allah during their journey and believe that their prayers as travellers are tend to be accepted by Allah as how was said by Prophet Muhammad PBUH: "There are three types of prayers that won't be neglected by Allah: first is the prayer of parents for their children; second, the prayer from the people who are fasting; and third is the prayer from the travellers" (Al Bayhaqi, Sahih at Tirmidhi) Muslims are always being excited to travel to Mecca and Medina, particularly to visit the Kaaba and the tombs of the prophets. Allah has promised the rewards and benefits from 'Umrah and this matter is started to being realized by the community. Furthermore, there are various of tourism agencies are offering the package of 'Umrah with an affordable value for the future pilgrims. This kind of phenomena is becoming an attractive merit for them to perform this 'ibadah. Hence, the aim of this research: • To identify the satisfaction level and the • To evaluate the 'Umrah management service by Juara Travel and Tours Company.

'Umrah Tourism Agency Management Service
Recently, the industry 'Umrah tourism in Malaysia depicts the increasing number of registered 234 tourism agencies (Airey, 2015). Various of packages offered by the agencies including the arrangement of Visa, accommodation, transportation and food. The future pilgrims' candidates able to choose the economical or luxurious package upon to their preferences. This kind of promotion has attracting the number of pilgrims in joining the 'Umrah trip offered by the tourism agencies. This statement is seconded by the statistic from Umrah Regulatory Council (URC) that the number of Muslims that are performing Umrah to Mecca and Medina is increasing every year. On 2011, around 136,000 of Malaysians performed umrah and until mid of 2017, the number of pilgrims increased to 230,000. This phenomenon is showing a good sign in this industry (Buang, 2017). The umrah tourism agency is responsible to give the best service to their clients or the future pilgrim in order to guarantee the satisfaction of them, cum increase the participation of them in performing this 'ibadah. The umrah tourism agency need to communicate with the airline company, hotel companies, tourism transportation company and others in order to ensure that the schedule smooth and organised. In a meantime, the requirement and facilities that are needed by the pilgrims before and during conducting umrah has to be emphasized for avoiding any shortcomings. A good and quality management is guaranteeing the satisfaction of the pilgrims for establishing loyalty amongst the clients cum recommending the service to others. The satisfaction of the clients is the key for any business industries since their feedbacks on the offered services are being evaluated by the customers (Mohamed et al., 2007).
In an organization, it is a vital aspect to emphasize on the quality of service since it can help to upgrade the company's inner operative system, communication quality between inner and outer party since the presence of the working description, clear responsibility, elevating the awareness on the quality issue and productivity, upgrading the satisfaction of the clients and trust on the products and company's service (Gotzami and Tsiotras, 2002). The client's perception on the productivity and services by organizations or companies need to be studied continuously as the feedback on the company's prestation able to be perceived for the sake of upgrading the company's performance and achievement. Hence, this research will study the satisfaction of the clients and the management service by Juara Travel and Tours company through few elements including the hospitality of the staffs, the preliminary management and during the umrah, infrastructure, courses and trainings, appointed mutawwif by this respected company. Table 1 indicates the respondents background that were participating the Umrah package by Juara Travel and Tours Company. The total of male respondents (52.5%) is higher compared to female respondents (47.5%). Majority of them were between the age of 41 and above (62.5%). Almost half of the respondents worked in the private sector (45%). The level of income of them is various and most of them obtained between RM1001 until RM3000 which is 60%. Almost all of the respondents were married by the total of 90%. Half of them were the degree holders. Most of the participated respondents were joining the umrah package for the first time (77.5%). Other than that, most of them knew about the offered package by the company via the promotion on internet (52.5%).

Analysis of Mean
Analysis using value of mean is important to perceive the satisfaction level of the clients and the increasement of umrah service management. Mean is an average of the observational value in any set of data. The value of mean based on the items in each construct is analysed descriptively. Referring to table 2, the result of the increasement scale depicts the mean score of item for the early management before umrah is put on the highest level which is between 4.10 until 4.23. based on the obtained data, the item of number 2 shows the highest score of mean which is 4.23 that represents the value of 0.86 of standard deviation. Meanwhile, the items of number 1,3,4 and 6 depict the same value of mean, 4.10. The findings portray that the pilgrims satisfied with the early management related to umrah by this company.  Table 3 indicates the mean score for the construct that represents the management during the days of the pilgrims in the Holy Land. The mean score for the third item is the highest which is 4.18 or 0.81 for standard deviation value. Meanwhile, the lowest means score is the sixth item which is 3.98 that represents 0.92 of standard deviation. Hence, in overall, the umrah pilgrims satisfied with the management of the company during their 'ibadah in Holy land. In referring to the table 4, the findings of the increasement scale shows the mean score of the infrastructure items stated between 3.43 until 4.15. Based on the obtained data, the third item indicates the highest score of mean which is 4.15 that represents about 0.86 of standard deviation.
Meanwhile, the first item shows the lowest value of mean which is 3.43. The result of this finding shows that there were few of the pilgrims felt unsatisfied towards the infrastructure provided by the company. The above table indicate the mean score for the construct of the Courses and Trainings provided by the agency. Mean score for the third item is the highest which is 4.20 that represents 0.72 of standard deviation. Meanwhile, the lowest value of the mean score is the fourth item which is 3.90 or 0.74 of standard deviation value. Thus, it shows that the overall data put that the pilgrim candidates were showing their satisfaction but few of them were not enjoying the offered courses and trainings by the company. In referring to the above-stated table, the finding of the increasement scale shows that the highest scale of the mean score is between 4.53 until 4.65. Based on the obtained data, the fifth item is indicating the highest mean score which is 4.65 that represents about 0.77 of standard deviation value. This finding proves that most of the pilgrim candidates are very satisfy with the appointed mutawwif that accompanying their umrah journey.

Conclusion
The satisfaction of the clients towards the management service in any company is a very important issue in order to guarantee the future service given able to upgrade the sale total value. Findings from mean analysis identified that the pilgrims that followed the Umrah package by Juara Travel and Tours company are satisfy with the early management before umrah and during the ibadah, infrastructure, courses and trainings, and appointed mutawwif by this company. The received perceptions and feedbacks from the clients through questionnaire able to open the way for the company to upgrade their quality and service. Theoretically, this research can be benefitted by all the travel agencies in Malaysia, particularly, that are handling the Umrah package. The views and the feedback of the clients are important to get acknowledgement and consideration since the satisfaction of them is the gear of any services provided. With that, this research is not only purposely for the benefit of Juara Travel and Tours company but also for the rest of other agencies, hence the best quality and comfortable journey able to be experienced by the pilgrims during their umrah.