ICT Rating is an official government program to assess the quality of ICT services that are provided in touristic venues including hotels, conference centers, theme parks, shopping malls and restaurants.  Selected venues are assessed against seven broad areas: Affordability of ICT Services, Quality of Service, ICT Security, Technical Support, Innovative ICT Services, Accessibility of ICT Services, and Business Facility Services.  The evaluation is conducted via both “mystery shopping” and guest satisfaction surveys. In 2016, TDRA assessed 50 5-star hotels across the emirates, in coordination with tourism authorities. This year, the TDRA will be evaluating five-star hotels, four-star hotels, malls, and theme parks.   

 The goals of this initiative are to:

• Raise visibility of the UAE’s world-class, technologically-advanced tourism & leisure facilities
• Enhance the country’s standing on global ICT performance indices
• Strengthen the global competitiveness of UAE’s touristic venues, by encouraging them to provide a world-class ICT-enabled guest experience
• Allow guests to select touristic venues that best meet their ICT needs

 The outcome of this initiative aims to advance the vision of the country, enhance the competitiveness of the tourism sector, and improve the digital customer experience.

Digital services in tourism places have become a major element for customers when deciding on their tourism destination. In order to formulate a rating framework, the TDRA has reviewed several researches and studies related to ICT services. Additionally, it has reviewed customers feedback posted on leading travel websites to identify their expectations, as well as meeting representatives of leading hotels groups to explore their approach about digital services they seek to provide to customers.

Based on the above, a framework of seven primary criteria standards, in addition to a number of secondary standards, has been developed to assess the quality of available ICT services. The main criteria include: