Gani, Arni bt Abduldubayl, Hanadi Al bu2025-04-232025https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14154/75252Saudi Arabia is the core of the Arab and Islamic worlds and represents the heartof Islam (Liu & Fan, 2018). Around 10 million pilgrims travel annually to the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia (KSA) for Umrah (a minor pilgrimage to Makkah) in more than 180 countries. According to The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, the government of KSA has issued 7,584,424 Umrah visas since 30 May 2019 (25 Ramadan 1440 H) (Tobaiqy et al., 2021). However, the development of the Umrah service quality has increased over timein meeting the needs of the pilgrims to carry out Umrah worship easily and comfortably (Usanto et al., 2023). The King ordered the establishment of a ministry dedicated to serving the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages under the name of the Ministry ofHajj and Umrah. It continues to play the leading role in providing services to pilgrims throughout the Hajj and Umrah (Al Jahdali, 2021). This is one of the main duties of theMHU. The program's purpose is to tightly control all the service providersfor pilgrims,including Tawaf formations, internal pilgrims' companies, pilgrim transport providers,and companies supplying hospitality services (Al Jahdali, 2021) In addition, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible for providing pilgrims infrastructure, accommodation, food and beverages, safety, and medical care. Officials must work with commercial operators both in Saudi Arabia and overseas to provide services. Saudi government planned for over 15 million Muslims to perform Umrah annually and to be completely satisfied with their Umrah experience (Alammash et al., 2021). Pilgrims come from different nationalities; therefore, the development is not limited to public services only but also to employees to improve the services for pilgrims is an important first step (Al Jahdali, 2021). Moreover, several factors affect pilgrims' satisfaction, represented in the quality and availability of services, such as food, amenities, and staff responsiveness. Additionally, the physical environment of the hotel, including its location, cleanliness, and overall appearance, are crucial indicators (Fathurrahman et al., 2021). Consequently, administering Umrah is an extremely complicated process in which Saudi Arabia’s private and public sectors are deeply involved (Masoud Mohammed et al., 2024). The demand for Umrah puts pressure on Saudi Arabia, as the country sees it as its responsibility to accept all who want to come for Hajj and Umrah.However, until recent times, the Kingdom could not receive all pilgrims due to a lack of facilities and services. To keep up with the fast-growing demand, Saudi Arabia proposed a seriesof initiatives and projects in Vision 2030, including the expansion of facilities and services to cater to a better experience 11 for the pilgrims (Alammash et al., 2021). According to Alshaibi (2024), studies available currently in the literature barely addressed Umrah quality. They lacked the application of standardized service quality dimensions, especially with the arrival of various new elements such as new transportation means, infrastructure expansions, and regulations. Considering the complexity of Umrah and the overlap among the service providers involved, his study is to realize the challenges facing pilgrims and to measure Umrah service quality and the impact of the factors involved in the pilgrims’ satisfaction. Therefore, to enhance the previous study due to the lack of studies to examine service quality by measuring pilgrims' satisfaction through perceived value toward the Saudi government and service providers. In this study, the impact of satisfaction was examined by measuring perceived value as a moderator variable in relation to service quality. Commonly cited definitions of perceived value are supplied by the consumer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given (Zeithaml, 1988). Some past studies confirm the positive relationships between perceived value and customer satisfaction (Samudro et al., 2020). Building on previous studies, this study applies perceived value to assess the impact of pilgrims' satisfaction with service quality. The purpose of this study is to measure the relationship between the predictors of the SERVQUAL model and the perceived value, which indicates pilgrims’ satisfaction with the Saudi Arabian government. Moreover, the dimensions of service quality to be fulfilled are Tangibles, Empathy, Reliability, Responsiveness, and Assurance (Bachmid & Rahmiati, 2022). Which in return significantly affects the perceived value. Furthermore, the quality of the experience alters the perceived value for pilgrims (Ying et al., 2012). However, based on Masoud Mohammed et al. (2024),service qualities can be improved to improve the services offered and enhance pilgrims’ satisfaction. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and service providers are enhancing their services for pilgrims by improving transportation, healthcare, cleanliness, security, accommodation, food & beverage, and facilitating visa procedures. All these factors significantly impact pilgrims' perceived value, either positively or negatively, thereby influencing their satisfaction level. In line with the above notion, the general objectives of this study are as follows: i. To assess the impact of service quality on pilgrims’ satisfaction with the services received. ii. To examine the moderating role of perceived value in the relationship between service quality and pilgrims' satisfaction, focusing on expectations align with the actual service experienceIn Umrah, service quality is paramount due to the unique nature of the Umrah experience. Ensuring smooth and efficient services, such as transportation, accommodation, safety, and food & beverages, is crucial for meeting pilgrims' expectations. Pilgrims' satisfaction in Umrah is closely tied to the seamless execution of services, commitment to religious protocols, and personalized attention from Saudi Arabia and service providers. This study aims to assess the impact of service quality on pilgrims’ satisfaction with the services received. And to examine the role of perceived values as the moderating factor between service quality and satisfaction. This study employed a quantitative approach with convenient sampling to analyze service quality in Umrah in Saudi Arabia. The sample consists of 138 Malaysian pilgrims who have performed Umrah at least once in the last five years. The data was gathered through the distribution of the questionnaire, following which it was run by SPSS 27&30 for further analysis. The study results showed that the regression model accounts for 80.5% of the variation in Perceived Value, and the correlation matrix shows that most of the variables are positively correlated. Finally, perceived value moderates the relationship between service quality and satisfaction in some dimensions of service quality, enhancing its impact on satisfaction. However, in other dimensions, the perceived value did not have a significant effect on the satisfaction of pilgrims.91enSaudi ArabiaUmrahService QualitySatisfactionPerceived Value iiThesis