Mahmoud Al-Natheef
Tourism media consultant

The South Korean media surprised us earlier this week by publishing unusual tourism news, but between its lines it contains many things that are considered real and realistic lessons that everyone who wants tourism in his country to develop and advance should benefit from. In the world of tourism, it is easy to talk about the beauty of destinations, the quality of hotels, the development of airports, and the efficiency of transportation, but there is a factor that is less visible in the tourism picture and more influential in visitor confidence: transparency.

South Korea provides us with a model worth considering in this aspect, not only through easy access to information and services, but also through a bolder idea: that violations and complaints be part of the system of control and improvement, and not files that should be hidden from public opinion.

The modern tourist is not looking for an ideal, error-free destination, because he knows that errors and problems exist in every industry. But he wants to know: What happens when the problem occurs? And who is held accountable? Is there anyone who listens to his complaints? Is it treated seriously and transparently?
Here lies the importance of publishing information related to violations, complaints, and the results that result from them, in accordance with legal frameworks that protect the privacy and rights of all parties.

Announcing the presence of violations and addressing them does not necessarily mean harming the tourism sector, but rather it can be a strong message that the law applies to everyone and that the rights of tourists have real value.
Indeed, in this case, transparency becomes a tool of deterrence before it becomes a tool of punishment. When the service provider realizes that the violation may be subject to monitoring, investigation, and announcing its results, this encourages him to adhere to the standards, and raises the level of competition on the basis of quality and not on the basis of the ability to bypass regulations.

Most importantly, publishing complaints and results should not be for the purpose of defamation, but rather for the purpose of learning and improving performance. Every complaint can reveal a defect in a service or procedure, and every violation can be an opportunity to correct course. Here the complaint moves from being an individual problem to information that benefits the entire sector.

The question that we must ask boldly is: What can we learn as an Arab?
The lesson that Arab and Gulf destinations can learn from is that the reputation of tourism is not always damaged by admitting mistakes; In fact, it may be harmed more when the tourist feels that the problem is being ignored or hidden.

We need to develop a new tourism culture that makes complaints, violations, and quality indicators tools for measuring a destination’s performance, and not just internal numbers that the public knows nothing about. Tourism transparency means that the visitor knows his rights, the prices of services, the mechanisms for submitting complaints, the entity that protects him, and most importantly, that he sees real results when he files a complaint.

In the age of social media, it is no longer possible to hide negative experiences; Within minutes, a tourist can share his experience with millions of people. Therefore, official transparency may be more effective than leaving the arena to rumors and individual impressions.
Korea offers an important lesson: a successful tourist destination is not one that says everything is perfect, but one that can also say: A problem occurred, it was detected, it was addressed, and we will not allow it to happen again. This, in the end, is not just administrative transparency, but a direct investment in tourist confidence. The tourist may forget the name of the hotel or the details of the flight, but he will not forget how the destination dealt with him when he faced a problem.
Transparency does not mean revealing defects to weaken tourism.. Rather, it means revealing and addressing them to protect tourism.
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