Abu Dhabi: For many Emiratis London has become like a second home.

However, in the space of 16 days, two separate attacks on Emirati families may have changed perceptions of London. The attacks on Emiratis have also come at a bad time, with the summer holidays almost here, and many Emiratis planning their holidays.

The British tourism industry is highly reliant upon Emirati and GCC visitors to the country. In 2012, there were more than 30,000 visas issued for Emiratis to the UK, with the British Tourism Authority reporting a total of 530,000 visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a 6 per cent increase from 2011, with the numbers expected to increase during the summers of 2013 and 2014.

GCC visitors to London contributed at least $1.97 billion (Dh7.2 billion), with $3,400 being spent on average per person, making GCC visitors to the UK the highest spenders.

Speaking to Gulf News, Saeed Al Reyami, who has regularly travelled to London, and has also had his own bad experience of being robbed in London, says that the recent attacks combined with his own experience have changed any plans he has of going to London.

“Personally if I am going to travel this summer, I will rule London out, at the moment it seems dangerous and unsafe, so there’s no need to risk it. The danger can also increase more during the summer when there are many more Emiratis in London, so I don’t want to take the chance, especially when I have been a victim while I was in London.”

Insulted

Another Emirati who has no plans of visiting London is Khalid Al Hammadi. He told Gulf News, “I was thinking of travelling there with my family, but after what has happened, I will never ever visit London again, I don’t want to jeopardise my family.”

“It is not safe, when I was a student there I never felt safe, I remember being insulted and seeing my friend getting attacked because we were not British, so after what has happened now, definitely I will never go back.”

“I highly recommend other places to visit, like Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.”

Travel agencies in the UAE have reported no cancellations regarding travel plans to London by Emiratis, though they do believe some Emiratis will avoid London.

“For the time being, in the short term, there can be an effect in travel arrangements to London by Emiratis, but I believe in the long term things will get back to normal”, says Noushad Aziz, who works as a manager at the Abu Dhabi travel agency Land of Holidays.

“This is the first time I’ve heard of something like this happening to Emirati families, London is a very big city, like New York, so these things can happen. For the time being though people are scared, before London was seen as a very homely and safe place by Emiratis, but now some are worried.”

“A family of six Emiratis were staying in London, and the father told me that after the first attack, he didn’t allow his family to go out of the hotel after 6:30 in the evening.”

Cancellations

Another travel agent who spoke to Gulf News, Shaikh Safraz, also believes that there could be a decrease in Emirati travel to London in the short term.

“This is bad luck, this normally doesn’t happen, but you never know the situation. At the moment I have no cancellations, I believe people will travel, but with more precaution.”

“Maybe there will be some effect on leisure travel to London, but not in terms of business travel to London, maybe people who will have to stay in a hotel will think twice about going to London, so there will be some impact.”

Some Emiratis though still plan on travelling to London, Saleh. H. says he will go to London as usual, but will take more care. “I still believe London is a safe city, people are mugged around the world everyday, this was just a coincidence that it happened to two Emirati families. The occurrence of these attacks could happen anywhere in the world, I do suggest we take precaution wherever we are visiting, I will take more caution and care in my surroundings when I visit London.”

“It’s a shame that people’s travel plans can be effected by these incidents, especially for the summer vacations. It could effect the economy in and around London as local shop owners depend on Arab customers in the summer,” he said.

The writer is an intern with Gulf News