Arab influx tapers off in London

Press, 18 February 1980, Page 4

Arab influx tapers off in London

By

KEN COATES

in London

Free-spending Arab oil Sheiks and other Middle ■.^svvisitors are not pouring.'into London as they used!to/ ; ' The*-fluctuation of the pound L and other currencies, as well as politL 'caluncertainties, have affected the lucrative tourist- industry ...founded on the .heady* Oil profits of two years, agp. • / ‘ • ■ Although ; the - Arabs have not packed up and gone horne, fewer 'are arriving,- and the spending pattern of those- \ has changed. It has -been bad news, for the Sheherezade nightclub in- Piccadilly which'has closed with a debt of $250,000. . It opened in 1976 on the site of the old.Pigalle and features a relaxation- room with a team of. Egyptian belly dancers. . 1 ■ . The consortium behind the. club, designed mainly for visiting Arabs, .was headed by an Iranian businessman. The ' interior • was lavishlv refitted at a cost of $f,150,000. At that visiting gentlemen from the Middle East found London a bargain. The clientele of the Sheherezade club was almost exclusively Arabic, as was the floor show and 99 per cent of non-membership diners, said Mr K. JGoodman, who has been appointed liquidator. The spring and summer of • 1978 were, probably peak years for- London’s Middle East tourist trade. But the wealthy Arab

tourists did not return in the spring and summer season last year. The downturn in the influx from the Middle East coincided with the Iranian revolution, which deposed the Shah and set the world of Islam on a revival course that made trips to Western capitals unfashionable. The number of Iranians who came to Britain during the first six months last year dropped 45 per cent, and Iraqis .65 , per .cent. ... ■> ■. T A spokesman for < the London Tourist .Board said the political situation tn Iran had certainly -h?a, , an . effect. But a number of visitors had bought houses ■in London ■ and- were changing' their’ spending pattern as visitors 1 to residents wh had. settled down. ~ . “They may be doing their entertaining, at home, rather than in nightclubs, he said. • As well, some wealthy Middle East visitors were now travelling elsewhere in the world — Ito California, in. particular, : where they., were finding they got more for their money. ■ . - - “It is a matter of fashion as well, and at the moment, well, London is not so fashionable for these people.”