Rainbow Travel’s Sameer Abdelghani saw his business come to a standstill in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
Abdelghani wasn’t alone, but the Anaheim travel agency has been doubly impacted by the attacks: it books travel, mostly for Arab-Americans, to the Middle East.
Normally, Abdelghani said he books roughly 25 tickets per week for travel to the Middle East. Not surprisingly, his Rainbow Travel reported no sales during the week of the attacks.
But more than a week after the attacks, business had yet to return to normal, he said. Rather than trying to dissuade his clientele from canceling their trips to the Middle East, Abdelghani has been trying to book them on trips to other destinations in a bid to save business.
“I’m trying to get people not to give up and stick with their reservations,” he said. “If you don’t want to go to the Middle East this year, let’s reschedule to somewhere else, to Europe, South America.”
It’s a tough sell, according to Abdelghani: “They’re so scared.”
Many Arab-American business owners in Orange County declined to speak publicly about their businesses last week, fearing that only would bring unwanted attention to themselves.
In Anaheim, which counts a sizable Arab-American community, businesses such as Ali Baba Restaurant on Brookhurst Street have received angry calls and other outbursts.
Like others, local Arab-American businesses say that activity has slowed and continues to be severely hampered by the siege mentality that has taken hold here and across the country.
Many attributed the decline in business to anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment that has emerged in the days after the attacks.
“We are just as horrified by this (attack) as any other American,” said Newport Beach businessman Omar Turbi. “We’re definitely going to be losing some of the freedoms we’ve enjoyed because we’re going to be a target of some agencies, which is sad. This whole tragic event should give us impetus to be vigilant that this never happens again.”
George Hanna Sr., president of Orange-based Hanna Construction Co., said the Arab-American community has made some gains in the past several years. But he also criticized Arab-Americans for not doing more.
“Arab-Americans need to learn that we need to be part of the community,sponsor little league teams, be a part of the PTA, be visible in the community,” said Hanna, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and is a Korean War veteran.
Turbi said he believes Arab-American businesses will recover from the fallout.
“In a couple of weeks and months, when the outrage subsides, I really anticipate there will be more business because the public is so much more interested to know our people than ever before,” he said. “They will want to walk into their shops and see how they look and what they say. They’ll want to walk into our mosques and churches to see how we pray. We’re all going to come together to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” n
Ibrahim is editor of Huntington Beach-based Arab-American Business Magazine.
