PASSENGERS STRANDED AT DXB HAVE VERY LITTLE MONEY, NO HOTEL RESERVATIONS
Khaleej Times was given exclusive access to the arrivals section of the airport Terminal 3 where at least 25 to 30 tourist visa holders were awaiting deportation.
Seated in a socially distanced manner, several passengers Khaleej Times spoke to came across as uneducated as many were completely unaware of how their tickets and visas were booked. Most of the passengers had no hotel bookings, less than Dh500 with them in-hand and had plans to stay in Dubai for 30 days to three months.
Talal Mahmood, a Pakistani traveller said: “I came here to meet my cousin. He is very unwell and I plan to leave in 25 days. I only have Dh250 with me, and I will stay with my relatives.”
When asked as to how he procured the visa and booked his tickets for his travel to Dubai, Mahmood said: “I don’t know, an agent did it for me.”
Another traveller Kayyum Nizammuddin from Karachi said: “I have come to see Dubai as a tourist for sightseeing purposes. I will stay with my cousins.” However, Nizammuddin also said he has been to the UAE twice before in 2015. “I don’t care about the Covid-19 crisis. I have just come to visit the place and sightseeing.”
Commenting on the responses from the travellers, AlShanqeti said he suspects many of them have been fooled by recruitment agents. “Many have been lured by recruitment agents. They pay them a lot of money and all these agents do is arrange their visa and tickets. They come here, realise there are no jobs available, and end up becoming destitute.”
Another traveller Mohammed Zafar said: “I have a shop back in Pakistan, and I came here to try my luck and look for another job. I was hoping to stay with my cousins.”