Israel tourist behaviour in UAE 'shameful'

Israeli visitors to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been behaving in a “shameful” manner, Ynet News reported yesterday.

“More than 66,000 Israeli tourists have visited UAE’s Dubai and other regions since the signing of the peace agreement between the two countries,” Amalia Lazarov, owner of local Travelicious travel company, told the Israeli news agency.

Lazarov pointed out:

I have been working in the UAE and other Arab countries for the past 12 years and am happy to see Israelis are finally welcomed there after years of dreaming of this opportunity. But now it is all blowing up in our faces because of this inappropriate behaviour.

Read: Abu-Dhabi suspends visa waiver for Israel travellers to UAE

The newspaper quoted sources stating that some Israeli visitors were: “Cooking inside their hotel rooms in violation of the laws of administration, stealing towels and other items from their rooms and holding inappropriate parties.”

“The UAE is very accessible to the Israeli visitors now,” the travel expert noted, urging that Arabic-speaking Israelis must “respect the hotel workers.” She warned: “Things would end badly if this behaviour continued.”

Over 50,000 Israelis were reported to have visited the UAE since the joint normalisation pact between the two countries, signed on 15 September.

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