Terrorism Alters Business at Home

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, business has changed for many people in Northwest Arkansas.

Leisure travel is down by 60 percent, and business travel is down by about 40 percent. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, canceled all business travel overseas for the following two weeks.

Film processing has dropped by 33 percent as area residents cancel vacations and “hunker down,” as the King of Jordan advised Americans to do.

On the up side, if you can call it that, gun sales have increased by 30 percent, and ammunition sales are up by 75 percent.

Semi-automatic assault weapons that cost upwards of $1,500 have been a top seller at Springdale’s C&S Gun and Pawn Shop. And those don’t have anything to do with the start of hunting season.

“They’re still going hard,” said Clint Cornett, owner of C&S.

Airlines canceled three flights into the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill.

And all these changes occurred within just two weeks of the terrorism that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.

Travel agents

Nationwide, travel agencies are requesting a $5 billion bailout from the federal government. This comes on the heels of a $15 billion federal aid package promised to the airlines. The travel industry employs some 300,000 people in the United States.

“We’re in business to stay in business,” said George Billingsley, who owns International Tours of Bentonville. “Yes, it’s been hurt. It’s been severely hurt. It’s regaining some gradually.”

Billingsley, who gave us the percentages we used above referring to travel, said he was besieged in late September by customers who were stranded by Renaissance Cruises of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The cruise company suddenly ceased operations Sept. 25 and deposited its passengers that were on 10 ships from Tahiti to the Mediterranean at the nearest port, wherever the ships were at that particular moment.

Renaissance filed to reorganize its finances under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws. Travelers with deposits on future cruises are in jeopardy of losing their money. Renaissance’s deposits totaled more than $100 million at the time of the clampdown. The privately owned cruise line carries more than 5,000 passengers a week on 850 ships, primarily on cruises outside North America.

Renaissance referred passengers to their travel agents for refunds. Some of those cruises cost as much as $12,000, Billingsley said.

“The customer is standing in my door wanting his money,” he said.

Billingsley said his agency’s sales are usually $10,000 to $15,000 per day.

“Our refunds have been exceeding our sales,” he said. “You look up and see $18,000 worth of refunds that day, and where are your sales?”

The American Way

“These people were not even Muslim,” Fadil Bayyari said of the terrorists who attacked New York City and the Pentagon with hijacked jetliners. “Islam is a gentle and kind faith. It is definitely against these actions. These were not the faithful. A good Muslim would not embark on an action like that.”

Bayyari is a Springdale real estate developer who was born and raised in the West Bank. He has lived in the United States for the past 32 years and in Northwest Arkansas for the last 22 years.

Bayyari, who is a Muslim, said the actions of the terrorists have nothing to do with Islam.

To say the actions of the terrorists were in line with Islam would be like saying the actions of the Ku Klux Klan and Timothy McVeigh were Christian, Bayyari said.

“They came up with a twisted theory of their own to justify [their actions].” he said. “I think the United States is doing the right thing to get after [terrorists] and the people who harbor them. I am proud to be an American and part of the community and society.

“I deplore what happened … We’re saddened and feel for the people in New York.”

Fred Kouchehbagh, owner of The Dome Grill & Bar in Fayetteville, said the restaurant business is down all over town, but his business isn’t suffering any more than others because he is from Iran.

Kouchehbagh, who moved to the United States 25 years ago, is Muslim but is very much an American now.

“Benjamin Franklin is my prophet now,” he said. “He looks good on a $100 bill.”

Laleh Amirmoez, a Fayetteville architect originally from Iran, said she has seen no change in her business, but it’s too early to tell for sure.

“For people who know you, this is not going to make a difference,” she said. “For new [clients], I don’t know.”