UAE residents not changing Europe travel plans despite heatwave, flight cancellations

UAE residents not changing Europe travel plans despite heatwave, flight cancellations

Despite the heatwaves hitting most European countries, many UAE residents are not changing their travel plans to the continent. Family commitments, familiarity with hot temperatures and the cost of changing plans are some of the reasons for this. For Dubai resident Maria, France is home, and she will be travelling there shortly. “My husband and two children have already left for France to be with my parents,” she told Khaleej Times, adding: “I will fly there next week. It is hotter than usual there, but we are from the Middle East. These kinds of temperatures are quite familiar to us. Also, it is important for us to go back home to see our parents. So, heatwave or not, we will be going ahead with our plans.” On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organisation warned of an increased risk of deaths linked to excessively high temperatures as the EU's emergency response coordination centre issued red alerts for parts of Italy, Spain, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. According to Fardan Haneef, Director of deiratravel.com, the cost of changing plans has been a major deterrent to people changing their travel plans. “Its challenging to get a Schengen visa appointment in a short