RIYADH, 3 June — Nine months after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, a large number of Saudis have dropped the United States from their travel, tourism and study plans for security reasons.

Officials at language institutes and travel agencies have pointed out that there has been a considerable drop in the number of Saudis traveling to the US since Sept. 11.

Even Saudis who are Western-educated themselves and have sent or hoped to send their children to the United States for schooling are now plagued by deep misgivings.

Emad Al-Sayyed, an official at a major language teaching center, told Arab News that most Saudis no longer want to study in the US. “There has been a substantial decrease in the number of people wanting to go to America,” he added.

“Everybody is reluctant to go to the US. Now Saudi students are turning toward Canada, especially Toronto and Vancouver,” he pointed out.

Some Saudis are going to universities in New Zealand although the Saudi authorities do not recognize them. “This indicates that people have started searching for new and secure places, away from the United States, Britain and the Middle East.”

Of the 5,500 Saudi students who were studying at US universities before the attacks, hundreds have returned home.

Many of them have complained of harassment and abuse in the US in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Of the 19 suspected hijackers in the unprecedented jetliner attacks, 15 were Saudi.

An official who sends Saudi students abroad to study said only a few students had chosen to study in the US. However, he pointed out that there had been no change in Saudis’ impression of Americans.

“But the negative attitude of many US officials makes Saudis unwilling to travel to that country for studies or tourism,” he added.

“Before Sept. 11, Saudi students wanted to study in America and visit the country because of the good standing of Americans and their reputation for fairness. Now things have turned upside down,” the official said.

“The stories told by Saudis returning from the US involving the harassment and bad treatment they experienced have destroyed their confidence in the Americans,” he concluded.

In support of this, Al-Sayyed gave the example of a student his center had sent to the US.

The student missed the original flight on which he was booked so he traveled on another. When he arrived in the US, the FBI took him into custody for 18 hours and he was beaten and humiliated.

The FBI confiscated the student’s passport and in its place gave him an official paper. When he arrived in Florida, the police asked him for his passport.

They did not accept the official paper and detained him for four hours.

He was released only after the intervention of the institute where he was going to study. But because of the initial shock and desperation, he stayed in his room for a month without going to class.

“Everybody knows that America since Sept. 11 is not the America they knew before,” Al-Sayyed commented.

Yasser Suleiman, director of Al-Jazeera Travel and Tourism Company in Jeddah, confirmed that ticket sales to the US and Europe had declined by 60 percent and 45 percent respectively.

He attributed the decline to the US to long and complicated visa procedures. “Most people who are now traveling to the US are forced to do so, for either business or medical treatment. Saudis now rarely go there for tourism and studies.”

Nevertheless, a number of Saudis have expressed their desire to visit the US, dismissing reports of harassment as exaggerated.

Muhammad Al-Otaibi said he was determined to go to the US for higher studies despite the negative reports. “The situation in the US is different from what is written in the media,” he added.

Majed Abdul Aziz, who traveled to the US for higher studies a few months ago, said there was nothing to worry.

“There has been no change in the behavior of the American people. They deal with us as they did before,” he added.

However, US Embassy officials say there has been a precipitous decline in Saudi visa applications since the attacks.

Back before Sept. 11, it took only a day or two, on average, for a Saudi to obtain a US visa. The country’s visa approval rate was one of the highest in the world. Now even a visa renewal would take at least three weeks.

State Department officials have said they hope such delays will be temporary.