Café owners here say that their businesses have lost up to 90 percent of their clientele because of the final examinations taking place at schools and universities.
“Just a few days ago, before the beginning of the exams, my café was full with mostly secondary school and university students,” said Taher Bakhash, a café owner. “But since the final exams began last week, there has been a drop of over 70 percent.”
Bakhash said he hopes there would be an improvement on the last day of the examinations, which coincides with the start of the summer vacation. “The pace of work will increase and profits might spike by 100 percent,” he said.
Hasan Daboor, in his last year as a communication and media student at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, said he loves cafés and spends up to four hours at a time in them socializing with friends.
“Since the beginning of the exams, I stopped going to cafés completely because of my studies. But once the exams are over, I will go back with my friends,” he said.
There are more than 2,000 Internet and other cafés in Jeddah.
Cafés suffer business slump as students sit exams
