Ramadan Rush was first coined in 2011 by the British media and embraced by the retail sector as it became noticeable that the UK was attracting huge numbers of wealthy

Middle Eastern The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (European ...

visitors around the time of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

, which happened to fall on 1 August on this year. In 2012 the New West End Company, the management company for retailers in

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as ...

Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...

and

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

explained; ‘The Ramadan Rush is a total phenomenon... It is worth millions to us (the UK) — last year there was about £120 million spent in the pre-Ramadan rush by Middle Eastern visitors, but it grows every single year. We expect it to be up ten per cent this year (2013)'. Many Bond Street and

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

retailers have catered for their luxury customers by opening later, hiring

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

speaking staff, and providing tax refund services including

Global Blue Global Blue is a tourism shopping tax refund company headquartered in Nyon, Switzerland. The company is best known for tax-free shopping, a VAT/GST refund product and also operates in dynamic currency conversion, marketing services, point-of-sale ...

and

Premier Tax Free Planet (formerly known as Fintrax and Premier Tax Free), is a financial services company, specialised in multicurrency payments, credit card processing and the management of VAT refunds for tourists. Planet provide their services to overseas vi ...

. As Ramadan dates change each year, the term 'Ramadan Rush' is also associated with the term '

Supercar Season The term "Supercar Season" began in London and became synonymous with wealthy Middle Eastern visitors showcasing their supercars in affluent London neighbourhoods, namely Knightsbridge and Kensington, while car enthusiasts collect footage to uplo ...

' which occurs in July and August as wealthy Middle Eastern nationalities arrive in the UK to escape the heat of the Gulf States, taking their

supercars A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

with them.{{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33981995, title='Supercar season' hits central London, work=BBC News, accessdate=19 May 2016

References

Retailing in the United Kingdom Ramadan Retailing in London