Mumbai, June 17 :    Mumbai, June 17:  Call them rain tourists. Every monsoon, even as Mumbaikars brace for another four months of waterlogging, disrupted train services and leptospirosis claiming a 100 more lives, some people from a desert country spend thousands of dollars just to experience the Mumbai torrents. From July to September, it's Arabian season for the city hotels on Marine Drive and Colaba Seaface. Tourists from the Gulf arrive in droves with their families and park themselves in rooms that offer a view of the sea - to drink in the sight of rainclouds gathering over its turbulent waters. 'We enjoy 30 per cent occupancy because of such tourists,' said an official of the Sea Green on Marine Drive. Marine Plaza, also on Marine Drive, enjoys 50 per cent occupancy because of rain-thirsty Arabs, a hotel official said. Recently, just before the turbulence in the state government and the trust vote, deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, accompanied by the managing director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, A.K. Singh, visited the UAE to woo such tourists. 'We visited Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Bahrain,' says Singh, adding: 'The monsoons in Mumbai was one of the high points on our agenda.' The tourism corporation is also eyeing western ex-pats, who enjoy travelling across India, and NRIs, who usually visit only their hometowns. But it will soon offer monsoon packages that have been drawn up especially for the Arabs. 'Talks were interrupted by the threat of war. But we have signed a MoU with Indian Airlines and discussions are on with Air-India. Emirates is also a likely partner in these packages that will include tie-ups with hotels,' says Singh. 'Besides the monsoons, we threw in Mumbai's other attractions: Bollywood, nightlife and food.' Tour Club, a travel agency that specialises in the Gulf market, has one such package already on offer. 'It's a two-night-three-day stay at a five-star hotel, with breakfast, taxes and airport transfers, for between $300 and $350,' an agency official said. 'About 2,000 people come from the Gulf every year for the monsoons,' he added. Over the years, the number of tourists have shrunk, in keeping with the diminishing might of the petro dollar. Now, most of the rain tourists flock not to the five-stars, but to the three-star or even cheaper hotels. 'It is because the boom time of the petro dollar is over. Our agency doesn't offer any packages for the Gulf tourists,' says an official of Thomas Cook. Most of the Arabs now don't come through travel agencies, either - they just land up at a Marine Drive hotel. Some stay on for months. Some get themselves treated at a sea-facing hospital, taking the opportunity to recuperate on a rainy holiday. 'We have certain Arab guests who come every year,' said an employee of Sea Green. This year, too, the hotels by the seaside are waiting for their overseas guests. But they are afraid that the turnout would be low, given the menacing clouds of - not monsoon - but war looming on the horizon.