Mena business travel surged before tariff storm hit

April 17, 2025, 6:54 AM

Dubai airport. The city hosts conferences that attract tens of thousands of business travellers, with most scheduled from October to April

First-quarter figures up by over 50%
More business trips mixed with leisure
Average length of stay increasing

The number of business travel trips booked in the Mena region increased by more than 50 percent in the first quarter of 2025.

However, the onset of a trade war and a projected slowdown in economic growth may temper performance for the foreseeable future, according to travel experts.

Business travel company Tamodo said it expected the sector to grow by at least 8 percent per year for the next five years and be worth about $270 billion by 2030.

The average length of business trips in Q1 was 10 days, suggesting that visitors were adding leisure days to work trips in so-called “bleisure” travel, Tamodo said in a report shared with AGBI.

This was before President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on imports to the US, sparking a trade war with China and concerns about the broader economic impact.

The tariff “curveball… will be painful in the short term” and require a rethink of established patterns and relationships, Martin Ferguson, former vice president of global communications, public affairs and events for American Express Global Business Travel, wrote in an op-ed in Business Travel Network.

US airline Delta expects “flattish” corporate travel growth in the coming year, it said in a first-quarter earnings call.

Seasonality and events are important factors in the business travel market in the six-member GCC.

“Dubai’s hotel demand is tightly linked to city-wide events and regional public holidays,” Victor Abou Ghanem, CEO of Story Hospitality, told AGBI.

“In cities like Dubai or Rabat, we are seeing an increase in guests extending their business trips into long weekends or week-long stays to explore the city or nearby attractions.”

Corporate bookings during major conferences show an increase in average length of stay compared with before the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

Most major conferences and events in the Gulf take place between October and April, outside the hottest summer months.

Dubai is home to some of the biggest such events in the Middle East and Africa, including Arab Health and tech-focused Gitex. These regularly attract tens of thousands of visitors.

Business travel to other emirates of the UAE is also rising.

“There has been a noticeable increase in interest from the Mice [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] segment,” said Sunil Damani, commercial director of the DoubleTree by Hilton Resort & Spa on Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah.

“This evolving blend of leisure and business is opening new avenues for Ras Al Khaimah.”

The Gulf’s first casino will open in the northern emirate in 2027.

Three in four business travellers seek to add leisure activities such as sightseeing, personal dining and seeing friends and family to their business trips, according to a 2023 survey by transaction data company Banyan.

“We’re seeing a strong upswing in travel spending across the UAE in 2025, with visitors directing more of their budgets toward hospitality, retail and experiences,” said Daumantas Grigaravicius, head of the Middle East at payments company Adyen.