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Spotlight: Ciarán Kelly on business travel in the Middle East 

Business travel in the Middle East is fast paced, commercially diverse, and ambitious. Growth is accelerating, industries are diversifying, and major investment projects are reshaping Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt. For international businesses moving people across the region, this growth is coupled with enormous opportunities and new challenges. 

The effects of the Gaza and Iran wars in the region have been felt across the world, from travel patterns and shipping routes to business operations.  

Ciarán Kelly, Managing Director - Middle East and Africa Network Leader at FCM, has spent more than a decade working across the Middle East and Africa, covering over 30 countries. He's seen the region shift from an occasional executive destination to becoming a major hub for energy, consulting, financial services, technology, aviation, sports, and entertainment. 

Here, Ciarán shares what it takes to manage business travel in one of the world's most exciting but dynamic regions. 

Contents

Key Takeaways 

  • The Middle East is often seen as one region but cannot be treated as one business travel market.  
  • Despite geopolitical shocks, the region continues to grow and show resilience.  
  • Partnership is key to navigating the challenges of the region.  

A distinct business travel region  

Sitting at the crossroads of Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa, the Middle East is home to some of the world's busiest commercial and aviation hubs, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Riyadh. But despite this regional connectivity, it isn't a single business travel market. 

"The Middle East is connected by geography," says Ciarán “but it's not one homogeneous business travel market. Each country has its own working practices, travel maturity, cultural nuances, and operating requirements, which is why successful travel programmes must be designed around local market realities." 

Travel patterns within these countries range from conventional corporate trips to project movements, workforce rotations, extended stays, and remote-site movements, and the growing corporate meetings and events space. And traveller expectations are high. Speed, flexibility, and immediate support are baseline requirements. 

Significant growth over five years 

The pace of change and investment in the region has accelerated significantly, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt. Major developments such as Wynn Al Marjan Island, the planned Sphere development and Disney projects in Abu Dhabi, Ras El Hekma in Egypt, and Saudi Arabia's wide-ranging tourism and infrastructure transformation are attracting international investors, consultants, contractors, and specialists at scale. 

Even during a period of conflict in the region, two areas stand out: 

  1. Saudi Arabia's growth. Once a spot corporate travellers went to every now and then is now a major market that requires structured, scalable travel management.  
  2. Diversification in sector travel. While many associate the region with energy, business travel is being driven by consulting, technology, finance, construction, sports, and entertainment industries. 

"The region's growth is creating more complex travel, particularly around major projects, mobility, and workforce movements," says Ciarán. 

Finding stability through geopolitical shocks

Both the Gaza and Iran wars have had significant implications for aviation, traveller confidence and business travel across parts of the Middle East, with the effects varying by country. The latest GBTA Business Travel Index released in August 2026 has projected 2.9% business travel spend growth in the region in 2026, a 7.2% reduction on 2025's forecast.   

And as one of the world's most connected aviation regions, a change affecting one hub or route can quickly influence travel across the world. GBTA states "The aviation sector has demonstrated considerable resilience. As security conditions stabilised, airlines gradually restored service, although recovery has progressed at different rates across regions". At time of writing, European carriers, for example, currently have flights to the region suspended up to October 2026, but are starting to now reintroduce key routes.   

Operating conditions remain dynamic, and disruption can affect capacity, schedules, routes, and traveller confidence with little notice. “Our approach is to translate a fast-changing situation into clear actions for the customer and the traveller,” said Ciarán.  

That doesn't mean business in the region has stopped. In the UAE specifically, companies have progressively returned to normal operating routines, following periods when remote working and business continuity arrangements were activated. Business activity is continuing, and there are encouraging signs of demand rebuilding, although recovery remains uneven. 

As shared in FCM Consulting's Insights Report, companies are closing the gap between travel and risk with shared dashboards and standardised reporting protocols, regular scenario planning, and aligned escalation paths. Read more here.  

Three Middle East region challenges for corporate travel programmes 

Ensuring duty of care during disruption

Clear ownership, proactive communication, strong partners, and pre-agreed disruption protocols are essential if your people are going to be travelling in and out of this region. "During disruption, certainty isn't always possible," says Ciarán. "But clear ownership, visibility, and communication with your travel management company always are."

Navigating market-by-market complexity

A regional policy can establish common standards for approvals, reporting, duty of care, and service. In practice though, payment methods, border requirements, cultural norms, content, operating hours, and traveller needs vary by market. "Regional consistency is important for any travel programme," says Ciarán. "But identical execution in every country isn't realistic here." Successful travel programmes maintain consistent governance while allowing the operating model to function as needed locally.

Managing project-led travel

Conventional point-to-point booking models don't account for the realities of project travel. Mobilising teams, managing rotations, supporting extended stays, and moving people to remote locations. These programmes require more flexible servicing, closer supplier coordination, and clear escalation routes.

What to consider before expanding your programme into the Middle East  

Ciarán's advice to any organisation expanding its travel programme into the region is not to treat the Middle East as a single implementation. Instead, here’s what travel managers should consider: 

  1. Start with clear global or regional non-negotiables. 
  2. Validate where local adaptation is required country by country. 
  3. Assess traveller profiles, routes, project needs, visas, payment methods, data obligations, and risk support for each country. 
  4. Bring local finance, HR, procurement, security, and business stakeholders into the process before finalising the operating model. 
  5. Choose a travel management company (TMC) with proven operational capability in the region, not just a sales presence or a partner map. 
  6. Agree communication protocols and disruption plans before travel begins, so responsibilities are clear when conditions change. 

The importance of partnership in times of crisis  

Throughout Ciarán’s career, one lesson that's always stood the test of time is that trust is built through consistency, transparency, and ownership. "Customers value honest advice, even when the best answer isn't the easiest or the cheapest,” says Ciarán. 

Those lessons were put to the test when conflict escalated at the end of February 2026, triggering widespread airspace restrictions, route suspensions, and significant disruption across regional and international aviation. While conditions kept changing, FCM teams across the region worked together to prioritise travellers, collaborate with suppliers, and provide customers with clear, timely information. “During the first week of the crisis, the team was highly committed, accountable, and calm,” says Ciarán. “Even as conditions were changing daily and they faced their own personal and family pressures. Everyone focused on workable solutions and took care of FCM customers and each other.” 

 

“What made the difference was how the team worked together and refused to let issues fall between functions or markets, even as conditions continued to change around them.” 

  • Ciarán Kelly  

How FCM responded to the Middle East airspace crisis 

https://www.fcmtravel.com/en/resources/case-studies/how-fcm-responded-middle-east-airspace-crisis  

At FCM, we manage disruption proactively by monitoring developments, identifying affected travellers, and prioritising those in transit, due to travel soon, or most exposed. Working directly with airlines, hotels, ground transport providers, and local partners, the team assesses alternatives and presents clear options to customers. 

What does the future of Middle East business travel look like? 

The long-term outlook is positive. Intra-regional travel will continue growing, investment isn’t likely to slow down, and more organisations will consolidate fragmented local arrangements into coordinated programmes. 

Traveller visibility, risk management, data quality, and programme performance will all become higher priorities. Technology will automate more routine booking, approval, and reporting activity. But experienced people aren't becoming less relevant. Quite the opposite. "The future will be more digital and data-led, but trusted regional expertise will become more valuable, not less," said Ciarán.  

Through his role on the newly-established GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) Middle East Board, Ciarán is already seeing a growing appetite among buyers, suppliers, and industry leaders to share regional knowledge and strengthen dialogue. A sign that the travel network in this region is becoming more mature and collaborative. 

For organisations investing in the Middle East, that's good news. Because while the pace of change shows no signs of slowing, neither does the opportunity for travel programmes that are built with the right local knowledge, strong partnerships, and the flexibility to navigate what comes next.