Business travel and consumer entertainment spending in the Gulf both held firm this summer, according to joint data from Tumodo, the MENA-based B2B travel platform, and Platinumlist, the region’s entertainment discovery platform.
Business travel: steady demand, more deliberate trips
Business travel bookings across MENA rose 34.2% this summer versus the same period last year, according to Tumodo’s internal data. Saudi Arabia led the growth: Jeddah bookings rose 33.9%, Dammam 22.2%, and Riyadh 18%. Cairo bookings were up 14.5%.
The busiest routes this summer were Riyadh-Jeddah and vice versa, Dubai-Riyadh and vice versa, Cairo-Riyadh, Delhi-Dubai, and Dubai-Cairo.
Average airfares rose to $627, up 14.6% year over year. Average hotel rates fell to $137 a night, down 8%.
Trip length rose from 4.2 to 6.5 days, and one-way bookings fell from 79.2% to 72.8% as more trips are booked as full returns. Business class bookings rose from 6.1% to 8.6%. The booking window held at around two weeks, and visa requests stayed flat at 1.4%.
“Even with everything going on in the region this year, our data doesn’t show businesses pulling back on travel. What we’re seeing this summer is that trips are fewer, longer, and more considered. Saudi Arabia shows the clearest growth, in both volume and trip length,” said Andrew Baturin, Chief Marketing Officer at Tumodo.
Entertainment: the same resilience, a similar shift toward selectivity
Platinumlist’s booking data shows the UAE live entertainment market came back through different genres. After a disrupted spring, UAE bookings returned to year-on-year growth in June and kept building through the summer. Yet the programming that fueled this recovery changed.
Arabic music was the biggest contributor, attracting more than 4x the bookings compared to a year earlier. The number of comedy shows grew by more than 2x year on year, while classical and live music built steadily through June and July. Football bookings were driven by key events, including Eid fixtures and World Cup fan zones, followed by the return of the AFC Champions League and UAE league matches in August.
The audience grew as it recovered. The audience grew as the situation improved. Bookings from buyers with UAE accounts nearly doubled compared to the previous year, with most demand now coming from people purchasing within the country. Meanwhile, international audiences are gradually rebuilding. Additionally, new markets such as Egypt, Oman, and Jordan are showing early growth.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain saw double-digit year-on-year growth, and Qatar more than doubled from a smaller base.
The key trend shows that people are booking more frequently for wider categories at more affordable prices.
Cosmin Ivan, CEO at Platinumlist, said: “What came back wasn’t what left. Arabic music and comedy are pulling audiences we weren’t seeing at this scale a year ago, and people are going out more often even as they spend a little less each time. For organisers, that’s show demand, but it’s moving between formats faster than it used to.”
Gulf demand, both corporate and consumer, held steady through an unstable year. People are taking fewer but longer business trips and choosing entertainment more deliberately. Whether that’s a single ticket instead of a group booking or an attraction over a concert. Tumodo expects that pattern to continue into H2, while Platinumlist expects ticket demand in Saudi Arabia to keep growing in price as the market matures.
About Tumodo
Based in the UAE, Tumodo is an online B2B travel platform that helps businesses manage and optimise corporate travel. The platform combines AI algorithms, a user-friendly interface, and round-the-clock support to let companies plan and book trips in minutes, with savings of up to 35% on travel costs.
About Platinumlist
Platinumlist is a leading entertainment discovery platform in the Middle East. Users can follow their favourite artists, get notifications for local performances, and enjoy secure and convenient event access. Furthermore, Platinumlist supports event organisers with advanced tools like reporting, seat mapping, and dynamic QR codes, covering everything from setup and management to digital marketing, on-site ticket scanning, and sales.
Since 2009, the platform has boasted over 100,000 events, ranging from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to smaller gatherings, working with clients in 18+ countries, including the GCC, MENA, Europe, and the US. As a leading entertainment brand in the region, it serves tens of millions of fans annually through concerts, cultural events, and more.
