Nearly seven weeks into the conflict in the Middle East, our industry is confronting what may be the most significant disruption to international business events since the pandemic.
The numbers are staggering. Global airline capacity has contracted by 2.5% in a matter of weeks, with Middle Eastern carriers seeing their flights drop by more than 50% compared to last year, according to Air Journal. Le Chotouristique has reported that the price per ton of jet fuel has surged from $750 before the conflict to $1,900 in early April. With average airline profit margins around 4%, a doubling of fuel costs far exceeds what carriers can absorb, and those costs are being passed directly to our clients.
But for those of us in the meetings, incentives, and events space, the real story isn’t just about fuel surcharges and cancellations. It’s about the fracturing of a connectivity model our entire industry has relied on for the past two decades.
The Gulf hubs have served as the connective tissue between Europe and Asia-Pacific, handling roughly 20% of passengers on those routes. Industry leaders warn that anything planned in the Middle East for the next two months is being moved or cancelled, and even European events are losing international delegates who simply can’t get there..
Our own data tells a similar story. In Global DMC Partners’ Q1 2026 MICE Industry Pulse Survey, airfare was already the fourth-highest cost concern, cited by 41% of respondents, behind venue/hotel costs (68%), F&B (58%), and general inflation (44%).
And that survey was fielded before fuel prices doubled.
What’s even more telling is how planners rank their destination selection priorities. In the same survey, the top three factors were destination pricing, cost of flights, and flight availability: a clear signal that economic accessibility drives decisions above all else. And right behind them? Perceived destination safety and geopolitical stability, ranked fourth and sixth respectively. The Middle East crisis has effectively disrupted every one of the top six factors planners use to choose where to take their programs.
At Global DMC Partners, we’ve been in constant contact with our network of DMC partners spanning 500+ destinations across the globe. Here’s what we’re seeing and what we’re advising our clients:
The shift is already happening. Event organizers are redirecting programs toward Southern Europe, East Asia, and the Americas as alternatives to Gulf destinations. This tracks with what our survey respondents told us: Italy, Portugal, Mid-West USA, France, and Japan are among the most cited destinations for 2026–2027 programs, and we’re seeing growing interest in “hidden gems,” places like Texas, Arizona, Croatia, and Costa Rica, where planners can deliver a fresh experience at a better value. Availability pressure in these destinations is building quickly, so locking in preferred dates and venues now is essential.
Local expertise has never mattered more. When itineraries need to be rebuilt on short notice, when air routings shift overnight, when a program originally designed for Dubai needs to land in Barcelona or Lisbon next month, that’s when the value of trusted, on-the-ground destination management expertise becomes undeniable. This is not the time for DIY planning or untested vendor relationships.
Our survey confirmed it: planners rank experience quality and peer recommendations as core selection factors, and having reputable local DMC partners was cited specifically as a safety and quality proxy.
Budget stewardship is the new mandate. Our survey found that 77% of planners spend more than $1,000 per attendee on meetings, with 44% exceeding $2,000. In incentive travel, 36% invest more than $4,000 per person. These are significant investments, and in a market where 74% of planners expect budgets to hold steady or increase only moderately, every dollar needs to work harder. Budget management ranked as the second most important metric planners use to demonstrate their own success, just behind post-event survey results. DMCs that can stretch a budget through local intelligence, negotiation leverage, and creative alternatives aren’t a luxury right now; they’re a necessity.
Don’t overlook the second-order effects. Rising fuel costs don’t just affect airfare; they drive broader inflation, squeeze household spending, and can trigger a pullback in both personal and corporate travel. Smart planners are already modeling scenarios for a prolonged disruption and building flexibility into contracts and timelines.
I also want to acknowledge the human dimension. Our industry colleagues in the Middle East — DMC partners, hoteliers, venue teams, and the countless professionals who have built world-class event experiences in the Gulf — are navigating an incredibly difficult time. Some industry leaders believe the biggest long-term impact could be reputational damage to the region as a global meetings hub, potentially taking years for confidence to fully return. We stand with them and look forward to the day we can bring programs back to these extraordinary destinations.
The events industry has proven its resilience time and again. We came back stronger after COVID, and we will navigate this too. But the playbook has to evolve. Our Q1 survey data shows that 86% of planners are already using AI tools in their research, interest in new destinations is accelerating, and the pressure to prove event ROI is intensifying. The organizations and planners who treat this moment as a signal to build more adaptive, globally diversified event strategies, and who lean on trusted destination partners to do it, will emerge in the strongest position.
