Business travel across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) more than doubled year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounting for nearly 80% of trips booked through UAE-based online travel platform Tumodo. The increase points to a rebound in corporate travel, but whether this is translating into higher advertising and marketing spending remains an open question.
According to Tumodo’s Q3 2026 data, business trips booked through its platform rose 112% compared with the same period last year, while travel spending increased 132%. Compared with the first quarter of 2026, trips grew 44% and spending rose 72%.
Saudi Arabia leads
Saudi Arabia accounted for 48.6% of business trips booked across MENA on the platform, followed by the UAE at 31.1%. Egypt ranked third, contributing approximately 6.4%, with Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco and other markets accounting for the remainder.
For advertising and marketing companies, the concentration of business activity in Saudi Arabia and the UAE raises a broader question: are companies increasing their investments in brand building, media and marketing as corporate activity picks up? Tumodo’s figures do not measure advertising expenditure, however, and cannot establish whether the travel rebound reflects higher marketing budgets.
The broader economic backdrop also remains important. Tumodo cited forecasts projecting international travel in MENA and South Asia to grow 17% in 2027, more than twice the projected global growth rate of 8%. A separate industry report cited in the company’s findings projects Middle East business travel spending will reach $16 billion in 2026.
Travel costs climb
Travel costs remained elevated during the third quarter. The average air ticket price reached $615, nearly 36% above the $451 recorded in the first quarter and higher than the previous peak of $598 in May. Fares rose around 7% between July and August before easing in September, when average prices were approximately 15% lower than in August and 10% below July levels.
Booking activity also strengthened towards the end of the quarter. September bookings were 13% higher than in August and 36% higher than in July. Spending, however, peaked in August, reflecting longer and more expensive hotel stays rather than a sustained increase in travel costs throughout the quarter.
The average hotel booking was valued at $663 for a stay of 4.7 nights. Hotel booking values rose approximately 78% in August before returning close to July levels in September. Travellers spent an average of 6.8 nights in hotels in August, compared with between 3.4 and 3.9 nights in July and September.
For the advertising industry, the figures provide context on corporate activity across two of the region’s most significant business centres. But a travel rebound alone cannot establish whether advertisers are committing more money to campaigns or whether agencies are seeing stronger demand.
Determining whether marketing investment is recovering would require separate evidence from advertising expenditure trackers, agency revenues, media bookings or brand spending data. Until then, Tumodo’s figures offer a measure of renewed business travel activity rather than a direct indication of a recovery in advertising budgets.
