The Business Travel Show held in Dubai at the Madinat Arena last month had grown by a third since last year, despite the sector feeling the impact of the global financial crisis.
Gold sponsor Qatar Airways’ European corporate sales manager Jo-Anne Lloyd found that demand for corporate travel remains high in Middle East, also confirmed during the series of educational conferences held during the show and organised by ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives). Panel discussions were dominated by the potential impact of the global economic slowdown, and most panelists felt there was still strong demand for business travel in the Middle East and that the region had enormous potential to benefit from the downturns in other parts of the world.
“As Qatar Airways is an international carrier flying to more than 80 destinations, our network is well balanced and we are profiting from regions experiencing an economic boom,” said Lloyd.
Although companies were taking a closer look at their travel policies, she found that having high frequencies, a well developed infrastructure and services targeted at business travellers were key when choosing to send employees on business trips.
British Airways’ premium cabin factors between the GCC and the UK remained high despite economic uncertainty affecting corporate travel budgets.
“Globally, premium cabin load factors may have fallen slightly this year but corporate travel is expected to remain strong in the Gulf next year. The overall business class traffic between the UAE and the UK will continue to be driven by investment opportunities in the emirates and London’s position as Europe’s financial capital,” said Paul Starrs the airline’s commercial manager, Middle East.
“The premium travel sector is vitally important to British Airways. We are constantly talking to our regional corporate customers and investing in our premium products and services,” he added.
Starrs believes British Airways’ new Club World business class product and dedicated Terminal 5 home at London Heathrow, put the airline in a strong position to retain significant market share.
He said that the airline’s new Club World cabin, 56 weekly services from the GCC to London Heathrow for the winter schedule, frequent flyer programme and global network made British Airways an attractive proposition for regional customers.
At the Educational Conference the results of the pre-show survey, conducted by YouGovSiraj entitled ‘What impact is the global credit crunch having on business travel?” were presented by Jane Wilson, director of travel and tourism research at YouGovSiraj.
The main points to emerge were that, as in the previous year, MENA countries were the top business destinations, and this was despite travellers predicting otherwise.
Neither Syria or Kuwait were expected to become major destinations, but have, although Kuwait will most likely drop back slightly. India saw a decrease in business travel and is expected to maintain this position.
Despite a predicted increase in travel to the UK, it was no longer on the top 10 list. Although increases in travel outside the region were predicted, the UAE and Saudi remained the top destinations.
The survey indicated that the class of travel remains stable, with almost three quarters of business travellers opting for economy or premium economy while business class took 15 per cent of travellers and first class took 12 per cent. This is expected to remain stable in the coming year, according to Wilson.
A joint venture between Centaur Media and Dnata World of Events, the Business Travel Show Dubai is part of the global Business Travel Shows portfolio, which includes exhibitions in the UK and Germany.