GCC B2B Travel Market Pulse — August 2026

Market summary

Several Gulf markets entered 2026 from a strong 2025 demand base, supported by record or near-record destination, airport and hotel performance. The operating picture changed sharply during the first half of 2026, however, as Middle Eastern carrier traffic experienced a severe decline followed by only a partial recovery.

The direct conclusion is that the GCC travel market cannot defensibly be described as growing or contracting at one uniform rate. Official evidence shows strong 2025 performance in several markets, while 2026 aviation data show an exceptional regional shock. For B2B travel agencies, the practical response is to build resilience, compare content sources and monitor booking and servicing performance every month.

This Trippify Research market pulse covers four areas:

• Demand across GCC destinations.
• Aviation throughput and operating resilience.
• Hotel and hospitality performance.
• Airline-content distribution through GDS, NDC, aggregators and Travel APIs.

The briefing uses no internal Trippify platform data and does not estimate a monetary GCC B2B travel market size. No single official and comparable source supports such an estimate as of the report cut-off date.

Five key findings

1. Several GCC destinations entered 2026 from a strong tourism-demand base established in 2025.
2. Major airports recorded growth during 2025, but airport figures represent passenger movements rather than unique travelers.
3. International demand among Middle Eastern carriers fell sharply in March 2026, with the rate of decline easing through June without proving full normalization.
4. Gulf hotel markets reported positive results, but different property scopes and definitions prevent a defensible GCC-wide average occupancy rate.
5. Airline distribution is now hybrid, combining GDS, NDC-enabled channels, technology aggregators and direct connections; no audited public source provides a GCC transaction share for each channel.

Destination demand across the GCC

Dubai

Dubai received 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, up 5% from 18.72 million in 2024. The series rose from 17.15 million in 2023 to 18.72 million in 2024 and 19.59 million in 2025, demonstrating sustained destination demand.

These numbers cover international overnight visitors to Dubai. They do not represent the whole UAE and do not measure B2B travel bookings.

Source: Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism – 2025 performance

Qatar

Qatar recorded 5.1 million international visitors in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%. GCC residents represented 35% of international visitors. Air accounted for 61% of arrivals, road 32% and sea 7%.

The data describe destination tourism performance; they cannot independently measure B2B travel market value or travel-agency performance.

Source: Qatar Tourism – tourism sector performance reports

Bahrain

Bahrain’s total inbound visitors increased from 14.882 million in 2024 to 15.181 million in 2025, an increase of about 2% based on the published figures. Overnight tourists increased from 6.618 million to 7.342 million, while same-day visitors declined from 8.264 million to 7.838 million.

Visitor expenditure increased from about BHD 1.897 billion to BHD 2.033 billion, while average stay declined from 2.9 to 2.7 nights.

Sources: Inbound tourism flows, visitors by trip type, visitor expenditure and average length of stay.

Oman

Oman reported 3.97 million inbound visitors in 2025 against a published rounded value of 3.90 million for 2024. Trippify Research does not calculate an exact growth rate because the published values are rounded and the 2025 release classifies the data as preliminary.

Source: National Centre for Statistics and Information – tourism indicators to December 2025

Saudi Arabia

Saudi airports handled 140.9 million passenger movements during 2025, up 9.6% year on year. The figure measures movements through airports and may count the same person more than once; it is not a tourist count or a B2B travel transaction count.

Source: Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation – 2025 aviation performance

Kuwait

Official portals operated by Kuwait’s Central Statistical Bureau and Directorate General of Civil Aviation were identified. The required tables were not extracted and definition-validated in time for this edition, so no press or commercial proxy was used to fill the gap.

Source: Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau – transport statistics

Aviation: 2025 growth followed by a 2026 shock

Several GCC airports recorded passenger-throughput growth in 2025:

• Dubai International handled 95.2 million passenger movements, compared with 92.3 million in 2024.
• Hamad International handled 54.3 million passenger movements, compared with 52.7 million in 2024.
• Sharjah Airport handled 19.48 million passenger movements, compared with 17.1 million in 2024.
• Saudi airports handled 140.9 million passenger movements, up 9.6%.

These figures must not be added to create a GCC traveler total. They measure airport throughput and can include transit journeys and repeat movements by the same passenger. Hamad International separately reported 13.5 million point-to-point passengers traveling to and from Doha in 2025, excluding transit passengers.

Sources: Dubai Airports, Hamad International Airport and Sharjah Airport Authority.

What happened to air demand in 2026?

IATA data for Middle Eastern carriers show a sharp change in the first half of 2026. International demand measured in revenue passenger kilometers changed year on year as follows:

• January: +7.2%.
• February: +0.9%.
• March: -59.2% in the revised series.
• April: -46.6%.
• May: -28.4%.
• June: -13.9%.

The smaller decline from March to June indicates a partial operational recovery, but it does not prove that demand returned to earlier levels. The IATA series covers Middle Eastern carrier domiciles, a geography broader than the GCC, and measures RPK rather than airport passengers.

Source: IATA – Air Passenger Market Analysis, June 2026

Hotel performance in the Gulf

Dubai

Dubai hotel occupancy increased from 78.2% in 2024 to 80.7% in 2025. Average daily rate reached AED 579, up from AED 538, while RevPAR increased from AED 421 to AED 467. The sector recorded 44.85 million occupied room nights during 2025.

Qatar

Qatar’s full hotel market reached 71% occupancy in 2025, compared with 69% in 2024. Room nights sold exceeded 10.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%.

Oman

Oman’s three-to-five-star hotels recorded 56.7% occupancy, 3.683 million room nights and OMR 297.3 million in revenue during 2025. This scope does not include all accommodation establishments and must not be compared directly with Qatar’s full market or Dubai’s hotel sector.

Why is there no GCC average occupancy rate?

No harmonized official series uses the same definition across all six GCC markets. Data differ by national or emirate scope, property class, inclusion of hotel apartments, available-room denominator and preliminary versus final status. Trippify Research therefore does not publish a GCC average occupancy rate or rank markets using non-comparable figures.

GDS, NDC and Travel APIs in B2B travel

What is NDC?

IATA defines New Distribution Capability as an open API-based data-exchange standard that enables airlines to create, manage and distribute offers and orders through travel sellers and technology providers. NDC is not one sales channel, does not necessarily mean direct booking and does not automatically replace GDS platforms.

Source: IATA – New Distribution Capability

How is airline content distributed today?

The evidence points to a hybrid model combining traditional GDS platforms, NDC content accessed through some GDS systems, specialist aggregators, airline trade portals, direct connections and Travel APIs.

Qatar Airways has disclosed NDC access through Amadeus, Sabre 360, Travelport+ and specialist aggregators. Emirates launched Emirates Gateway as an NDC-powered connection environment for trade partners, while the Etihad and Travelport distribution agreement covers NDC content and post-booking servicing.

Sources: Qatar Airways NDC and dynamic pricing, Emirates Gateway and Travelport-Etihad agreement.

Is there a verified GCC share for GDS and NDC bookings?

No public source reviewed for this edition provides a unified, auditable split of GCC travel transactions among GDS, NDC, direct connections and Travel APIs. Availability on a channel does not prove agency use or transaction share. A booking can arrive through a GDS using an NDC interface, a technology aggregator or a direct airline connection.

A defensible transaction-share study would need to declare the participating agency sample, collection period, points of sale, searches, bookings, ticketing, content source, exchanges, refunds, cancellations, exclusions and methodological limits.

What should travel agencies do?

The operational advantage in 2026 is not dependence on one channel. It is the ability to manage and compare multiple content sources in one workflow. Agencies should measure:

1. Search-success rate by content source.
2. Price stability from search to booking and ticketing.
3. Ticket-issuance success rate.
4. Exchange, cancellation and refund capability.
5. Availability of baggage, seats and ancillary services.
6. Response time when a source fails.
7. ADM exposure and unexpected fees.
8. Post-booking service quality, not price alone.

Agencies should also keep a tested fallback source for technology outages or airspace restrictions. Learn more about Trippify’s B2B Travel Portal, Travel API and research reports.

Research methodology

The market pulse uses official and primary sources available through 13 August 2026, including tourism and statistics authorities, airports, civil-aviation bodies, IATA, airlines and travel-technology providers.

Evidence is classified as an official fact, an estimate or survey result, a Trippify Research synthesis, or a declared data gap. Airport movements are not unique travelers; IATA Middle East figures are not GCC totals; tourism statistics do not directly measure B2B transactions; hotel scopes vary; and no public source provides a reliable GCC-wide GDS-versus-NDC booking share.

About Trippify Research

Trippify Research is a Trippify initiative producing traceable, reviewable analysis of the B2B travel market in the GCC and the wider Middle East. It separates official facts, estimates, research synthesis and internal data, and never treats Trippify activity as representative of the whole GCC market.

Frequently asked questions

What is the state of the GCC B2B travel market in 2026?

Several GCC markets entered 2026 from a strong 2025 base, while regional aviation disruption caused a severe decline among Middle Eastern carriers in March. June data showed a partial recovery, without sufficient evidence of full normalization or a uniform GCC-wide contraction.

Is there an official monetary size for the GCC B2B travel market?

No unified official source reviewed by Trippify Research measures the monetary value of the GCC B2B travel market under one comparable definition. This briefing therefore does not publish a market-size estimate.

Is NDC a complete replacement for GDS?

No. NDC is an airline offer-and-order data-exchange standard. Its content can be accessed through a GDS, aggregator or direct connection. Current evidence supports a continuing hybrid distribution model.

What is the difference between visitor numbers and airport passenger movements?

Visitor numbers count people entering a destination under the tourism authority’s definition. Airport figures count passenger movements through an airport and can count the same person more than once or include transit passengers.

Can hotel occupancy be compared directly across GCC markets?

Only when property classes, geography, period and calculation methodology match. Some sources cover the full market while others cover only selected hotel classes.

Does Trippify data represent the whole GCC market?

No. Any future Trippify platform data must be described as aggregated and anonymized, with sample size, period, exclusions and limitations disclosed. It cannot be generalized to the whole GCC market without a representative method.

Suggested citation

Trippify Research (2026), GCC B2B Travel Market Pulse – August 2026 Edition. Data cut-off: 13 August 2026.