Event cancellations and postponements are accelerating across the Middle East, as the ongoing conflict and widespread travel disruption continue to impact the global meetings and events industry.
British Airways has suspended flights to key Middle East destinations until the end June, while airspace and airport closures has complicated travel across the region, adding to growing uncertainty for event organisers and delegates.
Industry insiders warn the situation is now directly affecting the global events calendar, with one senior agency leader telling micebook that “anything planned in the Middle East region for at least the next eight weeks is being moved or cancelled”, while events in Europe are also being affected as international audiences drop off.
High-profile event cancellations
The disruption is already being reflected in a growing number of high-profile event cancellations and postponements – according to Northbourne Advisory, more than 100 events have already been cancelled across the Gulf including large-scale conferences, corporate events, and festivals.
The inaugural M&I Expo in Abu Dhabi, originally scheduled for April, has been postponed until 2027, with organisers citing the current situation and prioritising the safety of attendees and partners.
Other major industry events have also been affected. Informa has rescheduled its Middle East Energy 2026 conference in Dubai from April to September, while the UITP Global Public Transport Summit has been cancelled in Dubai altogether, with the next edition now set to take place in Hamburg in 2027.
Meanwhile, IAAPA has postponed its inaugural Middle East Expo in Abu Dhabi until April 2027, Token2049 Dubai, a major cryptocurrency conference has been postponed to April 2027, and outside the business events sector, Formula 1 races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have also been cancelled.
Travel disruption compounds the impact
The situation is being further exacerbated by disruption to regional air travel. British Airways has suspended flights to multiple Middle East destinations, including Dubai, Bahrain, Tel Aviv and Amman until the end of May, with routes to Doha cancelled until April 30 and Abu Dhabi suspended until October.
The move followed the temporary closure of Dubai International Airport after a reported drone strike, underlining the growing instability affecting key global travel hubs.
For planners, the loss of major transit routes is creating additional uncertainty around delegate travel, particularly for long-haul events reliant on Middle East connections.
Agency leaders say this is already impacting decision-making beyond the region, with some programmes facing delays at the contracting stage.
“We’ve got quite a lot in Singapore later in the year, and nobody is signing contracts right now, because so much long-haul transit goes through the Middle East,” one agency leader shared on our recent nineteen agency leaders call.
Agencies shift into contingency mode
Agency leaders say they already adapting plans in real time – rerouting delegates, relocating events and building contingency scenarios. “We’ve had various people that we’ve just had to reroute or change. Right now, it’s very much ‘we’ll see’, making Plan Bs already,” one agency leader said.
Others report programmes being actively moved out of the region. “We had quite a big conference in Abu Dhabi in a few of weeks’ time, which obviously being postponed. It was part of a roadshow of other events. So, we’re just proceeding with the others. We’ve also had a programme moving from Dubai to London,” another said.
Agencies are also working behind the scenes to support clients with duty of care measures, including tracking traveller movements and, in some cases, repatriating teams.
“We want to know where everyone on our team is travelling at any one point… we’re trying to reroute everybody as much as possible,” one leader said.
Demand shifting to ‘safe’ destinations
The disruption is also beginning to reshape destination demand, with some planners moving events to alternative locations. Agency leaders report increased interest in destinations such as Portugal, Spain and Italy, as organisations look for what some describe as “safe Europe” alternatives.
However, this could in turn lead to availability issues across Europe in the second half of 2026 as companies look for European alternatives.
Another agency leader reported that even European events are feeling the impact, as flight disruption means that international delegates are cancelling their travel plans either because they can’t get there or are choosing not to travel right now.
Beyond the immediate disruption, some industry leaders believe the biggest impact could be the longer-term reputational damage to the region as a global meetings hub. “The long-term effect for the Middle East could be quite severe,” one leader said. “It could take several years for confidence to come back.”
Economic ripple effects
Other industry leaders also warned the biggest impact may ultimately come from wider economic consequences rather than direct event cancellations.
Rising fuel costs, supply chain disruption and broader economic uncertainty could put pressure on event budgets globally. “The biggest threat is probably the indirect impact on the global economy,” one leader said.
For now, however, much of the industry remains in observation mode. As one agency leader put it: “At the moment, everyone is just waiting to see how this plays out.”