There’s something in the air and I’m not referring to climate change

I’ve visited Expo 2020 Dubai three times. It reminded me of the London 2012 Olympic Park during the Games. Packed with people. More than 3 million people have made a trip to the phenomenal park so far.

I also attended the two-day Global Business Forum for Africa conference. Delegates were hungry for networking and business opportunities from across the region.

And I saw the fireworks at the launch of Ain Dubai, at JBR. Cars were bumper-to-bumper, and people shoulder-to-shoulder.

I welcomed seven relatives during mid-term break in October from Europe that jetted in for five days. I’m currently sourcing accommodation for my immediate family of 11 coming to Dubai for Christmas and New Year. There’s a swarm of other friends ascending onto Dubai during this period also.

On top of this we have experienced our busiest period since Covid started. Corporate travel bookings for our business in October and November have reached their highest level of transactions, smashing my budget predictions, making it look very soft and unambitious.

The figures we forecast back in May this year for the recovery are out by approximately 27 percent for this time of year. We’re not alone in our stats, even Dubai Airports’ predictions on expected traveller numbers are potentially out by 2 million, and their forecast revision for 2022 has just increased by 4 million to 60 million with airport recovery at 80 percent of its origin and destination traffic thus far.

Sharpen your CV as there is going to be a need for staffing resources to service these numbers.

So, are we on the road to recovery?

We have brought a wave of new and former employees into the UAE business and continue to recruit experts in sales and reservations. The phones are ringing, new enquiries are coming in via the website, online booking tool adoption levels are increasing and previous prospective customers are starting to look at their processes once again. 

During this final quarter, we continue to see progress in transaction performance, with positive shifts in both air and land bookings in the UAE. Since restrictions have changed across key markets there has been a marked increase in requests in bookings to the UK, USA and Asia. 

However, the top destinations thus far customers are flying to from the UAE are currently Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan and then China ranking fourth most popular from February 2022 onwards currently.

Our inbound business to the UAE, which has accounted for 25 percent of our overall sales, is starting to boom. We have literally brought several hundred passengers into the region for numerous reasons and from all over the world, from movie production teams, marine crew rotations, to those attending high end luxury watch events for example between September and November.

Companies now see the benefit in consolidating all aspects of the travel journey, from PCR testing, meet-and-greet, transfers, short stays and hotel bookings and traveller tracking, to be managed from a central point of contact with their travel partners.

The current shift in travel policies being relaxed as travellers get back on the road again is a great sign for many in the travel industry.

However, the road to recovery isn’t just about the increase in transaction numbers, although it’s a welcome sign. Travel is more complicated than it used to be, but this is the moment to seize the opportunity that Covid disruption has brought to the business community. 

The recovery has been ongoing for the last 12+ months. The role of the travel manager has been crucial during the pandemic as they steer through the curve balls Covid has brought them. Those that have been reviewing their travel programme will surely be ahead of the competition. There’s closer collaboration between various stakeholders amongst our customers.

There is an appetite for travellers to get back on planes, but questions are being asked about the purpose of travel. Clients should be asking and want to understand where travel brings value to their business. Is it safe, sustainable, sensible and what is the ROI to the business?

There has been a shift in the way people work, in the office or remotely, and we see more clients looking at how it fits into their travel program.

The road to recovery is here and together with customers and our industry we are helping to drive the change that is happening. There is a lot of best practice out there within our industry and rich information which companies really should be embracing.

Looking at the rest of the year, our industry is confident this commercial momentum, along with the upward trend in travel activity, will allow us all to maintain this positive journey towards further recovery in the region.

Ciarán Kelly, FCM managing director, Middle East and Africa network