Article of the Month

When business travel halted after 9/11 in 2001, British Airways ran a famous advertising campaign. It featured a British sales executive trying to win a contract by calling an American CEO on the phone. But a sales exec from a rival company flies to the US to meet the CEO face to face and signs the deal instead. The slogan for the ad was “It’s better to be there.” “In regions like the Middle East and Asia, culturally it has always been essential to meet in person, but we sa

Business travellers have a new way to move around the GCC region: taking the train. Green, fast and comfortable, ambitious rail projects are taking shape in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar that are likely to see many journeys being switched from road and air. In the UAE, Etihad Rail (no relation to Etihad Airways) opened to freight in 2023, and at an unspecified date later this year the company will launch its first passenger services. Running all the way f

Taking a business trip can be difficult for any traveller. But if you use a wheelchair, or are blind, or in some other way among the estimated one in six of the world population with a significant disability according to the World Health Organization, those challenges multiply exponentially. Facing the same problems as other people, like delays and missed connections, is hard enough. But disabled travellers often encounter additional hazards. To take just one example, the U

Business travel is always a fast-changing sector and 2026 will be no exception. Here are our predictions for the big issues set to cross travel managers’ desks over the next 12 months. The Middle East will lead fast-rising hotel rates Average daily hotel rates will rise 4.9 per cent globally in 2026, according to a Travel Market Report published by BCD Travel. The steepest increases will be in the Middle East, the report says: up 8.2 per cent. The only region where rates w

Managing travel for an executive flying between two well-connected cities like Dubai and Paris is complicated enough. But if you’re a business which moves personnel to ships or oil and gas platforms, the challenges multiply quickly. Welcome to the specialised world of crew travel, also known as rotational, marine or offshore travel. Almost everything about crew travel is more complex. Multi-sector journeys, often to remote locations, are the norm. Time spent away is measure

There is contrasting news for travellers crossing borders on international business trips.

What happened One of the biggest acquisitions in the history of corporate travel finally concluded on 2 September when the travel management company American Express Global Business Travel bought its rival CWT for US$540 million. The deal was originally announced in March 2024, but was delayed by investigations by competition authorities in the USA and UK. Amex GBT was already the largest TMC in the world before buying CWT. In March 2024, its annual total transaction value wa