As long as Riyadh airport remains closed, business trips to Saudi Arabia are halted
Houthi strikes have isolated Riyadh from scheduled flights, pushing the kingdom's events season to 2027. As the closure drags on, it becomes harder for Saudi Arabia to maintain its image as a reliable host.
The failure to restore scheduled flights to Riyadh Airport has effectively halted corporate trips to Saudi Arabia. According to Skift, the restriction caused by Houthi strikes has pushed the kingdom's events season to 2027.
The publication assesses this as a problem for Saudi Arabia's position in the business tourism market: as long as air connectivity is not restored, selling the country as a reliable host becomes difficult. The source contains no specific loss figures, names of cancelled events, or the airport's reopening date.
For Azerbaijani hotels and guesthouses, this could mean changes in the routes of corporate groups coming to the region: when some of the meetings and conferences planned for the Middle East are redirected to alternative cities, Baku also comes onto the agenda as an option. However, the scale of such redirection is not yet known.