#ATMDubai | Middle East events industry grows despite cost pressures and uncertainty

Latoya Andrée Kessie, freelance event director; Richard Stolz, partner at Roland Berger, and Alistair Turner, managing director of EI8HT PR & Marketing. Image by Evan-Lee Courie

But the future of the sector will depend on more than simply bringing people together, with experience, cultural relevance, inclusivity and changing audience demographics emerging as increasingly important considerations.

That was a key message to emerge from a discussion on the future of business events, which brought together global trends, destination development and experiential event perspectives.

While the events industry continues to face significant headwinds, including slowing economic conditions, trade tensions, conflict and squeezed budgets, demand for meetings, conferences, incentives and experiences remains resilient.

According to Alistair Turner, managing director of EI8HT PR & Marketing and moderator of the Live, AI and Culture: The Trends Affecting Middle Eastern Meetings & Events in 2026 panel, growth is being seen across the corporate, association and incentive sectors, reflecting the continued value businesses and organisations place on bringing people together in person.

From events to experiences

Perhaps the most significant shift, however, is the growing emphasis on experience.

Turner argued that the events industry should increasingly think of itself as part of a much broader experience economy.

“There’s a $2.1tn industry out there that deals specifically around experience,” he said. “We’re all in the experience industry.”

The distinction is important. The role of an event is no longer simply to provide information or create an opportunity for networking. Increasingly, organisers are being challenged to create experiences that have a more lasting and potentially transformative impact on attendees.

“The events industry is getting used to the fact that it’s not just our job to inform people, but to fundamentally change their way of thinking,” added Turner, author of the IBTM World Trends Report 2026.

This shift is also being supported by growing investment from brands. Businesses are increasingly able to measure the value and return on investment generated by live events and experiences, making them a more strategic part of marketing and business activity.

The industry has also emerged from the pandemic more resilient, according to the speaker.

“Now it’s other things that get cut ahead,” he said. “It’s how can we do that event, not how can we cancel that event?"

The digital world is driving demand for physical experiences

The continued growth of events may appear counterintuitive at a time when businesses and consumers have more digital tools than ever before.

But the increasing digitalisation of everyday life may itself be contributing to demand for physical interaction.

“The more digital we go, the more offline we go,” he said. “The more people want something tactile. They want to be a part of that.”

Live events offer something that digital communication cannot easily replicate: physical connection, shared experiences and the opportunity to interact with people and places.

This creates an important opportunity for destinations, event organisers and brands, but it also raises expectations.

Latoya Andrée Kessie, a freelance event director specialising in experiential projects across subcultures including fashion, music and sport, also weighed in and said the pressure on event professionals has increased significantly.

“Expectations of clients have gone up by 5,000%, I would say, with budgets that are being squeezed,” she said.

The result is an industry that remains challenging despite its growth potential.

“We’re not always working in an area that is easy,” she said.

However, Kessie remains optimistic about the sector's resilience, describing the industry's ability to recover as a defining characteristic.

“We bounced back from Covid,” she said. “There are still conversations happening with events.”

She added that she is continuing to see activity and planning across the sector, including opportunities at senior levels, even as the industry navigates uncertainty.

Events as a confidence builder for destinations

The value of business events extends beyond event organisers and brands.

For cities and countries, conferences, exhibitions and major business gatherings can play an important role in attracting travellers, generating economic activity and building confidence in a destination.

Richard Stolz, partner at Roland Berger, added to the discussion, saying events can be particularly important during periods of recovery and uncertainty.

Following what he described as a “bumpy” and “rocky” first six or seven months of the year, he said there were signs of recovery in the Middle East region.

“We are seeing the bounce-back moment and signs of recovery, which is great,” he said.

Live events, he argued, can help bring business communities and international travellers back into destinations.

“These conferences are so important for the entire region because they bring in people, individuals, travellers and the business community,” Stolz said.

For destinations, this extends beyond the immediate spending associated with an event.

Business events can help reinforce perceptions around a destination's accessibility, stability and ability to host international visitors.

“We need these individuals back to know the confidence that this place is safe, this place is stable and that we have a resilient future,” he said.

This makes the business events industry an increasingly important part of destination development strategies.

According to Stolz, governments and tourism authorities are increasingly looking at conferences and events as a way of rebuilding tourism and business confidence.

“The plan is to bring tourism and confidence back through conferences,” he said.

An ageing audience is changing event design

One of the less obvious trends shaping the future of business events is demographic change.

While much attention is focused on Gen Z and younger consumers, the global population is ageing, creating a potentially significant opportunity for the events industry.

The global trends presentation highlighted that, by mid-2025, more than 1.1 billion of the world's population was aged 60 or older. That number is projected to rise to 1.4 billion by 2030.

The implication for event organisers is clear: the average delegate is likely to get older.

“We're essentially dealing with an older delegate,” the Stolz said.

Rather than viewing this demographic simply through the lens of accessibility requirements, however, the industry should recognise its potential economic value.

Older delegates may have greater spending power, more flexibility and more time to extend their stays before or after an event.

“A lot of them are empty nesters; they have money to spend,” Stolz added. “If they come to a major event, they can stay a little bit longer; they might arrive a little bit earlier.”

For destinations, this creates opportunities to encourage delegates to explore beyond the conference venue.

“They're experienced natives. They like experiences,” he said.

The recommendation was for organisers to rethink the pace and format of events.

“My advice to any meetings and events professionals [is] to make their meetings slower, longer and more indulgent,” he said.

Rather than packing schedules with information, events may need to create more opportunities for conversation, learning, exploration and discovery.

“People want to sit down, they want to listen, they want to learn, they want to go and have a conversation,” he said. “They want to do it at their pace and their time.”

Accessibility can create better experiences for everyone

An ageing delegate base also reinforces the importance of inclusivity and accessibility.

Event organisers will increasingly need to consider mobility, visibility and other accessibility requirements.

But designing for an older audience can also improve the experience for a much broader group of attendees.

“Looking after a slightly older demographic has many other opportunities for inclusivity around a much larger demographic as well,” the speaker said.

The challenge, he added, is to avoid becoming patronising.

“Just because someone's old, it doesn't mean that they're past it,” he said.

Instead, event experiences need to recognise that older audiences can still be adventurous, digitally connected and interested in discovering new places and ideas.

Culture is becoming a competitive advantage

Culture is another increasingly important consideration for the global events industry.

As events move between countries and destinations, organisers are shifting away from simply replicating the same format in different locations.

The speaker described this as a move away from “geo-cloning” towards “geo-adaptation”.

“There’s this big shift from this idea of geo-cloning, taking an event and dropping it into a new destination,” he said. “Now it's about geo-adaptation. It's about dropping an event and adapting to the local community.”

This creates opportunities for destinations to differentiate themselves.

Rather than treating the location as simply a backdrop for a conference, organisers can integrate local culture, communities and experiences into the event itself.

“A lot of the reasons why people travel is because they want to soak up culture,” he said.

Stolz's work in destination development and cultural planning also reflects the growing importance of culture in shaping tourism and place strategies.

Roland Berger recently published research examining how culture is helping drive development across the region.

For the events industry, the opportunity lies in understanding how different cultures, demographics and audiences interact.

“Culture has never been more important when looking at transient meetings and events around the world,” the trends speaker said.

Making sure everyone is seen

The future of events will not be defined by one generation or one type of attendee.

Audiences are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of age, culture, expectations and experiences.

For organisers, this complexity creates challenges, but it also creates an opportunity to develop richer and more meaningful experiences.

“So many different cultures can meet, so many different sorts of events, and they can be old, young, from all over the place,” the speaker said.

The challenge is ensuring that these different audiences feel represented and included.

“This idea of making sure everyone's seen is a massive opportunity to create amazing experiences,” Stolz added.

As the business events industry continues to grow, the conversation is therefore moving beyond the size of conferences or the number of delegates.

The future will increasingly be shaped by what happens when those people arrive.

For brands, destinations and organisers, success will depend on understanding the changing audiences they are bringing together and creating experiences that are culturally relevant, inclusive and memorable.

The events industry may be growing, but simply putting people in a room is no longer enough.

The competitive advantage will increasingly belong to those who understand how to turn a meeting into an experience – and an experience into something people remember long after they have gone home.