Three months after the first attack on Iran sent shockwaves through the region, I spoke to four OTA leaders operating across the Middle East to get a read on where things stand.

What emerged wasn’t a single story but four different ones, shaped by market size, business model, and temperament.

Down, but not out

Ask Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of Wego, how business is, and he is direct. “We’re down about 20% YoY on revenue and bookings,” he says, “which is actually better than most people would expect, and well above the worst-case scenarios we stress-tested against.”

He’s adds: “During COVID our revenue went to zero. This is nothing like that.”

Stuart Crighton, CEO of Cleartrip, puts his number at about two-thirds of normal in the UAE. “It doesn’t feel like a settled ‘new normal’ yet,” he says. “It’s a market adjusting week by week, and we’re adjusting with it.”

Albert Fernando, CEO of Travelwings, takes a more forward-leaning view. “I wouldn’t call it a return to normal – it’s a reset, and in many ways a more aggressive one.” Key corridors are approaching 70% of pre-crisis levels, he says, driven by corporate catch-up and leisure demand. “The key insight is that the UAE is still moving on with recovering outbound travel, so demand is not the issue. Today’s constraints are capacity, cost, and airspace efficiency.”

The most bullish voice belongs to Muzzammil Ahussain, CEO of Almosafer. In Saudi Arabia, the ground reality looks different from the headlines. “Our data shows a different story, we have seen resilience in the Saudi market that outperforms global expectations.”

The disruption landed squarely in peak Ramadan and Umrah season, and religious travel with its deep roots and non-negotiable demand barely blinked. Almosafer recorded some of its highest Umrah travel seasons ever.

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