Skiing was never really a Middle Eastern thing. Four or five years ago, says dnata's Group CEO Nabil Sultan Al Murr, Gulf travellers simply didn't head for the slopes — now demand has grown enough that the Dubai-based travel company has built a winter programme covering around 10 ski destinations. Alongside it, they're pushing alternatives like Finland and Northern Lights trips for travellers who want winter without the ski boots.
Sultan, who took charge of the aviation and travel services group in June 2026, says these shifts are part of a broader change in how people in the region holiday. Cruising is the other standout: a format that never took off in the Gulf historically is now, in his words, a huge trend there.
Then there's the tech. Sultan spoke at Arabian Travel Market in Dubai about AI moving from buzzword to backbone. One concrete example: dnata handles thousands of hotel contracts, and loading the details into its systems used to be a manual grind that could take months. With AI, contracts are processed in near real time — which means fresher, faster deals reaching customers. He expects the same speed to shape everything from trip inspiration to booking to what happens at the airport.
The third thread is who's travelling next. Sultan predicts Generation Z will drive a wave of new priorities over the next five years, with food and healthy eating already emerging as a genuine motivator for trip choices. His takeaway for the industry: keep watching the customer closely, because preferences are moving fast.
Why does this matter if you're not running a travel company? Because it maps where the deals and products will be. If you're based in the UAE or the wider Gulf, expect more ski packages, more cruise options out of regional ports, and more experience-led trips — food, aurora chasing, winter adventures beyond the piste. And as AI speeds up how offers are built and priced, the practical upside for travellers is quicker access to relevant deals rather than static, months-old packages.
It's also a useful snapshot of where Middle East travel is heading generally: dnata, part of the Emirates Group, operates in 162 cities across 37 countries and is eyeing growth in the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Eastern Europe. The trends Sultan flags — winter escapes, cruising, experience-first travel — are the ones most likely to show up in your search results next season.
