Corporate Travel to Saudi Arabia Freezes as Riyadh Airport Stays Restricted

Photo Credit: Saudi Arabian Airlines at Riyadh Airport Wikimedia Commons / Stefan Krasowski Almost all corporate travel to Saudi Arabia has been paused as attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militia continue, travel industry executives say. With few airlines still flying in and out of the kingdom, many stranded visitors are driving to neighboring Gulf countries to catch onward flights. “There is no new travel being initiated to the kingdom and everything is on hold,” Subair Thekepurathvalappil, senior manager at UAE-based travel agency Wise Fox Tourism, told Skift. “Those who have gone to the kingdom are trying to return to the UAE by traveling to neighboring Bahrain by road and flying back from there. Others are traveling from Riyadh to Dammam by road for four hours and then to the UAE by road again for a further seven hours.” The majority of visitors going to perform the Islamic pilgrimage of Umrah at Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia are avoiding flights and going by road instead, he added. “As Jeddah airport is fully