Terror attacks take toll of Gulf business travel

Executive business travel in the Gulf has taken a beating since last week's terror attack on the U.S., and some multinational companies have advised company executives not to undertake travel on U.S.-owned airlines, industry sources said.

Senior officials from UAE's Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co (Thuraya) have cancelled a business trip to Pakistan. "The cancellation will delay our plans," a Thuraya official said yesterday.

According to Joachim Wessling, Dubai-based regional general manager at Allianz, "A crisis management committee has been set up at our corporate headquarters in Germany. They have asked executives not to travel to other Middle East countries, and to have their approval first if those of us based here want to travel to other regional destinations.

"The head office has asked me three times in the past week about whether I wanted to return home given the circumstances. However, I feel as safe being in Dubai as any other place in the world, with a few exceptions of course."

A spokesperson for Swedish telecom equipment major Ericsson said the company headquarters has issued a directive to its officials not to undertake travel on U.S.-owned airlines.

"It is a corporate security regulation and our executives have taken precautions, rescheduling their travel plans," the spokesperson said.

A Schlumberger official said executive business travel is being undertaken depending on management discretion and only on "urgent basis".

A senior Dubai-based automotive industry source with a leading carmaker said, "Our regional operations are still marching on. There are important meetings scheduled for next week in the region, and as things stand now, we have had no cancellations from the senior executives who are to fly in.

"Any responsible company will work towards ensuring the safety of their employees. But there are so many rumours floating around about companies moving out staff. They have no basis on truth."

Although there is no directive or freeze on executive travel, officials of several local companies were already abroad before the terror attack.

"Some of our officials were in the UK and others in the Far East," said a spokesperson for the Abu Dhabi-based General Exhibitions Corp.

MNCs particularly do not want to take chances and top-level executives are rescheduling their business trips. "It is basically a case of better safe than sorry," said one official of an MNC.