Arabian Nights: Middle East market report
Our market focus expert, Adam Woods, visits the Middle East to get the low down on the region's flourishing entertainment business
Feature By Adam Woods | 16 February 2026
In the Middle East, everyone has a different set of reasons for putting on a show. From the lavishly funded state entertainment projects of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi to the hard-nosed entertainment…
hub of Dubai, and from the high-end venues of Bahrain and Qatar to the rebounding markets of Egypt and Lebanon – no two motivations are quite the same.
“The Middle East is not a single market,” says Cosmin Ivan, managing director of independent regional ticketing company Platinumlist,…