Good morning, readers. I'm back from ITB Berlin, where the single most common question I fielded — in every variation imaginable — was some version of: What does it feel like to be an American right now? The world is curious.

Since we last spoke, the United States went to war with Iran. Not entirely surprising given the weeks of visible buildup. But for the travel industry, nowhere are the stakes higher than Dubai.

Dubai spent decades perfecting a very specific identity: a playground for the rich and richer, with sky-high infinity pools on man-made palm-shaped islands. Neighbors could fight, bicker, and play geopolitics all they wanted — Dubai didn’t get involved.

But then we all watched missiles streaking across the city. Debris fell near the Fairmont Dubai hotel. Fires blazed. Dubai International airport was hit. For anyone who spends real time in the region, it was surreal in a way that's hard to explain.

Both Dubai airports shut down. Emirates, Etihad, Flydubai, Air Arabia — all suspended service. Across the region, nearly a quarter of all scheduled flights were canceled. The U.S. Embassy told Americans to shelter in place.

The question now is what all of it means for the billions in hotel investment and the many conferences. Inbound arrivals to the Middle East could fall 11% to 27% in 2026, according to Tourism Economics — a whipsaw from the 13% growth the firm projected just three months ago. On the ground, operators like Majestic Hotels are already reporting 70–75% cancellations over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, a dispatch from the unglamorous side of covering all this in real time. I boarded my flight Saturday afternoon and, right as we took off, a push notification pinged: “Trump says the U.S. has killed Ayatollah Khamenei.” Then no more bars. I literally yelled at my phone.

On the way home, I had an eight-and-a-half-hour flight with no working internet at all — a moderate-to-severe panic situation by current standards (I’m working on it). When my phone came back to life at JFK, the first headline I saw was that Kristi Noem had been ousted from heading DHS.

I just knew it would be something. You cannot go a whole business day without a major event right now. And Noem’s tenure was a big deal for the travel industry. Most significantly, she was a major proponent of the administration's expanded travel ban. “I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” she posted on X last December.

She also oversaw the ICE operations in Minneapolis, which resulted in the deaths of two American citizens and brought the hotel industry to the fore of the debate. She also told everyone they could keep their shoes on while going through security.

Noem has a new job – the newly created role of Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas (sounds like the Marvel universe, but I digress). The next head of DHS is likely Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin. Skift is looking at how much will carry over from the Noem team to Mullin’s. Stay tuned for more.