How Safety, Politics and Budget Realities Are Shaping 2025 Travel Bookings

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Sun June 1, 2025

Safety now tops the list of concerns expressed by global travelers, along with perceptions and worries surrounding a country’s political climate.

In particular, political instability and social unrest are increasingly shaping where, and whether, people choose to travel, according to the 24th annual Holiday Barometer, which examines vacation trends across 23 countries.

Moreover, concerns about politics have now put the United States among the top five countries that travelers say they might avoid.

“Travelers today are navigating a delicate balance between wanderlust and global awareness,” says the report. “Alongside the perennial favorites of pleasant weather and familiar landscapes, travelers are increasingly factoring personal safety and global events into their travel decisions.”

Despite rising concerns on some fronts, travel intentions are hitting record highs this year, adds the report, which points out that “the desire to escape is stronger than ever.”

Here’s a closer look at the various developments unfolding for 2025.


Safety: A key factor when choosing destinations

One of the primary data points unearthed by this year’s Holiday Barometer report is that safety and political climate have become “major concerns for travelers, reaching unprecedented levels in Europe and North America.”

In particular, 32 percent of travelers cite safety as the primary factor when choosing a destination, compared to 23 percent in 2021.

Regional wars and conflicts, it seems are increasingly casting a shadow over travel decisions. The report’s data indicates that last year’s growing unease about armed conflicts in destination countries has not only been confirmed this year, but has tripled since 2023. Specifically, the latest data shows:

• Europe: 57 percent of travelers consider wars and conflicts an essential issue when selecting a destination (compared to 21 percent in 2023)
• North America: 48 percent are concerned about wars and conflicts (compared to 16 percent in 2023)
• Australia: 49 percent now have concerns about wars and conflicts (compared to 17 percent in 2023)

Globetrotters also have reservations about the political climate and social unrest in certain countries or locations. 

“Destinations facing political upheaval or strained diplomatic relations are prominently featured, with a significant new entrant: the United States,” the report explains. 

“Among travelers factoring political climate in their destination choices, alongside Russia, Ukraine and Israel, the United States now ranks among the top five countries that travelers could avoid,” the report adds.

In the 2025 survey, 17 out of the 23 countries that participated cited the United States among the top five destinations they could avoid due to the political climate, according to the report. That’s in contrast to only 8 countries expressing such sentiments about the United States in 2024.

The rising safety and political concerns identified by the 2025 Holiday Barometer were underscored by more than a few travel advisors who spoke with TravelPulse about what they’ve been hearing and experiencing in recent months.

LaDell Carter, founder and lead luxury lifestyle travel designer for Maryland-based Royal Expression Travels told TravelPulse she is “absolutely seeing an uptick in concern particularly around safety, airline issues, and political unrest.”

One of Carter’s clients, a married couple headed to the Grand Canyon, expressed serious hesitation about a trip they were planning amid the string of recent, deadly, aviation incidents in the United Sates. The spouse even joked that if one more airline crash made headlines, they’d call off the trip. 

Nevertheless, the trip went on as planned, says Carter.

“They trusted the measures we put in place and the real-time guidance we offered,” explains Carter, adding that recent current events ultimately are not deterring her clients from traveling.

“What I’m observing instead is a shift in how clients plan,” she says. “They’re more inquisitive, more reliant on our counsel, and more invested in ensuring that every aspect of the journey feels thoughtful and secure.”

Some U.S.-based travel advisors, however, are experiencing a slowing of European arrivals, which may align with the Holiday Barometer’s data about political concerns surrounding the United States. Debbie Misajon, founder of Hawaii-based The Coconut Traveler, is among those witnessing such fallout.

“Throughout the year, The Coconut Traveler, a Hawaii exclusive onsite, collaborates with a healthy mix of domestic and international travel advisors and their travelers on holiday bookings,” Misajon told TravelPulse. 

“Our current booking mix for Festive, which is the holiday period in December and January, is almost entirely domestic versus international,” continues Misajon. “This is an anomaly for us and given that nothing has changed aside from the administration, we can only guess that the change to our business mix is due to international travelers feeling less safe traveling to the United States.” 

U.S. tariffs driving growing traveler concern

To be fair, travelers expressing questions or trepidation about safety or political instability globally, is not an entirely new development. For many travelers, it’s always a factor (one of many) that must be considered when trip planning.

Mallory Dumond, a travel advisor and supervisor with Travelmation, says safety and political instability in different regions of the world have always been a source of inquiry and concern for her clients.

What is new, however, is the safety worries that U.S. clients are expressing related to the presidential administration’s sweeping new tariffs, says Dumond.

“In the last quarter of the year, many of my clients have expressed concerns about the impacts of the tariffs happening between the U.S. and numerous other countries,” Dumond told TravelPulse. “Some of the families I work with have reached out and cancelled their trips or moved them to next year to give the markets time to stabilize.”

William Lee, an advisor with Ohio-based Chima Travel, says his clients have increasingly been asking questions about how Americans may be received when traveling abroad due to the tariffs. And this, he says, is an entirely new development.

“Regardless of where people are going – Japan, Iceland, Britain Spain, Germany, wherever it might be, we constantly get questions about ‘How does that country feel about Americans? Or, ‘How are Americans being perceived?’” Lee told TravelPulse.

“I’ve never been asked that question before. It wasn’t until tariffs were introduced that people started asking that question,” he says.


Travel savings. (Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/surasaki)

Purchasing power: The main barrier to travel ambitions

While safety fears may be on the rise this year, financial constraints continue to be the number one most significant barrier to travel, says the report. 

In North America, 63 percent of non-travelers cite cost as the main obstacle, compared to 53 percent in North Asia. The issue is particularly pronounced in the UK (66 percent) and Portugal (70 percent).

Despite economic issues, the average summer vacation budget in Europe is up to about $2360 for 2025. Meanwhile, in North American, the average vacation budget is about $2900.

Travel’s continued appeal

Yes, safety is a worry. And budgets are limiting many consumer’s travel goals and dreams. These facts, however, are ultimately not dampening enthusiasm among consumers when it comes to travel, according to the Holiday Barometer, which says “travel intentions are at an all-time high.”

In Europe, 79 percent of residents plan to travel this summer, an historic record. In North America, 71 percent of respondents share this intention, demonstrating sustained enthusiasm despite the international context.

Travelers are also increasingly drawn to vacations far from their home countries. In North America, trips to Europe are on the rise (up 13 points since 2017) and represent one-third of already planned trips.

International travel is favored by most summer travelers, exceeding pre-pandemic levels, confirming an appetite for escape and discovery.

This too is accurate, says Dumond. “Right now, I am seeing more people reach out to me with excitement about traveling,” she says.

Similarly, Lee says, the travel industry continues to thrive. Travelers are indeed more vocal about various worries and fears surrounding current events, but those concerns aren’t necessarily translating into action or cancelled trips.

“The reality of the situation is that travel has not changed. Travel is a booming economy. It’s still one of the fastest growing economies in the United States,” says Lee. “So it’s a concern for travelers, but it’s not impacting travel as a whole. People are continuing to book.”

For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.

Topics From This Article to Explore