Travelers Increasingly Concerned About Geopolitical Conflict, Survey Finds

American travelers are increasingly hesitant to book trips because of global conflict—far outpacing concerns about rising travel costs, according to a March survey of travel advisors by Travel Weekly.

The category of geopolitical unrest, conflict, and wars overtook the economy and rising prices of travel for advisors for the first time since the survey asked about primary concerns of clients who are hesitant to travel in mid-2025.

Compared with previous benchmarking surveys, the number of travel advisors who said clients had expressed concerns about geopolitical unrest, conflict, and wars increased sharply from 38 percent in December 2025 to 72 percent in March. Advisors specifically mentioned the war in Iran, a February day of drug cartel violence in Mexico, and turmoil in the United States as contributing factors to clients’ overall travel outlook.

In contrast, the number of travellers who expressed concern about the cost of travel was much flatter at 54 percent in December and 55 percent in March. 

"Now that the U.S. is the instigator of the chaos taking place in multiple locations across the globe, [clients] are more cautious about investing in expensive trips abroad, especially since their travel insurance may not cover disruption [due to war]," wrote one respondent, Susan Sheats of World Exposures in Arlington, Virginia.

The rising price of travel ranked second, at 55.2 percent.

The Travel Weekly survey results match many of the findings from a January 2026 Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) poll. Business travel professionals told GBTA that they expected to grapple with cost control versus traveler satisfaction, as well as managing traveler safety during disruptions.

Business travel buyers were most concerned about affordability (70 percent), followed by the ease of obtaining entry/exit permissions and visas (65 percent), and employee safety (56 percent), GBTA found.

Global companies’ travel buyers were also concerned about getting travelers into and out of the United States, especially given new visa and travel authorization requirements. Respondents were most concerned about managing travel to the United States (65 percent), increased challenges with sending people to the United States (64 percent), costs of doing business in the United States (63 percent), employee willingness to travel to the United States (61 percent), and challenges of hosting meetings in the United States (53 percent).

Conversely, American travelers increasingly cited fears about traveling abroad. Concerns about anti-American sentiment were notably up in March compared to December, the Travel Weekly survey found. More than 65 percent of advisors said clients were concerned about how they would be received in other countries, and 31 percent said clients have canceled trips because of perceived anti-American sentiment.