Canceling trips in your own country? How war is rattling travelers far beyond the Middle East

Key Facts

But it’s a far cry from the 30% rise in inbound travelers the region was expecting compared to 2019 levels, based on the number of airline tickets purchased before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the company said.
“The forward-looking situation for arrivals to the Middle East in the first quarter of 2024 as of 6 Oct. — the day before the recent conflict started — was very positive, with tickets issued up by 49% vs pre-pandemic levels,” said Olivier Ponti, the company’s vice president of insights.
But as to why the war is making Americans feel uneasy about traveling in their own country, the report stated: “This is also emblematic of the larger tensions — for example, concerns related to antisemitism and Islamophobia — stoked by the conflict, and peoples’ resultant apprehension to venture far from home.”
Some 52% of respondents with knowledge of the war said they viewed traveling to the Middle East as “very unsafe,” compared to 29% of those who had not heard about it.