According to the Facile.it-EMG survey, 243 thousand people canceled their trip for fear of conflict. and 700 thousand are waiting for developments before booking Italy, Spain and Greece as the most chosen destinations. Only 1% will focus on the United States
Cancellations, second thoughts and frozen reservations. Instability in the Middle East is making itself felt on Italians’ summer holidays. According to a survey by Facile.it and EMG, almost 6.7 million citizens will not go on holiday, while another 7.3 million are still undecided between leaving and staying at home. Even among those who have already decided to take a trip, uncertainty weighs heavily: around 15.5 million people have not yet made any reservations and of these, almost 700 thousand are waiting to see the geopolitical crisis end, before setting a date and destination.
The conflict in Iran weighs on choices: 243 thousand give up their summer holidays out of fear
The data shows how the climate of international tension is directly influencing the decisions of Italian families. The first impact had already occurred during the Easter holidays and spring long weekends and is now influencing the summer holidays. 243 thousand people declared they were giving up holidays altogether due to the conflict in the Middle East. It’s not about those who simply changed destination, but those who decided to cancel their holiday due to fears linked to war scenarios. Added to these are 138 thousand Italians who, despite not yet having definitively decided, are waiting to understand how the crisis will evolve before choosing whether to leave and where.
Among those who will leave anyway, the conflict has determined the change of destination. According to the survey, 24% of those interviewed, equal to 6.5 million Italians, declared that they had changed their originally chosen destination. There are mainly two reasons indicated: for 42% it is the fear of traveling in a conflict context, while for 17% it is the fear that their flight will be cancelled. The destinations most penalized for these reasons are Asia, abandoned by 13% of those who changed plans, followed by North America (8.4%), Latin America and the Caribbean (8.1%) and the Middle East (6.5%). Even those who had already chosen closer destinations in some cases preferred to veer towards destinations perceived as even safer.
Where Italians will go on holiday for summer 2026: Italy queen of summer
The result? Italian tourism will be strongly concentrated on national and European destinations. More than six out of ten Italians (65%) will spend their holidays in Italy, perceived as a safe haven in a year marked by international uncertainty. 21.7% of Italians will instead travel to Europe, with Spain being the preferred destination (22.4% of those choosing the Old Continent), followed by Greece (14.5%) and France (10.8%). However, small numbers for long-distance destinations: 2.1% of Italians will go to Asia, 1.9% to Latin America and 1.4% to the Middle East. The most surprising data, however, concerns the United States, chosen by just 1% of Italians on holiday this summer, compared to 3% in 2022. According to some observers, the collapse of the USA (which does not only concern Italian tourism) is driven not only by the conflict in the Middle East, but also by a “Trump effect”, due to the political and commercial tensions triggered by the US administration.
