By Emily Johnson
Recent terrorist attacks have heightened American travelers’ fears for their vacations. Now 86 percent of Americans are taking potential terrorist attacks into account before planning their next trip.
This has prompted Americans to change their travel plans. According to the Allianz Travel Insurance Vacation Confidence Index, a quarter of Americans will cancel, delay, relocate, change or reconsider their vacation.
75 percent of Americans are concerned of a terrorist attack in the Middle East, 66 percent in Europe, and 63 percent in Africa.
Allianz Global Assistance, the leading consumer specialty insurance and assistance company, offers travel insurance for most major U.S. airlines and insures 21 million customers annually. The company conducted this study to measure how Americans are taking terror risk into account in vacation planning.
This fear has influenced travel plans like purchasing travel insurance, changing travel dates or locations, changing the mode of transportation, local tours or accommodations, or canceling the trip.
Good News: More Americans to Europe
Despite the recent attacks in Brussels, Istanbul and France, there has been a 10 percent increase in Americans traveling to Europe this summer compared to 2015 summer figures. The three popular European destinations have seen a significant decrease or virtually no change in the number of American travelers.
The fear of traveling to a destination abroad where a terrorist attack could occur increases as Americans age. Allianz’s data shows that older Americans are more fearful than young Americans of a terrorist attack abroad, but young Americans are more fearful than older Americans that a terrorist attack will occur in the United States.
“What we’re seeing is that the American traveler is a complex demographic that shares common fears and concerns, but deviate greatly on where they find those fears and how they face them,” Daniel Durazo, Director of Communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA, said.
“But we’re pleased to see that whatever those differences are, one thing that remains consistent is that they are finding ways to follow their passion of seeing the world despite the challenges that come with traveling in a time of terror.”
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