Research Report · June 2026 · Holiday Extras · research hub
What's Disrupting
British Travel?
Five years of tracking the fears, concerns and changing priorities of 10,000+ UK holidaymakers — from cost-of-living pressure to Trump, extreme weather and beyond.
cite cost of living as a likely disruptor (Aug 2025 peak)
concerned about Trump / US policies by May 2026
worry about extreme weather events
flag Middle East conflict as a travel plan disruptor
A decade of changing disruptiona — and travellers are still watching the horizon
When we first started asking UK holidaymakers what might derail their travel plans, the big fears were Covid, inflation and a weakening pound. Five years and more than ten thousand survey responses later, the landscape has shifted dramatically. New geopolitical flashpoints, a transformed US administration and the accelerating drumbeat of extreme weather events have reordered the worry list — even as the cost of living remains stubbornly, persistently at the top.
This tracker was built on a simple insight: travellers do not book in a vacuum. They read the news, they scroll their feeds, they talk to friends — and all of that shapes whether they click 'confirm' or hesitate. Our job has always been to listen closely to that hesitation, to understand what is causing it and to help our customers navigate a world that rarely stays still.
The May 2026 wave adds new texture to the story. For the first time we are tracking concerns about jet fuel shortages linked to the Iran conflict and queues at EU airports caused by the Entry/Exit System (EES). Both are new entries, but they arrive into a tracker that already shows rising anxiety about geopolitical instability. The result is a picture of British travellers who are resilient, determined to holiday — but increasingly alert to the world around them.
Year after year, the cost of living sits at the top of this tracker. That tells us something important: the decision to travel is an economic one first, an emotional one second. Everything else — Trump, the Middle East, extreme weather — layers on top of that foundation. Understanding that hierarchy is how we help our customers plan with confidence.Seamus McCauley, Head of Public Affairs — Holiday Extras
How we conducted this research
This report draws on six waves of original survey research conducted between June 2023 and May 2026, tracking the concerns of UK adults about factors likely to disrupt their overseas travel plans.
| Survey waves | Jun 2023 · Jun 2024 · Nov 2024 · Jan 2025 · Jun 2025 · Aug 2025 · Jan 2026 · May 2026 |
| Total respondents (all waves) | 10,000+ UK adults |
| Latest wave sample | 998 UK adults (May 2026) |
| Fieldwork method | Online survey panel |
| Core question | Which factors are most likely to affect / have already changed your travel plans? |
| Response scale | Already changed · Likely · Neither likely nor unlikely · Unlikely · Will not change plans · N/A |
| Reported metric | 'Likely' + 'Already changed' combined unless otherwise stated |
| Geography | United Kingdom |
Throughout this report, headline figures combine respondents who say a factor is 'Likely' to change their plans with those who have already changed their plans for that reason. This combined figure gives the most accurate read of genuine behavioural impact. Where individual response categories are discussed separately, this is noted in the text. Not all factors appeared in every wave — new items (EES queues, jet fuel shortages) were introduced in May 2026 to reflect the evolving news environment.
Cost of living is the one constant — every wave, every year
Across every survey wave from 2023 to 2026, the rising cost of travel and the broader cost-of-living crisis has ranked first or joint-first as a concern among UK holidaymakers. No other factor matches its consistency or its depth.
The longitudinal picture is striking. When we first asked about cost-of-living concerns in 2023, 54% of respondents flagged it as likely to affect their plans. That figure has barely moved: 47% in January 2025, 49% in August 2025, 45% in January 2026, and 36.79% in May 2026 on a comparable combined basis. While the most recent figure appears lower, this partly reflects the addition of new competing factors in the May 2026 wave — the underlying concern remains the dominant force in the tracker.
Cost of living / inflation flagged as likely disruptor
Combined likely + already changed
Highest recorded — 397 respondents 'likely' alone
Remains top-ranked concern in wave
The August 2025 raw-count data underlines just how dominant this concern is. Of 998 respondents, 397 (40%) said cost of living was 'likely' to change their plans — the single largest 'likely' count of any factor in that wave. A further 91 (9%) had already changed their plans for this reason. No other concern in any wave comes close to this combination of breadth and depth. Strikes, extreme weather and Trump all record higher headline figures in some waves, but none match the consistent floor that cost of living maintains.
Cost of living has ranked first or joint-first in every single wave since 2023. In August 2025, 397 out of 998 respondents (40%) said it was 'likely' to change their plans — the highest raw count of any factor in any wave.
Trump, the Middle East and jet fuel: the politicisation of travel in a politicised world
Geopolitical concerns have moved from background noise to front-of-mind for British travellers. Three distinct but related threads — the Trump administration's policies, conflict in the Middle East, and the new jet fuel shortage risk — now collectively rival cost of living as the defining anxieties of the 2026 travel season.
The Trump / US administration concern is the tracker's sharpest rising trend. From 15% in January 2025, it climbed to 21% in June 2025, 27% in August 2025, and 36% by May 2026 — more than doubling in 16 months. This is not a blip: each successive wave has recorded a higher figure, suggesting that concern about US policies has genuinely penetrated British travel decision-making in a way that the initial election did not.
Notably, the acceleration between January 2026 (28%) and May 2026 (36%) is the steepest jump in the series — a 7-8 percentage point rise in just four months. This timing coincides with escalating trade tensions and rhetoric from Washington, suggesting that real-world events are driving measurable shifts in British travel intent.
Middle East conflict has been a sustained concern since it entered the tracker. After recording 24% in January 2025, it surged to 38% in June 2025, softened to 30% in August 2025, then climbed again to 40% in May 2026 — its highest combined figure. The volatility in this figure (it swings with news cycles) is itself instructive: British travellers are acutely responsive to developments in the region.
The May 2026 wave introduces jet fuel shortages caused by the Iran conflict as a new tracked concern. Despite being a debut entry, it immediately records 34% (likely + already changed) — higher than EES queues (21%) and only marginally below Trump (36%). This is a striking result for a first-wave item and suggests the concern is landing with real force among travellers who have followed energy price news closely.
| Geopolitical concern | Jan 2025 | Jun 2025 | Aug 2025 | Jan 2026 | May 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trump / US administration | 15% | 21% | 27% | 28% | 36% |
| Middle East conflict | 24% | 38% | 30% | 28% | 40% |
| Jet fuel shortages (Iran) | — | — | — | — | 34% |
| EES queue disruption | — | — | — | — | 21% |
Combined 'Likely' + 'Already changed plans' figures. — = not tracked in that wave.
Concern about Trump and US policies has more than doubled since January 2025, hitting 36% in May 2026. Meanwhile, jet fuel shortages linked to the Iran war debuted in May 2026 at 34% — immediately outscoring EES queues (21%) and nearly matching Trump.
Extreme weather peaked in 2025 — and is now softening
Climate anxiety has been one of the tracker's most prominent concerns throughout its history, but the trend line tells a more nuanced story: after peaking in early 2025, concern about extreme weather and climate events has declined meaningfully — even as the risks themselves have not diminished.
Extreme weather entered the tracker as a concern in 2023 and quickly became one of its most frequently cited disruptors. By January 2025 it had reached 50% — its highest recorded figure and the only concern (alongside cost of living) ever to breach that threshold. From there, however, the trend has moved in one direction: 45% in August 2025, 44% in January 2026, and 33% in May 2026. The Greek wildfires two summers were a new problem for tourists 2-3 years ago. While they remain a serious risk to life and livelihood on the islands, as travel habits adapt like all of our habits to the impact of climate change, the fires themselves no longer make as much news in the UK. British holidaymakers rescued from wildfires by Albanian fishing boats made the front pages. British holidaymakers skipping Greece in high summer probably never will.
Despite the decline, extreme weather remains a top-three concern in every wave — and its historical trajectory (from a minority concern in 2023 to 50% by early 2025) means it retains significant latent power. A severe wildfire season or a high-profile flooding event in a popular European destination could rapidly reverse the softening trend.
Extreme weather peaked at 50% in January 2025 — the joint-highest figure ever recorded in this tracker — and has since fallen to 32% by May 2026, a decline of 18 points. It remains a top-three concern but the downward trend is clear.
Strikes and anti-tourist protests: the underreported mid-table concerns
Two concerns that receive comparatively little media attention — strikes at airports and on public transport, and anti-tourist protests at holiday destinations — have tracked consistently in the mid-to-upper range of this survey. In several waves, they rival or exceed Trump in the number of travellers they concern.
Strikes at airports or on public transport have registered high combined figures throughout the tracker: 42% in January 2025, 41% in June 2025, 40% in August 2025, 36% in January 2026, and 28% in May 2026. In every wave from January 2025 to January 2026, strikes outscored Trump as a travel concern — a fact that is easy to miss given the disproportionate media attention the latter receives.
Anti-tourist protests tell a similar story with an upward arc. From 32% in January 2025, the figure rose to 40% in June 2025 before settling at 38% in August 2025 and 27% in May 2026. The June 2025 peak of 40% — recorded in the immediate wake of high-profile protests in the Canary Islands and Barcelona — confirms that this concern is responsive to real-world events, just as Middle East conflict is. As new protests are planned for British summer favourite Mallorca this summer, perhaps the concern will creep again in response - but with the protests themselves seeming to attract less and less local enthusiasm, probably not.
Both concerns share an important characteristic: they are highly destination-specific. A traveller planning to visit Tenerife is acutely aware of the protest climate there; one flying to Japan is not. This means aggregate figures may understate the impact on specific destination decisions. Operators and destinations affected by protest movements should treat these figures as a floor, not a ceiling, for traveller anxiety about their product.
In every wave from January 2025 to January 2026, strikes outscored Trump as a travel concern among UK holidaymakers. Anti-tourist protests peaked at 40% in June 2025 — on a par with extreme weather and above Trump in that wave.
Unemployment remains the one thing UK travellers are not worried about
Amid a crowded field of concerns, one stands out for its consistently low scores across every wave: the risk of unemployment. While other concerns ebb and flow with the news cycle, unemployment registers the lowest combined figures in every single wave since the pandemic — a finding that speaks to the resilience of British travellers' confidence in their own financial security.
The figures are consistent across the tracker. In January 2025, unemployment concern registered 25% combined (likely + already changed). In June 2025 it was 23%. In August 2025, 26%. In January 2026, 22%. And in May 2026, 21%. It is the only factor in the tracker that has never broken 30% in any post-2022 wave.
The contrast with cost-of-living concern (consistently 45–54%) is especially instructive. UK travellers are clearly feeling the squeeze of higher prices — but they are not, in significant numbers, worried about losing their jobs. This distinction matters for how travel brands communicate: price sensitivity messaging will land harder than job security reassurance with this audience.
The unemployment finding also has a structural implication for the tracker. When we compare the factors that score high (cost of living, extreme weather, strikes) with those that score low (unemployment), a pattern emerges: direct, observable threats (prices you feel at the checkout, fires you see on the news, strikes you experience at the gate) drive concern far more than structural economic risks (losing a job) that feel abstract or distant. Travellers are responding to what they can see and feel, not to macroeconomic forecasts.
Unemployment is the lowest-rated concern in every single wave, never exceeding 26%. The gap between cost-of-living anxiety (up to 54%) and job-security anxiety (max 26%) is the tracker's most consistent finding.
Travellers are not afraid of losing their jobs — they're afraid of what everything costs. That's a really important distinction. It means the opportunity for the travel industry is to demonstrate value, not to offer reassurance about economic stability. People know they can afford to travel; they just want to feel they're getting a fair deal.Seamus McCauley, Head of Public Affairs - Holiday Extras
What this means for travel brands, operators and destinations
Five years of data, more than ten thousand respondents and a consistently evolving worry list point to clear strategic implications for anyone operating in the UK travel market.
Lead with value
Cost of living has topped this tracker in every single wave since 2023. If the industry doesn't have a clear, prominent value narrative, we are leaving money on the table. Price transparency, bundle deals and 'worth it' messaging are not optional extras — they are table stakes for the 2026 season.
Geopolitical messaging requires agility
Concern over the Trump administration more than doubled in 16 months, echoing the deteriorating political situation in Mar-a-Largo. Middle East figures swing by 10+ points between waves. Holidaymakers need communication strategies that reassure them about geopolitical developments — pre-planned but flexible messaging around US-bound travel, and clear disruption-cover product positioning for Middle East routes.
Treat strikes and anti-tourism as destination-level risks
Destinations and operators serving markets affected by anti-tourist movements (Canary Islands, Barcelona, Venice) should proactively communicate community-positive credentials. Strike cover and flexible booking should be front-and-centre in marketing to key hub airports.
Prepare customers for EES and jet fuel uncertainty
Both the Entry/Exit System and jet fuel shortages are new 2026-specific concerns. EES at 21% and jet fuel at 34% in their debut wave represent real anxiety that pre-trip information and flexible booking products can directly address. Education content about EES processes in particular is an immediate opportunity.
Monitor the extreme weather softening — don't assume it
Extreme weather and climate emergency impacts fell from 50% to 32% but remains a top-three concern. The softening likely reflects adaptation and fewer headlines rather than complacency. Another severe European fire or flood season that caught British holidaymakers out could reverse the trend rapidly. Climate resilience messaging and destination diversification remain strategically important.
Don't over-invest in job-security reassurance messaging
During the pandemic, unemployment, destination closure and health led traveller concerns. Since then, UK travellers have not really worried about losing their jobs — they've worried about prices. Redirecting any communications budget spent on economic stability messaging towards price-value and disruption-flexibility will deliver better returns.
About Holiday Extras
Holiday Extras is the UK's leading provider of airport travel services, including airport parking, airport hotels, airport lounges and travel insurance. We help more than six million customers a year start and end their holidays smoothly.
This travel disruption tracker has been running since 2023, polling approximately 1,000 UK adults per wave on the factors most likely to affect their overseas travel plans. Collectively, the tracker has now surveyed more than 10,000 people across six waves, making it one of the UK's longest-running longitudinal studies of traveller sentiment.
The research is conducted to inform Holiday Extras product development, communications strategy and public affairs work, and is shared publicly to contribute to industry understanding of traveller behaviour.
For press enquiries and data requests, please contact [email protected]
Research note
All figures quoted in this report represent the combined 'Likely to change plans' and 'Already changed plans' response categories unless otherwise stated. Figures are rounded to the nearest whole percentage point. Wave-on-wave comparisons should be treated as indicative given minor variation in question wording across waves.
© Holiday Extras 2026. All rights reserved. Reproduction of data or findings requires attribution to Holiday Extras.