LGBT Travel Safety 2026: US Perceptions Fall Sharply

Choosing an LGBT-friendly holiday destination is not always as simple as checking local laws. How comfortable people feel showing affection in public, how they expect to be treated by authorities and whether there is a visible LGBT community can all influence where travellers ultimately decide to spend their money.

New research from ITB Berlin, A3M Global Monitoring and Diversity Tourism shows significant differences between destinations in 2026. Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria were among those assessed positively, while perceptions of the United States have shifted sharply in the space of a year.

Canada and the Netherlands receive positive assessments

Canada and the Netherlands were viewed particularly positively when respondents considered respectful treatment of LGBT people and couples, the ability to show affection publicly and experiences involving authorities. Spain and Austria also featured among the destinations assessed positively in the latest research.

ITB Berlin stresses that the findings are not an international ranking. The research is a qualitative analysis of traveller experiences and perceptions, meaning it adds another layer to the legal information people may already consider when deciding where to travel.

The 2026 study was carried out between December 2025 and May 2026, with 69 travel experts and experienced travellers assessing 28 countries. Combined with the previous year's research, the project now includes assessments covering 46 countries and territories.

The findings also show why looking at an entire country can sometimes be misleading. Experiences can vary significantly between cities and regions, even where the same national laws apply.

Is the US still safe for LGBT travellers?

The biggest year-on-year change concerned perceptions of the United States. In 2025, 35% of respondents agreed that LGBT people and couples were treated with respect in American society, but that figure fell to 17% in the 2026 research.

Perceptions of police treatment also deteriorated, falling from 39% to 17%. Meanwhile, the proportion believing LGBT people could safely report discrimination or hate crime dropped from 52% to 33%.

Those findings do not mean every US destination offers the same experience or that established LGBT destinations have suddenly disappeared. Cities with large LGBT communities and well-known neighbourhoods can present a very different picture from other areas of the country, making local research particularly important before travelling.

Interestingly, the survey found that visibility of accessible LGBT scenes increased despite those wider concerns. The proportion of respondents who said there was an active LGBT scene accessible to tourists rose from 61% in 2025 to 83% in 2026.

That creates a mixed picture rather than a simple answer about whether the US is safe or unsafe. Strong LGBT communities and visitor spaces continue to exist, while perceptions around broader social acceptance and interactions with authorities have become less positive.

Why the city matters as much as the country

The research reinforces something increasingly important when planning LGBT travel: national legislation is only one part of the picture. Accommodation, neighbourhoods, nightlife, transport, local attitudes and the visibility of LGBT communities can all affect how a destination actually feels once someone arrives.

That makes city-specific research especially valuable. Someone considering a major US city, for example, may find recent information about particular neighbourhoods considerably more useful than a single assessment covering the entire country.

The same principle applies elsewhere. Even countries receiving positive assessments can contain regional differences, while places that look less reassuring at national level may still have particular cities with established and welcoming LGBT communities.

Government travel advice remains an important starting point, especially where laws or political conditions are changing. Recent LGBT-specific travel information can then help fill in the practical detail about hotels, neighbourhoods, nightlife and everyday experiences that broader official guidance may not always cover.

For anyone booking an LGBT trip in 2026, researching the actual destination rather than relying on a country's overall reputation is becoming increasingly important. The best travel decision is an informed one, particularly when the experience can change significantly from one city to the next.

Sources: ITB Berlin, A3M Global Monitoring and Diversity Tourism.

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