After two years of pandemic and restrictions, resuming the routine of vacations or getaways has been very complex for all destinations around the world. In fact, the transfer rates that existed prior to the pandemic have not yet been resumed and the number of flights in 2019 has not been reached either.

When this was in clear progress, trying to overcome the difficulties, the European scenario darkens again with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Psychologists agree that fear transcends conflicting boundaries. On the one hand, the president of the Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies (CEAV), Carlos Garrido, estimated that these events will have an impact on destinations close to Russia.

However, the president of the Corporative Association of Specialized Travel Agencies (ACAVe) of Spain, Martín Sarrate, is somewhat more cautious and expresses his fear of “causing a psychological fear in the tourist and that discourages him from travelling as happened in previous wars”.

According to Garrido, “we are very concerned because tourists are generally very fearful, we hope that this feeling is limited only to the area closest to the focus of the conflict. It is bad news for the sector because we were right at the moment of reactivation ”.

In this scenario, the fear of travelling is becoming a topic of debate among those who travel through Europe, fly with airlines affected by the conflict or must cross nearby areas with a compromise due to air routes or the actual duration or execution of their flights. Hodophobia is the medical term for the fear of travel. Some people call it “trip-a-phobia”.

This is a phobia that can develop after highly publicized events or disasters that instill fear in the public. “The fear of travelling is usually caused by a past negative experience while travelling -explained Rocío Rodríguez Rey, an expert psychologist in Information and professor in the Department of Psychology at the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, Spain -. The memory of the event creates a greater physical and emotional stress response to a new travel opportunity.

However, specialists recognize that a second cause appears, originating after a major world event attracts national or international attention. Pandemic outbreaks are an example of such events creating travel fears in people, much like the war between Ukraine and Russia. Rodríguez Rey pointed out that “it is normal for learning about these events to cause adverse psychological effects such as anguish, anxiety, sadness or difficulty sleeping. Adrenaline shoots up and does not always allow us to have an adequate vision of reality. In this scenario, postponing trips implies a double problem: the fear of making it happen on the one hand, and the disappointment of suspending it on the other”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that experiencing a war in the first person causes more depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress, anxiety and bipolarity than among those who have not experienced these traumatic experiences. Without close experiences of war actions, 1 in 14 people suffer from these psychological disorders, but in a war 1 in 3 suffer from it, according to the study published in the scientific journal The Lancet.

In addition, the WHO warns that, even if the war ends, the psychological trauma it caused lasts for years. “A reality that is not directly applicable to travellers, of course, but that affects their behaviour and decisions in the same sense,” said Rodríguez Rey.

Experts indicate that, along with personal fears, real events also exacerbate fears, such as the pandemic and armed conflict. The specialist assures that “looking the other way and not being informed is not a solution. It is a real situation that is happening.”

Claudio Plá Alem, psychiatrist and founder of Poder Volar, an organization that provides solutions to people afraid of aeroplanes, agrees in stating that “modernity has brought greater demands and forces us to adaptive changes that generate anxiety. Today we all deal with high amounts of uncertainty, which generates the anguish of having to make choices between multiple paths, with the fear of failure that this entails”.

“The effects of armed conflicts are particular at this time -said Francisco de las Heras, sociologist emeritus at Deusto University-. Fears are multiplied because we can find out everything a few minutes after it happens. People can make decisions not always based on real situations.”

Anxiety is the main symptom of hodophobia. It can manifest as a fear that creates physical and mental reactions and can even turn into a panic attack. In 2020, it was estimated that 25% of the US population had significant levels of travel anxiety.‌ “Travel phobia and accompanying anxiety is greatly amplified during global events such as the SARS and COVID pandemics -19, wars, social movements and transportation used as a method of terrorism -added de las Heras-. A peculiarity that appears in these tables is that they do not necessarily wake up in the directly affected public. They can cause fear in those who are not geographically travelling to or through the destinations of the conflict”.

For this specialist, the way in which each subject makes decisions regarding their trips in this context will depend on their personal resilience capacity. In this regard, he suggests “that this quality allows one to better adapt to stressful situations, and collaborates in the ability to make decisions correctly.”

Rationality to embark

It is not about travelling despite everything. Rodríguez Rey assured that “fears can be a way of applying caution and avoiding unnecessary risks. Those ranges are very personal and some may choose not to fly in Europe at all, for example, while others may consider that travelling to Moscow, a geographical area not impacted by the conflict, maybe safe after all”.

To make the decision on whether to suspend or postpone a trip, or decide to do it, in the face of a particular situation of conflict, such as the current war, psychologists recommend taking some precautions. Get information through the appropriate channels: the travel agency, the airline, the embassy of the country of destination in the country of departure, and the embassy itself at the arrival site.

“Russia is a relevant point for the cruise industry and circuits. It has become a destination of weight,” said Sarrate. In fact, in addition to the closure of air spaces, the reprogramming of routes and stopovers, the cancellations of flights and other means of transport are added. For example, MSC Cruises has already announced the cancellation of all its scales in the city of Saint Petersburg.

Analyze emergency situations, assess whether you are travelling alone or in a group and, on the other hand, assess whether there are minors in the contingent. Never forget to check the validity of the medical coverage on the site to be visited. “Even if all doubts have been cleared up, if it is observed that there are no serious risks and, even so, the fear continues and is stronger than the desire, it is best not to travel. It is possible that anxiety situations end up producing other health setbacks that will imply a negative loop in the experience”, Rodríguez Rey pointed out.