The report highlights several major shifts shaping travel in summer 2026:

• Nearly half of travelers say geopolitical uncertainty has affected their summer plans.

• Despite economic pressures, 42% of travelers plan to spend more on travel this summer.

• AI has rapidly entered mainstream trip planning, already surpassing Instagram and TikTok as a source of travel inspiration among surveyed travelers.

• Social media fatigue is growing, with more than one-third of travelers saying destinations did not match what they saw online.

• Europe remains the dominant region for summer travel, while destinations such as Japan, Iceland, Vietnam, and Canada are seeing major growth in popularity.

For additional insights, read the full Polarsteps Summer Travel Trends Report 2026.

About the report

Traveler research for the Polarsteps Summer 2026 Travel Trends Report was conducted in April 2026 by Dynata, one of the world's largest first-party data and insights platforms. A representative sample of 2,403 adults, all actively planning at least one international trip this summer, was surveyed evenly across the US, UK, Germany, and France. 

Trip trend data is based on anonymized data from 75,000 planned trips in the Polarsteps app, captured on April 15, 2026. 

About Polarsteps

Recognized as one of Europe’s hottest scaleups, Polarsteps is the market-leading travel app that helps over 20 million travelers worldwide to plan, track, and relive their adventures in a beautiful and seamless way. Using pioneering technology and design, the all-in-one app builds itineraries, maps travelers’ paths across the globe in real-time, and provides a new way to share travel experiences. Headquartered in Amsterdam and powered by an international team of 100+ passionate travelers, we’re becoming the essential tool for modern-day explorers — before, during, and after their trips.