To Fly or Not to Fly? Which zones are safe - or not.

Landing in a safe zone. Make sure you do too.

How safe is your holiday?

Missiles flying across the Middle East this week did more than severely damage Iran’s nuclear programme 

They are part of a growing tendency towards war and chaos that’s disrupting holidays.

At least one planeload of Irish passengers was one of hundreds diverted from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates as missiles targeted a US base in the region.

The world has seen a 65% increase in no-fly zones – that now cover an area twice the size of India.

Many tourists are reviewing their plans to travel to the many popular destinations in the Persian Gulf, which are becoming the wrong type of ‘hotspots.’

Airlines everywhere are also under threat from a massive surge in GPS spoofing – where malign forces interfere with modern navigation systems on aircraft, even in EU skies. 

Where’s safe – and where’s not.

Safe	High Degree of Caution	Avoid Non Essential Travel
Italy	Türkiye	Ecuador
France	Brazil	Venezuela
Spain	China	Nigeria
Cuba	Egypt	Don’t Travel
Mauritius	Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar etc	Russia
Mongolia	Morocco	Ukraine
Vietnam	Mexico	Israel
Argentina	Nepal	Yemen
Georgia	Maldives	Belarus
Greenland	India	Haiti
USA	Sri Lanka	Syria
	Senegal	Myanmar/Burma

Source: www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/overseas-travel/advice/ Selected countries shown in each category from the Department of Foreign Affairs lists on 26/6/25. Level of warning may change.

So where is safe? 

Most popular holiday destinations in Europe are deemed safe by the Department of Foreign Affairs, as your can see from our table of selected destinations.

Some zones that surprisingly make the safe list  include Vietnam, Mongolia, Argentina and Mauritius.

The USA is also considered safe from a personal security perspective though holiday-makers are worried about increasingly intrusive security checks.

Ivana Bacik raised the case in the Dail of yet another tourist claiming he was refused entry to the US for political reasons following a search of his phone (see elsewhere on page). 

The DFA is also discounting Donald Trump’s threat to invade Greenland as it is also deemed ‘safe.’

However, some those thinking of travelling to some surprisingly popular destinations are urged to exercise a ‘high degree of caution’, while the DFA remaibs surprisingly sanguine about another that only this week subjected to missile attack.

This category includes Turkiye, Brazil, China, Egypt, much of the Persian Gulf and the very upmarket destination of the Maldives.

Turkiye is a big country and there are some parts deemed dangerous, especially near border areas with Syria. Most tourist destinations are well outside this zone.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade “strongly advises against all travel within 10 kilometres of the border between Türkiye and Syria”…and all but essential travel to the provinces of Hatay, Kilis and Sirnak.

Brazil is another huge country where some regions are particularly dangerous because of crime – particularly Rio and San Paolo.

“Although most visits to Brazil are trouble free, crime levels are high and visitors should be vigilant and exercise a high degree of caution at all times, and particularly during large festivals such as Carnival and New Year,” the DFA advises.

The DFA places most Persian Gulf countries in this second risk category, which seems a bit sanguine in the case of Qatar.

The DFA never placed Qatar on even the third riskiest category never mind among the fourth - Do Not Travel – zones even as Iranian missiles rained down upon it this week.

However, it does warn: “Ongoing hostilities in Iran, Israel, Palestine and in Houthi controlled areas in Yemen may escalate leading to possible attacks on military installations and/or on strategic infrastructure. Debris from intercepted missiles or drones may cause localised damage over urban areas. The most immediate risk remains delay or cancellation of flights.”

As regards the Maldives, the DFA says: “Caution should be exercised on Malé Island where political protests have been ongoing and there remains a possibility of civil unrest. There is a risk of terrorism in the Maldives.”

“Avoid non-essential travel” is the second most severe warning, and few countries seem make this list, Ecuador, Venezuela and Nigeria among them.

The DFA says: “Few Irish people visit countries with this rating. This security status may not be permanent and you should check for updates as you plan your travel.

Next comes the “Do Not Travel” list, which speaks for itself, especially for Ukraine and Israel and Iran. Russia also makes the banned list, despite being the biggest country in the world spanning 11 time zones.

This is because not only are flights at risk from being shot down by jittery anti-aircraft crews, you could also find yourself swept up in political crackdowns.

“Irish citizens in Russia should be vigilant about their own safety and avoid mass gatherings, including protests or demonstrations. Please also be aware that laws that affect media freedom of expression can be used to impose severe and arbitrary sentences of up to 15 years in prison. Irish citizens should be mindful this includes posting or sharing banned content on social media.

Russia and Iran are also suspected of causing chaos in the air by jamming navigation signals in the Baltic and Middle East – known as GPS spoofing. 

This is more serious and dangerous than it sounds as it involves interfering with the GPS navigation systems of aircraft during flights.

Last year, OpsGroup reports there was a 500% increase in ‘spoofing’ with 1500 flights affected worldwide.

Data shows 'high' GPS jamming interference around the Gulf, around Cyprus and the Sinai, south of the Black Sea, and south of the Caucasus mountain range. And it has reported a 'dramatic increase' in such interference in the Middle East since the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday.

Up to 50 Ryanair aircraft had to be grounded at the end of May and 800 flights  .

In January, a Ryanair flight had to abort landing in Vilnius after GPS signal interference near the Russian border.

It then diverted to Warsaw, Poland, 400 miles away.

So what does trael insurance cover in these times of air chaos?

If your holiday is interrupted by war, it won’t kick in, unfortunately. 

“There is no cover for cancellation claims arising from War, invasion, acts of foreign enemies and other reasons listed under the general exclusions in the terms and conditions,” advises Jason Whelan, managing director of Cover More – Blue, Ireland’s biggest travel insurer.

However, “for GPS blocking, it may fall under the travel disruption if a flight ends up cancelled and it is not related to the above but cannot confirm without more material information on the scenario.”

Passengers may also be able to claim from the airline.