Russia's invasion of Ukraine has claimed its first big casualty in the escorted-tour world: Rick Steves' Europe has cancelled every 2022 tour that included a stop in Russia. The announcement came from the company's founder himself, posted the day after Russian forces moved into Ukraine, and it was framed less as a logistics decision than a moral one.
The reasoning was blunt. Steves' company exists to help Americans understand their neighbours through travel, but tour bookings also carry tourist dollars — and money flowing into Russia, however indirectly, supports the Kremlin's war effort. Cutting the Russia stops was, in his words, the only option consistent with that mission. The company said it would keep monitoring how the conflict affects travel elsewhere in Europe as events unfold.
Notably, though, Steves drew a firm line between cancelling Russia and abandoning Europe altogether. He pushed back against the idea that a war in Ukraine should unsettle holidays in, say, Paris or Rome, comparing the distance to a war in Guatemala being far from Texas or Florida. After four decades of running tours through various periods of conflict on the continent, the company sees no reason to alter the rest of its 2022 schedule. Steves himself planned to fly to Europe the following month for a 40-day trip taking in a dozen cities from London to Athens.
His wider argument is that moments like this make travel more important, not less: Americans who cross borders and meet people come home more engaged and better informed citizens. He closed with a call to keep Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan and other troubled places in mind while supporting diplomatic efforts to end the crisis.
For holidaymakers, the takeaway is twofold. Anyone booked on a tour with a Russian leg should assume that itinerary is off and check with their operator about refunds or reworked routes. And anyone worried that the war means cancelling a European summer trip should look at a map — the fighting is hundreds of miles from western Europe's main tourist corridors, and major operators at the time signalled business as usual outside Russia. Steves' stance also set a tone that rippled through the industry in the days that followed, as other tour companies and cruise lines weighed whether tourist spending should keep flowing to Moscow.