There’s a certain irony in gathering Europe’s LGBTQ+ travel industry in Rome to announce that Europe is the safest place on Earth for queer travellers, and then having to explain where Italy lands.

The short version

  • The event: The fourth European LGBTQ+ Tourism Summit (Stati Generali Europei del Turismo LGBTQ+), held November 9 in the Aula Giulio Cesare on Rome’s Capitoline Hill. It was organised by the European LGBTQ+ Travel Alliance (ELTA) with Roma Capitale, under the patronage of the European Parliament and Federturismo Confindustria, ANSA reported.
  • Europe’s score: An average rights score of 43%, up 2.75 points on 2025. Inside the EU it’s 52%.
  • The leaders: Spain (88.7%) and Malta.
  • The host: Italy is 36th of 49 countries on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map 2026, with 24.11%, down one place.
  • The new worries: Business trips, and AI that gets queer travellers wrong.

Why Europe still comes out on top

The rights scores presented in Rome come from ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map 2026, which grades 49 European countries on laws and policies, from marriage and gender recognition to hate-crime protection. That’s worth keeping in mind: it measures what’s on the books, not how a weekend in a particular city will feel.

Even so, the summit’s message was that Europe as a region is the safest in the world for LGBTQ+ tourism. Sky TG24 listed the top ten European countries in the safety ranking shown at the event:

  1. Spain
  2. Malta
  3. Iceland
  4. Portugal
  5. Belgium
  6. Germany
  7. Denmark
  8. Finland
  9. Sweden
  10. Luxembourg

Portugal also came first on travel indices for hospitality and services, according to Sky TG24. Western Europe was described as the only region in the world rated “normal concern” all the way across.

The market behind all this is big: about 67 million arrivals and $55 billion in business, Sky TG24 reported from the summit.

Italy: the awkward host

ELTA president Alessio Virgili didn’t sugarcoat it. “Italy’s 36th place in Europe on rights acts as a brake and causes colossal economic damage to our country,” he said, according to ANSA Latina. Sky TG24 reported him calling Italy the Achilles’ heel of southern Europe.

The reasons he gave are familiar to anyone who follows Italian politics:

  • No national law against homophobia and transphobia
  • No recognition of same-sex marriage
  • Incomplete legal protection for families with same-sex parents

His argument was economic as much as moral: high-spending travellers can choose a competing country instead. Italy’s courts have kept chipping away at the gaps, as we’ve covered before, but the overall score is still well below the European average.

None of this means Italy is unsafe to visit. Rome, Milan and plenty of smaller places have long-running queer scenes, and the Tuscan coast’s Torre del Lago has been a gathering spot since the 1970s. It does mean that if you live there, or move there, the legal safety net is thinner than in Spain or Portugal.

The business travel problem

The panel that got the most attention was about work trips. Survey data presented at the summit found:

  • Only 50% of LGBTQ+ employees feel comfortable travelling for work
  • 23% live with constant anxiety when they travel
  • Nearly 45% feel they have to hide their identity for safety

ANSA didn’t name the survey behind those figures, so treat them as indicative. The point the speakers made is solid either way: when you travel for work, you often don’t choose the destination or the hotel. Giovanna Ceccherini of Sonders & Beach called it “an emergency we cannot ignore.”

AI as a new gatekeeper

The third theme was artificial intelligence, now baked into how many people search for and book trips. ANSA cited GLAAD’s 2026 AI report: 73% of LGBTQ+ adults fear disinformation and algorithmic bias, rising to 94% among trans people. Speakers warned about shadowbanning, where content quietly gets hidden, and pinkwashing, where brands lean on equality messaging mainly for reputation and profit.

Luca Romozzi of Sojern said AI is a powerful tool for understanding data, but that it’s human interaction that makes travellers feel truly safe.

The good news from the room

The evening closed with Qmagazine’s QPrize 2026 for inclusive tourism. It went to Stefano Arzuffi of the Homie hotel in Rimini, Mirko Innocenzi of ITA Airways, and Carlotta Vaccaro, who leads tourism policy at Roma Capitale.

If you’re planning a trip

  • Check the law, then the vibe. Rights rankings tell you what protections exist if something goes wrong. Local groups, recent Pride coverage and our Vibe Check pages tell you what daily life feels like.
  • On a work trip? Ask your employer what its travel safety policy covers before you go, and keep a trusted contact updated on your plans.
  • Don’t outsource safety to an algorithm. Cross-check AI travel suggestions against LGBTQ+ organisations and recent reporting.

Sources: ANSA and ANSA Latina (Nov 9, 2026); Sky TG24 (Nov 9, 2026). Quotes translated from Italian and Spanish by TrueQueer. Photo: Renzo Vanden Bussche / Unsplash.