Modern tourism is based on the development of touristic offer which is in accordance with the needs and motives for travel of tourists. Tourist motivation is a complex concept because it is influenced by several internal and external factors. In order to understand the concept of tourist motivation it is necessary to know the theoretical foundations of the same, which are explained in detail in this paper through different theories such as the theory of the hierarchy of needs, the theory of push and pull factors and others. One of the basic human needs, including tourist needs is the need for safety, which can be crucial when choosing a destination for a large number of tourists. Tourists motives for traveling are subject to the influence of many external factors, one of which is certainly the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in 2020. and affected the whole world. Due to the global health crisis brought by the pandemic, the need for tourist health safety was difficult to satisfy in most destinations which lead to a change in travel motives for a large number of individuals. Such changes were the goal of the research carried out as a part of this paper, which showed that the COVID-19 pandemic did influence changes in tourist motivation and how the safety factor plays a big role in choosing a travel destination