What is the ruling on traveling to foreign countries for leisure and sightseeing?

The questioner : The questioner asks: Is it permissible to travel to foreign countries without any need, except for leisure or sightseeing?

The Shaykh : What we see is that it is not permissible for a person to travel to foreign countries for the sake of leisure, because the least of what is involved in that is the waste of money, as the expenses are very high, including airplane tickets and great expenditures. Furthermore, there is harm in that to the person’s creation and to the person’s religion, for many people have traveled to foreign countries for leisure, and they committed open sinfulness there, and they returned with hearts different from those with which they had departed. This is a serious matter that a person must be cautious of. It has come in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the story of the Dajjal that So the man comes to him . It is obligatory for a person to stay away from the causes of trials. What I see is that it is not permissible for a person to travel to foreign countries for the sake of leisure, because I have known, and according to what I hear, that the people who go in this manner return having changed in their morals and their religion, along with the spending of vast sums of money on this travel? Until the next lesson, if Allah wills. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever... because it is established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he used to pray. Yes, and the tenth... he did not leave them, whether present or traveling. No, no, it is like this...