Why The New TV Show “Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross” Is Brilliant

4. There is more than one way to travel solo

Solo travel isn’t a new trend. Many of our readers have been travelling solo for decades.

However, what is changing quickly is the demographics. Today, many women are choosing not to marry, to get divorced or to travel alone. These demographics alone mean that solo travel is poised to grow from a niche industry to a mainstream one. In fact, our last study showed that only 24% of women 50+ travellers (those with passports and a propensity to travel) are married. The friction point is that the travel industry is completely organized around couples and families, not single women. This means that a woman travelling alone has to pay more — always — for costs that would have previously been borne by two people. Hotel room, river cruise, group tour — you name it, we pay more for the ‘privilege’ of travelling alone, despite carrying the full weight of life’s expenses as an independent woman.

Whether we travel completely solo, in a group or with our girlfriends, the point is that we, as women, are in charge. We are the decision-makers — deciding, planning, spending and travelling. That’s the important part to remember about solo travel. Just like the car industry had to embrace and adapt to women as key decision makers, so must travel do the same.  The most affluent female traveller, according to JourneyWoman research, is a widowed or unmarried 65 to 75-year-old woman, who prefers to travel solo, spends over $10,000 a year on travel and takes more than three trips a year. How often do we see THAT traveller profiled in travel marketing materials?

Let’s stop debating what is or isn’t solo travel and focus on encouraging more women to travel solo. Let’s tell women they can do it. Let’s tell them they are strong and powerful. Let’s tell women to stop listening to society and instead, listen to their hearts. Let’s tell women to get on that plane, bravely say hello to someone in a foreign language and eat something we have never tasted.  Isn’t that what lifelong learning and curiosity is all about?