Solo Travel and Well-Being Amongst Women: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Solo travel is no longer a niche market. It alone contributes a massive amount of the total travel market and has shown an enormous growth in recent years. But the existing body of literature on solo women travelling and its outcomes is quite negligible. Consequent upon the fact, this study significantly contributes in the increment of existing literature. A conceptual model is proposed based on the secondary data sources and presents a discussion on the impact of solo travel experiences on women’s well-being. For this purpose, a range of research papers, articles, blogs and other relevant social media contents have been reviewed to draw conclusive results for the study. In the findings, self-transformation and positive changes in well-being came out as resultant factors of solo travelling in many cases. Major reasons for solo travelling found during the study were—to overcome stress and depression, to bring positive change in present state of life, escape, happiness, empowerment, self-growth and self-realisation. This paper significantly adds to further researches on women solo travelling trends by providing insights into independent form of travel and draws attention towards its importance for women’s health.

Solo Travel Research and Its Gender Perspective: A Critical Bibliometric Review

“…Social distancing has made solo travel more desirable [1,2], thereby receiving a boost since the COVID-19 pandemic began [2,3]. Nevertheless, solo travel had already become one of the fastest growing types of tourism in recent years [4][5][6][7], assuming a significant contribution to the travel market [8], estimated to account for 18% of total travel bookings [9,10]. The increase in the number of people traveling alone is due, on the one hand, to structural changes in society [11], such as delays in the marriageable age or even an increase in the unmarried; an increase in the number of people living alone [5,12]; and increased consumption, individualism, or fewer children [5].…”

“…The interest has been growing since 2017, reaching its peak in December 2019 and its lowest point in May 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, interest is rebounding, and in May 2022, it was close to reaching the levels of 2019. Despite this, solo travel continues to be an under-researched area in the field of tourism, hospitality, and events [5,8,11,12,14,18,19]. Furthermore, research on solo travel is focused on solo female travel [2,18], neglects the experiences of men [20], and focuses on solo travelers from specific regions [2,6,18,21].…”

“…There is no consensus to establish a definition of solo travel [6,12]; however, there is an agreement that two types of solo travelers exist: those traveling alone "by default" and those who do it "by choice" [6,12,19,20]. A lack of company could be a reason for traveling alone [6,22], but many of the people who travel alone do have someone to travel with, so traveling alone is a choice of their own [8,10]; even having someone to travel with, they might decide and prefer to travel alone [11]. Instead of traveling with people with different tastes or different social values, some people prefer to travel alone [13], and there are even people who decide to travel alone simply because they "hate people" [6].…”

“…Academic publications made so far indicate that, for women who decide to travel alone, the objective is not the trip itself, but the experience [14] that allows them to leave their comfort zone and feel independent and autonomous [11,14,21,24]. Women traveling alone seek personal growth and development [10,14,21] by increasing self-confidence and making themselves feel empowered [8,10,12,25,26]; having sex, gaining prestige [2], or escaping their family roles [8,10,21,25] are other motivations. The motivation of escaping is especially important for Muslim women, who feel an "exciting sense of emancipation" [27] when they distance themselves from imposed norms.…”

Gastronomic tourist destination in Pampanga: Basis for development plan

“…It is determined in a 2016 study single people are more sociable than their married counterparts, and they are more willing to reach out to people around them. In a study by Hamid et al (2021), travel provides people with their own space and time for self-reflection and development away from family and friends. Traveling as a single person can give a fruitful perspective on all aspects of determining the meaning of one's life and transforming one's life.…”