#ITravelSolo: Women Solo Travellers

Abstract

Travelling alone is a form of empowerment for women, who deal with and transcend the constraints of travel, resulting in greater confidence, inspiration, freedom, and eventually more social skills, which they end up having to develop. This paper aims to put into context the gender issue in the tourism sector, from a demand perspective, through the characterisation of women who travel alone. The empirical study carried out is exploratory and qualitative in nature. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with women travelling alone, being its structure based on the dimensions identified in the literature, namely previous travel behaviour, and the period before, during and after the solo trip. The study reveals that the first solo trip occurs between the ages of 17 and 23, being motivated by leisure, followed by academic reasons, which generally serve as a trigger for the next solo trips. Women travel alone for personal development and consider that travelling with others hampers their total freedom of travel. Another reason is that they do not find someone with availability or interest in the trip. As for the destination, the cultural immersion seems to be a major motivation, coupled with contact with local residents. Interestingly, security was not strongly mentioned. Regarding the organisation of the trip, they prefer to plan in advance, while a minority do not organise the trip, letting it flow. Booking of services is not a common practice. The main sources of information are those identified in the literature, also using the same places to recommend services and places to visit. There is an openness to the type of activities that exists at the destination, although existing preference for high-impact activities. The main barriers relate to the fact that women travel to unknown places. However, the destination image also projects fears prior to the trip. The adverse reactions of “others” are usually because they are women and travelling alone. The sensation of restricted access and mobility were mentioned, as they justify some behaviours for being a woman (e.g. going back to the accommodation before darkness). The most common form of accommodation is the hostel, followed by hospitality networks, such as Couchsurfing. The duration of the trip is usually long (more than three weeks), typically during the low season. In general, these women interact with other travellers, becoming sometimes travel buddies, while others prefer to interact with local residents.