Female Travelers Research Articles

Mode Choice Preferences of Female University Students and Impacts of Ride-Sharing Thereon

The equality of gender is accounted to be an indispensable element when it comes to sustainable transportation infrastructure planning in an inclusive society. Special attention in this regard must be required to reach the growing transportation demands of the urban population- especially in a developing country like Bangladesh. In this inclusive society, females constitute a major portion of the students as well as the workforce and contribute significantly to the economy. Although females have to rely on the different modes available in the existing transportation system for their day-to-day travel, they have different preferences among the alternative modes in terms of accessibility and safety. To assess the travel behavior of female students, this study explores the elements those influence travel choices (travel cost, travel time, security, and comfort) and evaluates the effect of ride-sharing facilities on their choice of mode. Data were collected from 360 female university students through an online questionnaire. The research focuses on two divisions of female students: staying at the residence hall (residents) and not staying at the residence hall (non-residents). Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were utilized to explain female travel behaviors and determine the importance of ridesharing services in their mode selection (rickshaw, bus, autorickshaw, bicycle, private car, and ridesharing). The study reveals that female students (both resident and non-resident) prefer rickshaws over other modes and the inception of ride-sharing services had a consequential effect on their choice of modes and travel behavior. This analysis will deliver beneficial information to relevant authorities and policymakers in evaluating existing transportation systems and will indicate the required mitigations that can be made to ensure social equity. Journal of Engineering Science 13(2), 2022, 43-49

Gender and Culture Differences in Consumers’ Travel Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19, as a rampant health crisis, lies at the basis of fluctuating perceptions affecting decreased demand among travelers. Recent studies have witnessed a growth of interest in the interactions between tourists’ behaviors and other factors with the potential to moderate such behavior during travel. However, it remains to be discussed whether the influence of demographic aspects, especially cultural and gender differences, on tourism behaviors will be more prominent during COVID-19. The current empirical research aims to integrate demographic variables, including gender and culture, with tourists’ behavior in terms of their choice of companions, travel destinations, and mode of transportation. According to the research findings, people in other countries have greater desire to travel than Chinese tourists who, in any case, prefer to travel with friends. Tourists from other countries are more willing to travel by plane and by car. Males show a more positive attitude than females to these means of transportation. Moreover, the interactive effect of gender and nationality reveals that female travelers from mainland China put the train or bus top on their agenda. These theoretical findings have the potential to provide actionable insights into how policymakers and service providers can make adjustments to bring back tourism stifled by COVID-19.

Do personal values and motivation affect women’s solo travel intentions in Taiwan?

Female solo travel is experiencing a global increase and specifically, gaining popularity in Asia. This study explores how personal values and female solo travel motivation affect travel behavior. Using a sample comprising 381 single females in Taiwan, partial least squares structural equation modeling was utilized to investigate the hypotheses. The results revealed Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 3 are supported, which verifies personal internal values significantly affect female solo travel motivation, and are identified as significant factors influencing female solo travel intention. Additionally, Hypothesis 5 is partially support, indicating the female solo travel motivations of escape/relaxation, relationship, and self-actualization contribute to the formation of positive female solo travel intention. As Hypothesis 2 and Hypothesis 4 are unsupported, external values have no impact on female solo travel motivation or any significant effect on female solo travel intention. This research adds to the vast gap in tourism literature by identifying the personal values and motivations of female solo travel, and benefits the development of the female solo travel market.

‘Wide wandring Weemen’: The Nature and Variety of Female Travel, 1558–1630

Abstract: Female overseas travel has long been viewed as a niche activity involving only a handful of privileged elites. In his book ‘The Traveiler’ (1575), Jerome Turler cast moral aspersions on female travellers, describing them as ‘wide wandring Weemen’. However, an extensive review of the surviving evidence, drawing on underused sources, including the King’s Remembrancer records and diplomatic correspondence, suggests that European travel by English women was far more widespread than previously acknowledged. This article surveys the findings of a new database of over 2100 journeys made by English women to Europe between 1558 and 1630. From this information, it is now possible to construct a more complex understanding of both the extent and nature of female mobility than was previously supposed both by modern historians of travel and earlier commentators such as Jerome Turler.

Lessons learnt through gender-based travel data collection and related sexual harassment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Background and objectiveKey motivations for the study described in this paper were to gain insights into the differences in travel behaviour between males and females, as well as gender-based sexual harassment exposure in public transport in sub-Saharan Africa. The mobility and sexual harassment results, based on data collection in two African cities (Blantyre in Malawi and Lagos in Nigeria), is presented in this paper, to document the true extent of sexual harassment and ways in which sexual harassment practices affected women's mobility on the continent. The analysis aims to illuminate gender-based mobility differences and sexual harassment experiences, as well as provide some guiding principles towards addressing sexual harassment challenges. Methodand Data: This study developed a standardised gender-based travel and sexual harassment perception questionnaire that was applied via pen-and-paper, as well as technology (offline tablets) in the cities of Lagos (Nigeria) and Blantyre (Malawi). Overall, 1478 respondents participated. Approximately 58% of the sample in both cities were women. The data collected was analysed to highlight differences between male and female travel behaviour and differences in relation to exposure to sexual harassment whilst in the transport system. ResultsData revealed that women make more, shorter trips, while they carry a significantly higher sexual harassment burden. All parts of public transport trips are affected, including travelling to/from the system, while waiting for the vehicle and in the vehicle. The need for transfers increases the risk of crime and sexual harassment. This paper concludes that there is a need for improved policy frameworks, educational campaigns, for men and women, as well as the creation of safe reporting structures when sexual harassment does occur. Actions are needed in the two case study cities and beyond.

An Analysis of Women's Language Features used by the Three Indonesian Female Travel Bloggers

This research focuses on women’s language features used by the three Indonesian female travel bloggers on blogspot.com and wordpress.com. It was aimed to investigate types of women’s language features used by the three Indonesian female travel bloggers and the most dominant types of women’s language features used by the three Indonesian female travel bloggers. This research was carried out using descriptive qualitative research. The data came from the script of 15 blog posts written by the three Indonesian female travel bloggers. The findings revealed that the three Indonesian female travel bloggers utilized nine types of women’s language features, they are lexical hedges or fillers, tag question, rising intonation on declaratives, empty adjectives, intensifiers, hypercorrect grammar, super polite forms, avoidance of strong swear words, and emphatic stress. The scripts of the three Indonesian female travel bloggers contain a total of 628 language features. During the analysis of the data, it revealed that the researchers were unable to discover precise colour terms because it was unrelated to the 15 blog posts. There was no correlation among the theme on 15 blog posts and the ability to use precise colour terms back then. The three Indonesian female travel bloggers dominantly employed hypercorrect grammar to prove that they concerned about their grammar.

Travelling Across the Colonial Frontier: Female Mobility and the Making of English National Identity in H. Rider Haggard’s Benita: An African Romance

Abstract Given his most famous account, “I can safely say that there is not a petticoat in the whole history” of his most well-known romance, King Solomon’s Mines (1885), H. Rider Haggard’s works have been mostly celebrated as significant examples of the representation of imperial masculinities in the late Victorian romance fiction. In this typical imperialist narrative, Africa provides a setting for British boys to become men (Brantlinger, 1988). This paper, however, suggests that this notion of male mobility is replaced by the portrayal of a female traveller in Haggard’s Benita: An African Romance (1906). Benita’s sea journey from Southampton to Durban also brings gender roles into question in Haggard’s long lost travel text. This article, thus, will explore Haggard’s work in the broad Victorian context of political, philosophical and racial beliefs, and investigate the role of female travellers in the construction of national identity.

Investigating how girlfriend getaway travel experiences influence female travellers to come back

ABSTRACT This study aims to determine Girlfriend Getaway (GGA) travel experiences and their effects on travel satisfaction and revisit intention. It derives five dimensions of the GGA travel experience (happiness, escapism, personal enrichment, leisureliness, and sense of connection) from the literature. The results of 278 female travellers in Macao indicate that all dimensions significantly affect satisfaction, whereas happiness, leisureliness, and sense of connection significantly affect revisit intention. Happiness has the greatest effect on the revisit intention, while sense of connection has the greatest effect on satisfaction. This study contributes to GGA research by determining the dimensions of the GGA travel experience.

Solo female travellers: solitude as a solo travel need and intrusive experiences in Asia

ABSTRACT Solo female travelling is a rising trend in travel and tourism across the globe. This study draws on the travel experiences of solo female travellers (SFTs) to examine how solitude as a travel need is realised during solo travels in Asia. In realising the need for solitude, intentionality in seeking solitude and the solitude setting play a vital role. This study reveals how certain service encounters and settings may influence SFTs in fulfilling their distinctive travel needs. The findings are explained by consumer territorial behaviours and contribute to the academic literature by highlighting service intrusions and also highlighting dissatisfaction as an emotional territorial response in the solo female travel context. Practical recommendations are given for destination management organisations to identify the distinctive solitude needs of SFTs and create a non-intrusive and conducive atmosphere for solitary consumption.

Tourist transformation: an empirical analysis of female and male experiences

ABSTRACT Recent advancements have been made in our understanding of transformative tourism, but the gap between conceptualisations and experiences has yet to be bridged. Using existing theories defining tourist transformation, this study empirically examines male and female travellers’ subjective experiences and identifies types of transformation. A survey of 514 participants was conducted, and the data analysed through an exploratory factor analysis. The results suggest that tourist transformation corresponds to reflection, changing worldviews, existential transformation processes and outcomes, transformative learning outcomes, environmental sustainability awareness, cross-cultural understanding, wellbeing, and behavioural change. Significant differences between women and men’s experiences were only found in two factors, namely reflection and transformative learning outcomes. These results contribute to the theoretical and practical understanding of tourist transformation and indicate that there might be more to ‘the’ transformative travel experience.

Batılı Kadın Seyyahların Anlatımlarında Haremde Doğum Kutlamaları

Turkey has been the starting point of travels to the East in the 19th century, as in previous centuries. The improvement of travel conditions, the development of railways and steamships, the publication of guidebooks for travelers going to the East and the Ottoman Empire, revived the travel literature and allowed many travelogues to be written. It is known that a small number of women, such as Lady Montagu and Elizabeth Craven, who could travel with the opportunities of the upper class in the previous century, came to Ottoman lands with official relations. In the 19th century, it was seen that women from the middle-lower class traveled, and information about the Ottoman harem was obtained through the travel books they wrote. In this study, birth rituals, which are a part of the social life of women, will be included in the eyes of Western female travelers who were able to enter the harem. Most of the Western travelers observed the customs and traditions of Ottoman women such as engagement, marriage, birth, hosting guests. In the life of Ottoman women, we witness that after marriage, birth is traditionally celebrated with a ceremony such as weddings and holidays. Each of these traditions has its customs and procedures. It is a common custom, especially among wealthy Turkish women, to receive guests until midnight for seven days from the birth of the first son. This tradition is practiced in a much more ostentatious way among members of the dynasty. Having a child, which strengthens family ties in Turkish society, has enabled marriage to be seen as one of the means of legitimacy as a requirement of the religion of Islam. Since children are given special importance in Turkish society, married couples are often expected to have children. As an inevitable result of this expectation, the birth of the child was given importance in the society in general, and the births of the children were celebrated with demonstrations. In addition to Ottoman archives and records, this issue was mentioned in Surnames and manuscripts with miniatures, and it found its place in the narratives of female travelers in travel books that constitute the majority of our research. Thus, the fact that female travelers who came to the capital of the empire included birth celebrations in the harem contributed to the promotion of this tradition. Keywords: Travelogue, Harem, Birth rituels.

Exploring visit intention to India among Southeast Asian solo female travelers

This paper aims to investigate the relationships between electronic word of mouth (eWOM), destination image, and visit intention among Southeast Asian solo female travelers towards India as a tourist destination. The hypotheses were drawn from a literature review and were tested through structural equation modeling based on the data of 301 online respondents. The findings reveal a significant direct relationship between these constructs, except for the relationship between perceived risk and visit intention. This paper contributes to the emerging Asian solo female travel research by analyzing the relationship between these critical factors and integrating them with the travel behavior process. • EWOM directly affects the destination image, visit intention and perceived risk. • Southeast Asian female solo travelers have high intention to visit India. • Perceived risk might be a push factor for female solo travelers.

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

Solo travel continues to be an under-researched area in the field of tourism, hospitality, and events. After the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become necessary to review the knowledge acquired so far. In addition, the 2030 Agenda calls for more studies to understand the relationship between gender and tourism. Because of these facts, and with the aim of analyzing the progress and gaps in academic publications on solo travel in recent years, a bibliometric and content analysis review of the existing scientific literature on solo travel published in Scopus, ProQuest, and the Web of Science in the last 5 years was carried out, focusing the analysis on the gender perspective applied to these investigations. The results showed that research focused on solo travel should increase; this research should segment solo travelers, and comparisons should be realized between those segments and with other tourists who travel accompanied. To do so, a consensual definition of solo travelers is necessary. In addition, research should be extended to other regions and expand the field of analysis beyond motivations, experiences, or constraints. Research focused on solo female travelers should continue because while women cannot travel under the same conditions as men effective gender equality cannot be achieved.

Gender Difference in Perception of Value of Travel Time and Travel Mode Choice Behavior in Eight European Countries

Women and men often do not experience equal mobility opportunities in their societies. Increasingly, gender is being recognized to play a significant role in transport planning, particularly for addressing individual mobility needs in urban and rural areas. By understanding the link between male and female travelers’ preferences, perceived values, and travel behavior, as well as experienced barriers, transport systems could be better tailored to women’s activities and mobility needs by putting the women’s perspective on center stage. Therefore, the objective of this paper is twofold: (1) to perform an in-depth analysis of women’s and men’s travel behavior to scrutinize the difference in perception of the value of travel time derived from travel experience using various transport modes and (2) to identify the significant factors influencing men and women’s travel behavior in terms of transport mode choice. The empirical analysis is based on a multinomial regression model of 1406 female travelers and 1486 male travelers in eight European countries. In regard to the subjective values associated with users’ perception of travel time worthwhileness, this research implies that the perception of enjoyable travel time and the perceived mood from the travel experience would increase the tendency of ridesharing and using private motorized modes of transport as a passenger among women. Results also demonstrate that women have a higher perception of the worthwhileness of travel time for walking compared to men using bicycle and micro-mobility systems and private motorized vehicles as a driver. Regarding public transport, a significant difference in the perceived worthwhileness of travel time between female and male users of public transport in the European urban areas was also discovered.

Carsharing travel distance and its associated factors: A case study of Seoul, South Korea

This study explores the mobility patterns of carsharing members from their trip distance perspective and its associated factors with a specific focus on its members' personal, usage, and stations' locational characteristics. Using Seoul as a case study, one-month rental transaction datasets provided by two-way carsharing operators were used as a data source. The multilevel mixed-effect modeling approach was applied to remedy spatial heterogeneity across station locations that affect the distance traveled by each rental. In addition, a classification among the carsharing members based on trip distance was conducted using regression tree to obtain clusters of the most homogenous member groups. The multilevel model results confirmed the important roles played by the station location and individual-level factors that affect mobility patterns of carsharing members. Individual-level characteristics showed that members in their 50s and female travel longer. Similarly, rentals made on non-workdays and in the morning showed longer travel distances. The station-level characteristics indicate that carsharing stations' proximity to public transit and leisure areas positively affects trip distances, suggesting the effect of the built environment and land use on the travel patterns of carsharing members. By combining carsharing transaction and their stations’ built environment data, this study suggests a new interface for city officials and carsharing operators to work together for achieving their sustainable mobility objectives together.

Motives of Female Travellers for Solo Travel

Motives of Female Travellers for Solo Travel

Evaluating Female Tourist’s Perception about Security and Safety While Visiting Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Purpose : Safe and secure environment decides the success or failure of a tourist destination. Due to some socio-cultural phenomena, women are more vulnerable regarding security and safety issues. Cox’s Bazar, a popular tourist destination in Bangladesh, has recently faced a negative reputation for being an unsafe place because of some unexpected incidents and its widespread media attention. This paper intends to evaluate the perception of female travelers, who visited Cox’s Bazar in January and February 2022, while staying there, and how they perceived security and safety in Cox’s Bazar. Methodology: 312 women tourists from Cox’s Bazar have been surveyed through a self-administrated two-part questionnaire. The sample size was determined by using a non-probability random sampling technique following the quantitative data analysis method. Findings: The findings shows that participants had reasonably positive perceptions of security and safety, although they felt unsafe going out at night. The main concern reported was snatch thief and pick-pocketing cases. Practical implications: Deploying more police and enhancing the provision of closed-circuit television (CCTV) was found to be an important instrument that may increase security and safety perception. Originality: Very few genders centric research on tourism crime has been done lately. Recent media attention about women tourists’ safety and security raised a concern to identify specific loopholes regarding security to ensure safe travel for a female in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Keywords: Cox’s Bazar; Tourism; Perception; Women safety; Crime; Security DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-14-04 Publication date: July 31 st 2022

The Trap of Visibility?

Sara Mills’ influential Foucauldian study of women’s travel writing, Discourses of Difference (1991), heralded a turn from the consideration of individual female travellers as exceptions towards an analysis of the discursive pressures similarly exerted on all of them, through the awareness of normative expectations regarding the production and the reception of their writings. This article revisits panopticism in the genre by showing how travel writing reveals the intersection between the material plane (travelling) and the discursive process (writing). Through the parallel analysis of three travel narratives, Anna Jameson’s Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada (1838), Isabella Bird’s A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains (1879), and Mary Kingsley’s Travels in West Africa (1897), I show how their clothing and behaviour are enacted as signs of femininity for the benefit of their contemporaries, in texts whose diaristic form articulates the writing of the self and its exhibition to the public. I thus analyse how these travel narratives illustrate the intersection of the individual and the social in power relations and self-fashioning, and how their authors negotiate surveillance in gender performance.

Solo female visitors in museum tourism: an exploration based on social practice theory

ABSTRACT Despite the fast growth of solo female travelling market, the travelling experience of solo female travellers is still lack of in-depth research. The heterogeneity of museum visitors also makes solo female visitors worthy of more discussion. Based on qualitative data collected through interviews and online travel blogs, and taking the four elements of social practice theory as theoretical framework, this study concluded that settings including the intangible assets and spatial functions of museums, constituted the basis of other elements, while the others (materials, competences and meanings) made up the practice of solo female visitors in museums. Meanings mainly included knowledge construction, social connection, and self-construction, which were linked with competences that solo female visitors obtained and also had an impact on their daily life. Practical suggestions on museum management were provided according to the element of materials, which was reflected in online and offline exhibition spaces, cultural and creative products.

Know your guests’ preferences before they arrive at your hotel: evidence from TripAdvisor

PurposeToward achieving a better guest experience, the current study aims to use the word frequency comparison technique to evaluate the types of attributes and services that are used most frequently in guests’ five- and one-star reviews on TripAdvisor. The working-paper also aims to investigate the differences between reviews written by men and women.Design/methodology/approachA combined sentiment and text analysis was applied to 329,849 UK hotel reviews from UK TripAdvisor to identify factors that influence customer satisfaction, including those with gender differences.FindingsThe present findings reveal important differences between the male- and female-produced terms. The results show that female travelers pay more attention to the hotel’s core products and their comfort compared to male travelers. In terms of food and beverage, men’s comments tended to focus on pubs, beer and certain types of food. In contrast, women’s comments were more likely to be related to healthy eating, such as homemade, vegan and vegetarian foods, as well as fruits and healthy breakfasts. Women also pay more attention to the soft skills of staff such as friendliness, helpfulness and welcoming messages.Practical implicationsWhile core attributes of a hotel stay remain crucial for all guests, disparities exist between the language men and women use to describe them. For core products, women pay more attention to the room’s cleanliness, comfort and features such as bed, pillow, blanket, towel, toiletries and decoration, whereas men pay more attention to the layout, size and type of room. Hotels may use gender as a segmentation variable and use these findings in their marketing campaigns.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies offering insights into the differences between the male and female reactions to and preferences for hotel services at a national level. Following a novel method, this study has listed and ranked attributes and differentiated them based on gender.