While solo travel as an overall trend is still on the rise, unless you're a seasoned traveler (or in search of some self-reliant adventuring), traveling alone can be a daunting proposition-especially if you're a woman, and particularly in certain parts of the world.
Perhaps even more so when one reaches middle age. While many women approaching retirement may have husbands, partners or grown-up children available to accompany them as they tick off their travel bucket lists, some have no such luxury. Or, maybe you have family and friends you'd like to invite, but their interests or schedules don't align, and you find yourself faced with a choice between going on your own or abandoning your travel plans.
A company called Women Traveling Together (WTT) has come up with the perfect solution. WTT's sole focus for over 20 years has been providing scheduled, small-group travel experiences in a wide array of global destinations for women over 50 who are vacationing without a travel companion.
"It's not about a woman's solo journey (a la 'Eat, Pray, Love'). It's also not 'singles' travel, 'senior' travel, or 'girlfriends' travel. And, it's not exclusively 'adventure' travel. WTT is about making travel accessible, comfortable and enjoyable for women who may not have a partner to travel with, but who still want to see the world," explained WTT's Founder and President, Debra Asberry. We make them feel empowered and remove barriers for active women to find their travel independence."
Based on WTT's research, the tour operator adheres to an ideal group size of between fourteen and eighteen travelers, which is intimate enough to ensure that everyone gets to know one another, yet broad enough that participants are sure to find other women with whom they have much in common.
WTT creates itineraries that cover a wide range of activity levels and trip lengths in over 100 global destinations each year. Each carefully-curated tour travels with a dedicated WTT Tour Leader who manages logistics, works with local destination guides, monitors group dynamics and offers individual attention to each member throughout their journey. For the more independent-minded who'd rather strike out on their own during blocks of unscheduled free time, this specially-trained leader also prepares numerous options for sightseeing or activities and assists those with specific interests.
Asberry revealed: "In 2020, we'll offer 120 departures with more than 1,600 women traveling with us. We know we have happy customers because our return rate is 82 percent."
In the 2018 Travel Leaders Group's Fall Travel Trends survey, "women-only" travel ranked among the year's most-requested specialty travel categories and it's a niche that's poised to become a billion-dollar industry by 2025, according to Asberry.
The same survey revealed that, regardless of age, just seven percent of women would truly consider traveling solo. However, an incredible 94 percent of those same respondents said that they would sign up for an all-female tour traveling with a group of other unaccompanied women.
Operators like WTT effectively eliminate the obstacles inherent in solo travel, creating a safe, welcoming and supportive environment where mature women can expand their horizons, form new friendships and have some worry-free fun.
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