Featured image: The solo travel movement is going mainstream, but is the world ready for it?| Photo by Meniphoto via Envato

Three things that might surprise you about solo women over 50

by Carolyn Ray

In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of articles calling 2025 the year of the solo traveller, claiming that solo travel is the newest trend in travel. As the world’s first publication for female solo travellers since 1994, we know that solo travel isn’t a trend, nor is it new. After all, women have been venturing out on their own for decades, even centuries. Consider Nellie Bly, Bessie Coleman, Dervla Murphy, or Dame Freya Stark, who chose the less-travelled path well before the Internet and cell phones, with hard copy maps and well-worn guides in hand.

The shift that’s happening now is that solo travel is becoming a mainstream movement. A movement that is gathering momentum, particularly among older women, who are empowered, purposeful and have the time and money to travel, perhaps more than any other group. Older women were among the first so see the power of travel to shape perspective, feed curiosity, and stimulate cross-cultural connection and learning. As we age and move through different life experiences, travel becomes even more important to our well-being and personal development, instilling confidence, gratitude and humility. In my experience, older women don’t live to travel, we travel to live.

The female solo travel movement began decades ago

When she passed away in 2019, JourneyWoman founder Evelyn Hannon had been writing about her adventures in solo travel for almost three decades, inspiring women to get out and see the world for themselves. Ask any loyal JourneyWoman reader, and she’ll still have those hard copies of JourneyWoman magazine.

When Evelyn went online in 1997, the female solo travel revolution really gathered momentum. She also supported many small businesses catering to women’s travel, creating the world’s first travel directory for women, and inspired other bloggers who wanted to start their own websites. It’s because of women like Evelyn that the travel industry paid attention to solo travel, and it’s thanks to shifting demographics that solo travel is now surging into the mainstream.

Travel studies about women 50+ show that we tend to spend more on travel than younger travellers, are more loyal, and travel for longer periods of time. Perhaps even more important, older women care deeply about sustainable travel, conservation and supporting smaller communities. Many have started travel businesses to do just that — to give back, volunteer and be of service to other women. Our Women’s Travel Directory is filled with businesses that prioritize purpose over profit, of women who have reinvented their lives to follow their passion. This isn’t new either; in fact, many of these businesses have been partners of ours for decades. 

So why then, given their contributions to the world, do 70% of women over 50 say they feel unseen or undervalued by the travel industry – or worse, invisible? It is ageism, or simply a lack of credible information about our needs? To find out, in November, we invited women over 50 to participate in a global study and share their perspectives, in partnership with Collette Travel, Intrepid Travel and Aurora Expeditions. Over 1600 women participated from almost 50 countries, with most responses from the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. Almost 50 per cent of respondents are women age 65-74, with 26 per cent age 55-64 and 20 per cent over age 75. Most women (41%) say they travel solo most of the time and 26 per cent say they travel solo with a travel company, while others travel with a friend or partner. While the official results will be released in early 2025, there are three things that caught my attention.

1. Solo women over 50 are a force, but still don’t feel seen

Industry studies have shown that Boomers and Gen X women in the US and Canada represent over $15 trillion in purchasing power in the US alone and are also the fastest-growing demographic over the next 10 years. We’re also the most empowered, making the majority (98%) of travel decisions in our households, according to our survey results.

Yet, when asked “do you feel the travel industry understands your needs as a solo female traveller’, only 4 per cent said yes. Similarly, only 2.3 per cent said yes when asked: ‘I feel the travel industry understands OLDER female travellers’. Hundreds of women commented on this topic, saying “As a woman over 50, I am invisible in society.” Or, “Most travel images are of young and pretty people OR older couples. There’s more demographics than just those two.”  

So is travel ageist? Or is that the world simply hasn’t adapted to the relatively new concept of aging as a positive, healthy process? Experts tell us there is a huge demographic shift happening, as population growth slows, longevity increases (with more people living to age 100) and birth rates decline. The traditional pyramid model, which shows more young people at the bottom and less older people at the top, is now a square for the first time ever – a 50/50 balance of people under and over 50 years old. This has vast implications beyond travel. We need to dramatically rethink our perceptions about age, reframe outdated stereotypes about ability, and reconsider the language used to describe older people.    

From updating website imagery to reconsidering age limits on tours, the travel industry has an opportunity to lead this change. Nothing is more inspiring than seeing older women featured in articles like this one on BBC Travel about 89-year old solo traveller and JourneyWoman Award recipient Joy Fox, but it’s a rarity. Let’s make the inclusion of older women the norm, not the exception.

2. Women over 50 are pretty darn savvy

With decades of travel experience, solo women over 50 are savvy when it comes to researching, planning and booking travel. When it comes to technology, 95% of women 50+ said they use a smartphone regularly. More than 75% use anti-virus software and more than a third make regular use of whatsapp, digital wallets  eSims, VPNs and airtags.  Let us not forget that we – the Boomers and Gen Xers – were the first to embrace technology in our everyday lives. It was our generation who first used email, the Internet and laptop computers.   

However, technology is supposed to simplify our lives and many said it seems be getting more complicated, which slows down the buying decision. This suggests an opportunity for travel companies to involve older women (the main decision makers for travel) in developing websites and apps for travel. Hundreds of women commented on the need for more transparent, intuitive and flexible online purchasing experiences. There was also a desire to see more accessible features for those with hearing and vision requirements.  

Women over 50 are also pros at knowing what sources to trust. Perhaps because we participated in the evolution of technology, we are highly attuned to the threat of misinformation. In our survey, 71% of women 50+ said they consult less than 10 sources when it comes to making a travel decision. Recommendations from other women ranked first at 70%, followed by travel company websites (58%) and online travel websites like JourneyWoman (55%). This far outpaces the influence of traditional travel media (magazines and TV shows) on our travel decisions. Mainstream media ranked ninth, after social media at 23 per cent. Ultimately, it should be no surprise that solo women are looking to other solo women for information, not social media and advertising. 

3. Women are frustrated with the single supplement, which ranks as the biggest barrier to solo travel

One might think that personal safety or fear slows down solo travellers, but in our survey, 78 per cent of respondents said the number one barrier to solo travel is the single supplement. If you’re not familiar with the single supplement it’s an extra premium that solo travellers are charged to make up for two people using a room, be it a hotel room, a group tour or on a ship. In some cases, the additional single supplement fee can range upwards of 100 per cent, making travel unaffordable for the solo woman.

The single supplement creates a negative halo that affects the entire travel industry. For solo women, it is perceived as discriminatory. We received hundreds of comments on this topic. Women expressed their frustration with this policy, which has been in place for decades, saying it just doesn’t feel equitable to pay for two.  Why should they be penalized for being an independent traveller?

While most women said they will look for a good deal to offset the financial impact of the single supplement, it’s not a solution to the real problem, which is the business model itself. One option is to simply not book trips that require an unreasonable single supplement surcharge. In our Women’s Travel Directory, we only feature travel experiences from our partners who charge no more than a 20 per cent premium over double occupancy pricing. We are also working with several companies to change the way the single supplement is marketed and operationalized. 

Even so, as the number of solo travellers continues to increase, companies will need to offer more consistent and flexible pricing options or risk losing the loyalty of the solo traveller. We look forward to healthy and constructive conversations with our readers, partners and the travel industry at large to resolve this issue once and for all, to help more women step into the life of their dreams.

As we look to 2025, there will be more articles talking about the growth of solo travel and its shift into the mainstream travel industry, which is wonderful. Let’s remember how important it to acknowledge that solo travel began decades ago, with the very women who now feel unseen and misunderstood. Through important research like this, we have an opportunity to make travel equitable and accessible to all. Thank you to the 1,630 women who took the time to complete our survey. We see you. We hear you. Your voice will make a difference.

About our research: Results from this study will be available in early 2025. This research is supported by Collette Travel, Intrepid Travel and Aurora Expeditions, and will be used to adapt to the needs of women 50+ and create new products and services for the mature traveller.  In addition, JourneyWoman has also conducted interviews with more than 25 CEOs and leaders from travel companies, airlines, insurance companies and booking platforms to understand their commitment to and investment in the women 50+ market. Allies of the research include Rise Travel Institute, Women in Travel CIC, Women Travel Leaders, Travel Unity, TourRadar, the Transformational Travel Council and The Travel Foundation.

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