How women-only excursions are reshaping the best way we journey

Women are pivotal to shaping the journey trade. From deciding which locations to go to to reserving the journey, they make 82% of all journey selections, in accordance with Skift Research’s 2024 The Woman Traveler report. Women additionally journey extra often than males — the identical Skift report acknowledged that 64% of travellers globally are feminine. So, as feminine travellers more and more lean in the direction of women-only excursions, the journey trade is leaning with them.

Over the previous couple of years, the Adventure Travel Trade Association has seen a 230% improve within the variety of journey corporations catering particularly to girls. Meanwhile, present operators are increasing their product ranges. For these already in operation, bookings are on the up. Responsible Travel has seen an 18% improve in curiosity for its women-only holidays over the past three years. And Intrepid Travel, one of many largest operators on this house, noticed a 59% improve in bookings for its Women’s Expeditions in 2024 in comparison with the 12 months earlier than. But what precisely is driving this rising pattern?

The new zeitgeist

A pioneer within the trade since 1982, US-based operator AdventureWomen has been providing women-only, small-group excursions to in all places from the polar areas to Asia and Africa for over 40 years. Hot on its heels is Wild Women Expeditions, which has been operating since 1991, specializing in distant places. Female-led journey, then, is hardly new. But women-only excursions have undeniably moved from a distinct segment house to changing into a part of the zeitgeist extra just lately.

Money has quite a bit to do with it, in accordance with Claire Copeman, founding father of Adventure Tours UK. “More and more women now have the financial independence to be able to do their own thing,” she explains. The information appears to again it up. Women at the moment are on common wealthier than ever, in accordance with one current report by funding financial institution UBS. And whereas the general gender pay hole stays, analysis from the Centre for Social Justice means that it has been reversed for Gen Zers within the UK, with girls now incomes, on common, £2,200 extra per 12 months than males.

But there’s additionally been a rise within the want to journey. When you have a look at Google Trends information between June 2020 and June 2025, there’s been a 600% improve in international searches for ‘travel companies for solo female travellers’, and a 200% improve for ‘solo trips for women’, amongst different related search queries.

Crucially, although, not all solo feminine travellers are going it utterly alone — many are as a substitute becoming a member of group excursions, unbiased of their family and friends. Virtuoso, a community of corporations specialising in luxurious and experiential journey for people and teams, says that as of 2024, 71% of its solo journey prospects are girls.

Potential price financial savings is one cause why solo feminine travellers are turning to group excursions. In a survey of its members, group platform Solo Female Travelers discovered that 71% of ladies had been reluctant to go on their first solo journey as a result of they’re frightened concerning the greater prices. Safety is one other issue, as cited by 59% of respondents to the identical survey. That’s hardly shocking when, statistically talking, girls are much more prone to be victims of headline crime than males.

Although combined group excursions handle each of those issues to a sure extent, for some feminine travellers, women-only journeys add an additional layer of safety. Take Carli Korik, volunteer at on-line group Girls Who Travel. Having travelled each on her personal and with teams, she discovered that women-only excursions took away a few of the ‘unknowns’ that include being in combined firm. “Spending a week or two in close quarters with men you don’t know just means you have to be more aware, which is fine — as women we all do that without thinking,” she explains. “But it’s a huge relief not to have to think twice about who you’re sitting with on the bus or if you need to cover your drink. It’s not just about avoiding something bad happening. It’s about being able to let your guard down.”

Making connections

Safety isn’t the one cause to decide on a women-only tour. “Women are seeking experiences that feel deeply meaningful — and often, that’s in the company of other women,” says Deborah Calmeyer, founder and CEO of luxurious specialist Roar Africa.

That was actually the case for former espresso store proprietor April Seals-Partner, who booked her journey throughout a nerve-racking interval of her life. “I chose a women-only tour because I wasn’t looking for just another getaway — I was seeking sisterhood,” she explains. “In mixed-gender spaces, the subtle emotional safety that sisterhood offers often gets diluted. In a women-only space, vulnerability is healing and conversations go deep — fast. We laugh louder and hold space for one another in a way that’s simply unmatched.” That first expertise was so transformative, in truth, that Seals-Partner went on to start out her personal female-led journey agency, Radiant Escapes, so extra girls might have the identical expertise.

For Josie Prior, a HR supervisor who attends women-only retreats yearly, having the ability to join with different girls and having the psychological and bodily house to reset was a part of the enchantment. “I chose female-only groups as I was searching for answers from other women,” she says. Without sisters to show to, women-only retreats grew to become an important place for the female-led conversations that had been lacking from her every day life. “We spoke about the menopause, empty nesting, you name it. Some opened up about subjects they couldn’t talk to their friends about,” Prior explains. “As we didn’t really know each other, there was no judging.”

Candid conversations

Women-only excursions can even open up extra significant journey experiences in different methods. For Intrepid, a driving drive behind the launch of its Women’s Expeditions again in 2018 was that societal norms in locations just like the Middle East meant interactions with locals had been usually restricted when there’s a combined group. The journey agency created its first women-only excursions to Morocco, Iran and Jordan — locations which have historically been extra conservative. These excursions now embody India, Nepal, Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

On these journeys, feminine travellers and their hosts are given extra probabilities “to have candid conversations about their daily lives”, says Joanna Reeve, Intrepid’s UK and Ireland supervisor. By being a part of an all-female tour, friends additionally get the prospect to enter women-only areas that might in any other case be off-limits. You would possibly go swimming at a women-only seaside in Saudi Arabia, for instance, or go to a lady’s house in India.

And then there’s the emotional assist you get, notably on lively or adventurous journeys. Copywriter and eager hiker Kim Merritt skilled this on a women-only journey to Mongolia with WHOA Travel. She says: “When one woman was having a particularly tough go, our guide rallied us together to cheer her up. When I was struggling to climb a steep incline, our guide taught me how to do it more efficiently.” There was no judgement, simply a number of encouragement.

The ripple impact

The UN’s newest Global Report on Women in Tourism revealed that ladies make up 54% of the worldwide tourism workforce. At the identical time, there’s burgeoning proof that journeys supporting women-owned companies have wider, optimistic financial and social implications. Various research have proven that women-owned companies usually tend to create optimistic social influence, whether or not that’s via creating jobs for different girls or by supporting these of their group. In this context, it’s not onerous to think about that women-only excursions can have an more and more essential position to play in accountable tourism.

Anecdotally, it’s already doable to see the advantages of women-only excursions in play. Intrepid, for instance, supplies employment alternatives for ladies by incorporating regionally led experiences into all of its Women’s Expeditions and plenty of of its different excursions. “This helps to ensure tourism dollars are going directly to local women, which helps to support them, and often their families and wider communities too,” says Reeve.

Currently the tour operator is the biggest employer of feminine tour guides in each India and Morocco, and it’s seeking to improve this additional. It additionally helps charities that assist native girls via its excursions. On its Women’s Expedition to India for instance, friends go to the Sheroes Hangout in Agra, which gives employment alternatives and assist to survivors of acid assaults.

On a smaller scale, Roar Africa has hosted a roving Women’s Empowerment Retreat across the African continent since 2019. Through it, instructional alternatives, scholarships, change programmes and funding for vital conservation and ladies’s well being initiatives have all been created, in accordance with Calmeyer.

Whether supposed or not, it appears these selecting specialist women-only excursions obtain a uncommon mixture: a significant journey that’s not solely good for them, but in addition helpful to society at massive. And in a world the place our journey selections can vastly influence the native communities we meet, that may solely be factor.