Remarkably, among women travelers,
more of them prefer traveling solo. A survey
conducted by the Association of British
Travel Agents showed that two in three
people in relationships would like to holiday
alone.3 In addition, women represent twothirds
of those traveling solo for the purpose
of leisure.4 Solo women travelers are distinct
from other travelers. Accounts of women’s
travel experiences differ markedly from those
of men.5 The distinguishing characteristic of
solo women travelers has caused the travel
industry to become aware of the tremendous
economic power of women.6 By understanding
solo female tourists’travel patterns,
tourism marketers can make more effective marketing decisions as well as target this
segment of the population and develop customized
marketing strategies.
Even though research on this unique market
segment has appeared gradually, it is still
quite limited. Henderson7 suggested that
more examinations have to be done pertaining
to different groups of women on unique
social (e.g., travel) circumstances. Josiam et
al.8 also argued that more effort should be
made to recognize the travel patterns of this
segment of female travelers. The purpose of
this study is to investigate the leisure travel
motivations of women who travel alone and
to examine the characteristics and the consumption
patterns of solo women travelers.
More specifically, the aim is to understand
solo women travelers’ leisure travel patterns
and systematically interpret them through
the perspective of their travel motivations.