Singles and Solo Travel: Gender and Type of Holiday

Abstract

This quantitative research contributes to our understanding of the solo tourist experience by mapping young single students' (Norwegians aged 18–29) willingness to become solo travelers (11 different types of holidays). The major result is that these students are reluctant to travel solo, regardless of type of holiday. This suggests that they prefer to travel with family and friends, and that bonding is an important part of their tourist experiences. They are, in particular, unwilling to visit beach resorts alone. This supports a notion that such homogenous tourism spaces are imbued with singlism, negatively affecting the solo tourist experience. If alone on holiday, the young single students are most willing to backpack, a sociable type of holiday that is popular among young solo tourists. They are also the most willing to travel solo to a familiar place such as the family second home. Moreover, they could also visit cities alone. In such heterogeneous tourism spaces it is easier to remain anonymous and there is often a variety of experiences to choose from. This study also examines the influences of gender on the solo tourist experience. One main finding is that the young single male students are more willing than the females to go on sport- and party-related holidays alone. Furthermore, as opposed to male respondents, the majority of female respondents perceive solo holidays as frightening. This suggests that solo holidays are permeated by gender power relations such as the geography of women's travel fears. Despite the singles' reluctant perceptions of solo travel, the market for such holidays is increasing and the tourism industry is advised on how to approach young, single, solo tourists, for instance, by being more creative in developing and promoting socially including holiday activities.