75% Rise In Solo Women Travellers In Country: Report

There has been a 75% rise in the number of solo women travellers in the country with growth in bookings for such journeys. More and more women in India are discovering solo travel, based on an analysis by Cleartrip, as per reports.

No. of online travel-related searches by women doubled

Travel operators mentioned how most women are from tier-1 cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Also, the number of women travellers opting for international trips has also increased with rising income levels of women professionals.

Cleartrip found that Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune were the leading city destinations for solo women travellers in the last few years. These were  followed by leisure destinations like Goa, Kochi, Jaipur, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Thiruvananthapuram. Interestingly, international destinations are also becoming popular among women. Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore, London, Denpasar in Bali and Kuala Lumpur lead the international solo travel bookings.

Women who preferred travelling alone summed up to 75 per cent of travel bookings on Cleartrip’s platform. For international travel, Cleartrip witnessed a 10 per cent year-on-year growth in solo bookings till date this year, of which 22 per cent were women solo travellers.

Big rise over the past couple of years

BigBreaks, an online travel portal, is heavily promoting solo women trips to destinations like Bhutan and Ladakh. Mumbai-based travel portal ixigo claimed how more women are opting to travel in women-only groups in the country and abroad.

Places such as Ladakh, Kashmir, Goa, Dubai, Bali, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Cambodia have gained popularity among women. Also, Sri Lanka has grown to be an extremely safe option for women

“From 2016 to till date this year, there has been a significant increase of 6 per cent in the number of bookings at Mojhi for Indian solo female travellers opting for adventure packages across Asia and Africa. Wildlife safaris in Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa have been the most opted adventure activity compared to more physically taxing activities such as climbing Kilimanjaro or an Everest Base Camp trek,” said Viswanath Raju, Co-Founder, Mojhi.

Mojhi has created specialised female-only departures to step up the safety aspect of women during travel. They have about five safari departures every year that is meant only for female travellers.

There is no doubt that travelling alone is exciting, nerve-wracking, and surprisingly rewarding at the same time. To see women taking up the idea of solo travel is not only wonderful but also progressive too.

Also: Why you must travel solo at least once! – Rejuvenate and Unplug

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