One is hardly the loneliest number when it comes to solo travel these days.
Now more than ever, solo travelers are likely to find themselves among many like-minded lone travelers, increasingly seeking out trips curated with their needs in mind and in farther-flung corners of the world.
And this new wave of solo travel is being driven by what suppliers and travel advisors say is a commonly shared sentiment: They’re out of patience and full of wanderlust.
“There’s this mentality — and it was especially fresh right after the pandemic — that people just don’t care anymore; they are tired of waiting to travel,” said Gabriella Ribeiro, founder of Divorce Journeys, a tour company that organizes trips for women going through divorce.
Once travel restarted, several tour operators began seeing a surge in the solo traveler segment. EF Go Ahead Tours has seen a 200% increase in solo travel bookings since the beginning of 2023, compared with the same time last year, while Intrepid Travel has 2,300 more solo travelers booked on North America trips this year than last year, along with 9,000 more solo travelers globally.
Bookings show that many of these solo travelers are venturing out on their own for the first time. The new breed is also looking to roam farther away from home and seek out destinations that may be challenging for them to navigate on their own or get to without guided support.
“For instance, solo travelers first wanted to explore bucket-list destinations in more familiar countries across Europe,” said Lael Kassis, vice president of market innovation and development at EF Go Ahead. “Over time, solo travelers told us they wanted EF Go Ahead to organize tours in destinations that they felt would be harder for them to do on their own, like our popular solo-only tours in Thailand, Kenya or Egypt.”