Everyone instructed me to not journey solo throughout a pandemic.
Especially to not study snowboarding, a sport that not all journey insurance coverage insurance policies cowl. It did not assist that I needed to go to a rustic the place I do not communicate the language.
Administrative issues — corresponding to Covid assessments, vaccination certificates and well being declarations — could be painful for a solo traveler, I used to be instructed. I might additionally catch Covid or injure myself whereas snowboarding abroad.
It made sense, however I did not know anybody who might go together with me. So I joined a Singapore tour group to South Korea.
I did not comprehend it once I booked my journey, however I used to be a part of a development of solo girls travelers who are joining group tours as tourism finds its ft once more.
The Singapore-based company I traveled with, EU Holidays, stated many extra solo travelers have joined its journeys because it restarted worldwide tours in September.
The numbers are small, however there was a noticeable enhance, in accordance with Wong Yew Hoong, director at EU Holidays.
Before the pandemic, he stated, solo travelers not often joined their tours “as a result of they usually plan and journey on their very own,” he instructed CNBC Travel. Now they are, and most solo travelers are girls, he stated.
Global development
In different components of the world, this development began earlier than the pandemic.
The Canadian-based journey company G Adventures stated solo travelers made up 51% of its bookings this 12 months — and 70% of them are female, up barely from 2019.
The solo journey development has grown exponentially over the previous 4 years, in accordance with Melissa DaSilva, North America president of The Travel Corporation’s tour division, TTC Tour Brands. TTC owns journey businesses corresponding to Trafalgar and Contiki.
“The pandemic has actually spurred curiosity even additional,” she instructed CNBC, including that TTC Tour Brands has made extra single rooms accessible and lowered or waived additional charges for single travelers in response to solo journey demand.
The SoFe Traveler Network, which organizes tours for solo female travelers, stated bookings have reached about 60% of pre-pandemic ranges.
Even married individuals are touring solo as a result of they’ve completely different pursuits from their spouses, stated Bruce Poon Tip, proprietor of Just You, a solo traveler specialist that organizes adult-only tours.
The pandemic made individuals more determined to tick off their “bucket list” destinations, stated Tip, who additionally based G Adventures.
“[But] {couples} do not essentially have the identical lists, and they also’re touring individually,” he instructed CNBC.
According to Just You’s website, girls normally make up round three-quarters of travelers in a solo journey group.
‘Don’t wait’ angle
Solo journey is often related to flexibility, and group tours are seen as inflexible. So why are female solo travelers signing up for this model of journey?
In my case, I wasn’t alone by selection or as a result of I needed extra freedom. I spent weeks looking for pals who would agree to return with me.
G Adventures’ Tip stated individuals who journey now are “early adopters,” however their pals could not have the identical urge for food for threat. That was the case for me — lots of my pals stated they had been nonetheless involved about Covid.
But it was additionally troublesome to search out somebody whose objectives and schedule matched mine. I spotted that, even when Covid subsides within the coming 12 months, I would nonetheless find yourself with out journey buddies, so now was pretty much as good a time as any.
Don’t wait to tick off your ‘bucket listing.’ … Nothing is promised.
Melissa DaSilva
North America president of TTC Tour Brands
DaSilva of TTC Tour Brands described that because the “do not wait” angle that many solo vacationers have, which she stated the pandemic bolstered.
“Don’t look forward to a journey companion to need to go to the identical vacation spot, on the identical time. Don’t wait to tick off your ‘bucket listing.’ Don’t wait – nothing is promised,” she stated.
I did not need to wait, however I additionally did not need to navigate pandemic journey alone. So I joined a tour.
CNBC’s Abigail Ng (sixth from left) joined a small group tour from Singapore to South Korea in March 2022.
Courtesy of Shawn Koh
Border laws, Covid testing and flight cancellations have made it difficult for solo travelers to plan their very own journeys, stated Megan Arzbaecher, a tour supervisor with SoFe Travel.
“Confidence in journey dropped dramatically, and till it rebounds, joining a solo group tour takes away all the thriller and fear, as a result of we are on high of all of the altering restrictions,” she stated.
Safety in numbers
Singaporean Nicole Lim will likely be occurring her first group tour as a solo traveler in May. She stated security was a giant consideration.
She needed to go mountaineering, however felt it could be harmful to do it alone.
“Being in Singapore for thus lengthy, I have not finished lots of mountaineering and tenting. I feel it is higher for me to go and discover a information and be part of a group, in order that we are able to all assist each other out,” she stated.
Before the pandemic, she stated she in all probability would have requested pals to hitch her. But after two years with out journey, she did not need her plans to be decided by whether or not she had somebody to go together with.
“If that is the case, then I’ll be delaying my travels and planning in accordance with one other particular person’s schedule slightly than mine,” she instructed CNBC.
After greater than two years of dwelling by means of the pandemic, some travelers are going solo as a result of they do not need to be depending on different individuals’s schedules.
Michael Duva | Stone | Getty Images
Covid additionally provides one other dimension to security issues, provided that travelers may wish medical care or be caught abroad.
“The journey company can care for you, like make it easier to change [flight] tickets and make some preparations for you,” stated Wong of EU Holidays.
Meeting individuals, making pals
The majority of girls who journey independently nonetheless desire a social expertise, stated DaSilva of TTC Tours.
Alison Allaire, a New Yorker who works in operations at an schooling firm, first joined a group tour as a solo traveler some 10 years in the past when nobody was accessible to journey together with her.
“I feel it is a terrific social expertise, you get to fulfill individuals from actually everywhere in the world,” she instructed CNBC.
She has even traveled with a good friend whom she first met on a guided tour. “Being on these journeys, I’ve made pals that will likely be [my] pals for the remainder of my life,” she stated.
New Yorker Alison Allaire stated she prefers tour teams as a result of it is simpler to make pals in contrast with touring by herself.
Courtesy of Alison Allaire
Still, it may be daunting to hitch a tour group alone. Before I left for my journey to South Korea, I puzzled if I might make pals and was ready to have some meals alone.
After all, touring with individuals you’ve got simply met is not the identical as touring with household or pals.
“There’s a little bit of concern that like, if I do not know anybody there personally, then there is not any one to actually look out for me,” stated Lim, the Singaporean who signed as much as go mountaineering in Bali in May.
But between two choices — staying dwelling or being alone in Bali with out assist, ought to she want it — Lim stated she would select the latter.
“I’d slightly have nobody,” she stated.