Footloose: Women Travelling Solo Are Set To Change The Face Of India’s Travel Industry

If you have seen Kangana Ranaut’s latest Bollywood flick, Queen, you are bound to agree that her trip abroad all by herself is the most intriguing part of the storyline and her journey of discovery keeps you hooked. But that’s hardly a rare phenomenon nowadays. Single or married, young or aged, on a business trip or on a dream vacation, more women are travelling alone instead of taking their families in tow. Even those opting for guided vacations are mostly choosing like-minded women-only groups.

A recent survey jointly conducted by ixigo.com, India’s leading travel planning and search engine firm, and Lemon Tree Hotels, the country’s third largest hotel company by owned rooms, says that there has been a marked change in travel trends across the country. Female travellers are now an increasingly important segment of the Indian travel market, for both leisure and business travel, and the country’s travel industry is just waking up to that fact.

“With women climbing the corporate ladder and becoming more independent, travel is becoming an intrinsic part of their lives. Also, only-women travel groups offering interesting holiday destinations and packages are luring women to take up travel. Our survey indicates 26% women travel with their girl gangs to explore new places,” said Saurabh Srivastava, VP (marketing & product strategy) at ixigo.com.

More than 550 women aged between 25 and 45 and hailing from different metros across the country, took part in the ixigo-Lemon Tree Hotels online survey.

At present, women-only travellers don’t form too large a segment of India’s travel market but the concept of vacationing away from one’s family (to say nothing of business travel) is catching up fast. As per Trafalgar India, one of the leading guided holiday operators, there has been 22% rise in bookings by women’s groups and single travellers in India between October 2013 and February 2014, compared to last year.

While women now account for more than 23% of business travellers (both domestic and outbound), the number will grow significantly in the near future, with the rise in the number of women in mid-senior executive ranks where business travel is a necessity. Over the next 20 years, international business travel by Indian women could grow almost tenfold to more than 10 million annual business departures, according to industry estimates.

Group travel by women is also gaining in popularity, thanks to a growing number of social clubs offering secure and affordable women-only tours. The bottom line is quite simple here. In a fast-moving life ruled by many priorities, one is not always able to travel with friends, family or relatives. But that should not hinder a woman from travelling at her convenience, to the destination of her choice.

A separate survey by Trafalgar India indicates that 10% women prefer guided vacations for a guided experience, 30% for safety, 11% to meet new people, 26% for convenience and comfort while 23% women find it cost-effective.

What women want
The ixigo-Lemon Tree Hotels survey has delved deep into women’s way of travelling and the comfort factors they look for. Here are the key findings when it comes to women wanting to travel safe and solo.

Female travellers are tech-savvy: Indian women travel as frequently as once in two months (50%), with 43% booking their hotels online and 65-76% saying they only read user reviews and endorsements to make their final choice, the survey says. Mobile apps are clearly the way to go as 56% women use smartphone apps to find information about their destinations and plan their trips.

Safety & comfort top priority list: For 41% women, facilities and services are the top considerations while choosing a hotel while location, cost and security have come out as other important criteria. Although security as an independent variable does not top the priority list of solo women travellers/women-only travel groups, there are clearly other surrogate considerations that indicate that safety remains a big concern. For instance, 34% women prefer to have female hostesses for room service while others look for a wide range of women-friendly amenities including call-screening facility (20%), women-driven cabs (19%) and separate floors/wings for women (18%). Interestingly, more than 63% of the respondents say they need a companion to be able to feel comfortable enough to drink at a hotel bar.

Feel-good add-ons matter: Well, that’s a given and who doesn’t love the nice, little extras? When asked about exclusive redemption options offered on loyalty programmes, shopping vouchers have come up as the most favourite (27%), closely followed by room nights (24%) and spa therapy (22%) – clearly indicating that special benefits and exclusive offers go hand in hand with women. On the amenities front, 24x7 room service is the most important one (voted by 24% women) while free Wi-Fi (18%), gym, swimming pool, spa and restaurants are some others factors that would make the stay memorable.

End-note: Older women are travelling more
This finding is not a part of the above survey but going by the fact that it has considered women aged between 25 and 45, instead of the 18-30 or 25-40 age bracket is a clear indicator that older women are calling the shots in travel space, making decision for themselves as well as for friends and families, and spending their own money for solo trips – be it a prestigious presentation, a professional seminar, visiting a beautiful place or simply chilling out to get the better of stress. According to Marybeth Bond of The Gutsy Traveller – The average adventure traveller is not a 28-year-old male, but a 47-year-old female. And she wears a size 12 dress.

Moreover, the findings from the above surveys amply tell us what women travellers expect and how fast the women-only travel market is growing in India. These surely promise more travel spend (both for business and leisure travel), better business across the country and an improved travel experience for women who love to do it solo and keep off the beaten path.

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