by The idea of making real friends with people you meet on holiday is so funny to British sensibilities that Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat turned it into a comedy in the West End.
The Unfriendstarring Lee Mack and Sarah Alexander as a British couple who meet Elsa, an American woman traveling alone, on the premise that she will take her polite suggestion of a visit as a serious invitation.
The drama may be funny, but it seems that a growing number of people are on Elsa’s side. Solo travel is on the rise and the opportunity to make lifelong friendships is at its core. The number of people going on holiday alone has increased from 6% in 2011 to 16% in 2023 according to the Association of British Travel Agents, which said there was a “strong desire to go alone”. Some operators have seen big increases – individual bookings accounted for 46% of Tourhub’s business last year.
Solo doesn’t always mean alone though. Many solo travelers join group tours, as Jen Burton did last year. “I didn’t know anyone at all and I was totally scared at the airport,” said Burton, 40, who opened the Bea and Aud Lifestyle clothing store in Buckingham last year. “I’ve made lifelong friends now.”
She had recently split from her husband of 19 years, and decided to join an Intrepid Travel trip to Jordan for 16 women organized by Claire and Laura Jopson, who run the travel blog. Twin Perspectives.
“I walked up to some of the women in the check-in queue and immediately they knew I was having a really hard time,” she said. “The support you can get from a group of women you don’t even know is amazing.”
Burton, the eldest, said: “[I had] never laughed so hard in my whole life. But then in the next case we would have these great feminist conversations.”
Since the Jordan trip, many of the women have stayed in touch and last week Burton hosted an Australian friend she met while traveling. Norway is next. “This time I will share a room,” she said. “I felt like I was missing out a little bit in my own room.”
Companies such as Just You and Flash Pack cater specifically to solo travellers, while others, including Newmarket Holidays, Riviera Travel and Jules Verne, offer solo or solo tours.
“Sixty percent of our travelers are solo,” said Yves Marceau, vice president of products at G Adventures. He said the company made great efforts to design tours that fostered camaraderie, ensuring there was plenty of time for people to meet and mingle. Tour guides were trained to create camaraderie and to see where people might not be moving forward.
“A young man in his early 20s wrote to us about his trip,” Marceau said. “He was sharing a room with a 75-year-old man. He said ‘My first reaction was, Oh my God, this is a terrible experience. But over the first few days, I became so close to this gentleman that we are still friends.’ Those [stories] That’s why we do this.”
G Adventures and some other businesses, such as Hostelworld, have created their own apps with social features, but smaller companies use other social media. Chris Bone, founder of Adventure Solos, invites all tour members to a WhatsApp group when booking.
“It really breaks the ice,” Bone said. It runs adventure weekends and week-long trips across the UK, with activities including hiking, canoeing and climbing. “People often travel long distances, and will share a car or get the same train. And there have often been people at previous events.”
It means that an hour into hike, Bone guests are very relaxed. “It’s amazing that all these things come flooding out. People have often been through a life change recently. But no one knows anyone else and [there are] no preconceived notions.”
Not all groups create friendships. “There were a few men who were consistently slow every day,” said Carole Railton, a body language expert and author, on a trip to Morocco. “We were picking up buses or trains to catch, and they would walk down. People were grumpy because they were taking time off from everyone’s holiday.”
Joyce Connor, a makeup artist, was one of two solo travelers on a trip to Vietnam, the other woman being much older. “I’m 60,” she said. “Basically, I was a carer for two weeks. It was not fun. She didn’t know how to use her phone or check in for her flight. And she didn’t want to eat alone, she just wanted to go to places that had English food. In Vietnam.
“But on another trip I met a woman on the second day and it turns out we have a mutual friend. Now the three of us go out together.”
There are still plenty of solo travelers who avoid groups, and life has become easier for them. People used to look down on solo travellers, according to Georgie Darling, a freelance travel writer. “It was something people thought you did out of desperation. Now it’s a ‘cool concept’.” Travel influencers on TikTok and Instagram, such as Janet Newenham, have shown that solo travel can be rewarding, Darling said.
She stays in shared living spaces – hostels with private rooms and workplaces. “I’m looking for expat groups in the city or town I’m in. So I’m in Mexico now, and this morning I’m going to a brunch for women entrepreneurs. Everyone is here with the intention of meeting new people – there was a taco bar last night.
“I’ve just joined a WhatsApp group for solo female travelers in London. And already about 15 different trips are arranged, with people saying ‘I’m going to be in Copenhagen this weekend’. These things are easy to find now.”
