On the heels of crowd-sourced research that showed nearly 9 of 10 participants would opt for a hotel labeled “women-led” over a hotel without a specified ownership, WayAway is continuing to improve its offerings for female travelers.
The travel metasearch website has begun to highlight travel experiences and destinations led by or tailored to women under a category dubbed “female traveler approved points of interest.” For travelers who want to support women-led businesses or who feel safer taking part in experiences managed or led by women, the platform has implemented a special badge to indicate what it calls “female traveler approved” listings, said Janis Dzenis, WayAway’s director of public relations.
“Female travelers are looking to pay more for safety or would like to choose something woman-led or female-owned,” Dzenis said in an interview.
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Interest in female-oriented travel experiences and female solo travel is on the rise. It’s well-established that women make up more than half of leisure travelers overall and the demographic also accounts for 84% of solo travelers, according to Condor Ferries’ 2023 Solo Travel Statistics.
Travel businesses have taken note.
Vanessa Karel, founder and CEO of Greether, a female-focused travel platform that connects women travelers with local verified female greeters across the globe, has “absolutely” noticed an uptick in interest in female-led experiences.
“Even though this trend has been growing exponentially for a long time, it is now becoming stronger than ever,” Karel said. “More women are taking that chance to book their dream trip.”
How WayAway’s new badges work
WayAway’s “female traveler approved” badge indicates that select listings have met WayAway’s criteria of being owned or managed by women or dedicated to women in some way. Listings appear on the website with a sparkle-like badge to indicate that location is a “good choice for female travelers.”
Though safety is a concern, the badges don’t address it directly.
For now, the badge initiative is very much in early stages, Dzenis said. To kick things off, WayAway added the badge to around 100 listings and aims to designate thousands by the end of the year. The company has more than 200 representatives it calls “insiders” on the ground looking to approve locations.
Interest in female-led travel on the rise
WayAway isn’t the only platform or business seeking to satisfy demand around female-focused travel. Recent examples of female-focused destinations, experiences and lodgings are not hard to find.
Som Hotels’ Hotel Som Dona in Mallorca, which opened in 2019, was created to cater only to women. In Sicily, Cummari is a space dedicated to solo female travelers and digital nomads with its host also leading SheLegends Tours focused on “Italy’s sacred and feminine sites.” And in Washington, D.C., Hotel Zena, which opened in 2020, is dedicated to celebrating accomplishments of women and recognizing the quest for gender equality.
There are a lot of opportunities in this market, and we are doing whatever we can to support women-led small businesses in tourism and listen to the needs of our female travelers.
Vanessa Karel - Greether
Francesca Murray, a travel content creator, said she believes that what’s happening now is a continuation of a trend that started before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Solo female travel was already on the rise, and with that a lot of women have been seeking opportunities to book a trip on their own terms without waiting for a friend or partner to join them,” Murray said.
Industry experts are taking note of the uptick even if it isn’t new. Karel is seeing the rise in interest at Greether.
“We have experienced over 200% growth this year, and we are only halfway through the year,” she said. “We estimate that next year this number will keep increasing and we are so excited to be part of women’s adventures globally.”
And in April, TourRadar co-founder and CEO Travis Pittman shared in a Q&A with Forbes that with 68% of their clientele being women (which he said was “exponentially higher when you consider that women are the primary decision-makers for travel”) its brands operate 98 tours led by women.
The founder of Girls Guide to the World Doni Belau also told Forbes that demand for solo female travel has increased to 10 times what demand was in 2019.
“I think the pent up demand was always there, but historically there were very few options for solo women travelers,” she told Forbes in April. “The large travel companies weren't paying attention or felt women's travel was too niche.”
“Still so much to be done”
Working to improve the female travel experience isn’t new for WayAway.
In March, just before International Women’s Day, the company implemented “no go areas” on its maps to indicate to travelers where crime rates were above average.
Other travel websites also promote safety for women. HerHouse connects female travelers with homestays offered by background-checked female hosts. The nonprofit Girls Empowered by Travel runs trips for young women to contribute to community work in safe spaces.
In rolling out WayAway’s “no go areas,” Dzenis said improving circumstances for women travelers isn’t just the socially responsible thing to do – it also serves a business opportunity. He said the same about the new badges WayAway is implementing.
“This is not only morally very important, but that businesses who are able to provide a relevant and authentic appeal to female travelers would be tapping into a market that represents half the world’s population – and an audience that is chronically underserved by the travel industry currently,” Dzenis said in a release Monday.
Karel agrees – while noting that the road to improving the female travel space remains long.
“There is still so much to be done. Women are leading global spending in travel, and yet lots of their most important needs aren’t still being addressed properly,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities in this market, and we are doing whatever we can to support women-led small businesses in tourism and listen to the needs of our female travelers."
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