‘Solo travelling trend growing steadily among Indian women’

Mumbai, Sep 11 (PTI) Easy access to information andbookings is encouraging Indian women to slowly step out oftheir comfort zone to travel solo, a trend which has witnesseda steady growth over the last few year, according to experts. "Solo travel is one of the most favourable options forIndian women travellers over the last two years with more than35 per cent of Indian women opting to travel alone," HolidayIQChief Executive Officer and founder Hari Nair told PTI here. He said most women travelling single, prefer one out ofevery five trips to travel as couple or with group. Majority of these solo women travellers belong tonorthern region of the country followed by south, he said. "Solo travellers from east are yet to gear up, comparedto fellow travellers from the rest of India," he added. Hotels.com Senior Marketing Manager–India and SEA–AmitAgarwal said solo travel as a trend has caught on in a big wayamong the young independent Indian women. "Flexibility and access to information has contributed tothe growth of solo women travel. Usually, the only concern isadded security challenge. However, most destinations over theworld have stressed on safety factors like introducingwomen-only buses and trains, women taxi drivers," he said. "Many hotels have also introduced facilities for solowomen travellers which have further accelerated the growth,"Agrawal said. He said according to the search data at Hotels.com fromJanuary-August this year, searches for hotels by overall solotravellers for the top 10 destinations grew by over 90 percent from last year. There has been a rise in the number of Indian womenexploring both domestic and overseas destinations in the pastfew years, mainly due to change in safety measures, better andsafer accommodation options, improved transport andaccessibility to off-beat destinations among others, he added. "Usually, first time women prefer travelling with groupskeeping the safety aspect in mind. However, this mindset isundergoing a drastic shift," he said. (MORE) PTI SM ARSAARRDS