For International Women’s Day, Euronews Travel spoke to female-led travel companies about what women really want.

Women travellers have been on the rise in the last few years: 71 per cent of solo travellers are women – of which 25 per cent are 65 or older, according to Virtuoso’s August 2024 trends report and Skift.

Changing societal norms and greater financial independence gives us women the freedom to explore more. We get to focus on personal growth, empowerment, and chase adventure.

What’s more, women tend to give adventure and cultural experiences equal weight, a 2024 Global Rescue Survey revealed.

Why might that be? Because we want to engage more deeply with local practices and customs, as part of an attempt to seek out authentic connections beyond typical ‘fly and flop’ tourism.

This changing trend has led more female entrepreneurs with keen insight to venture into the travel industry. Euronews Travels speaks to several of these travel ‘sheroes’ making waves.

Women seek out more authentic experiences

Many women don’t get the opportunity to travel much during younger years, due to responsibilities like marriage, children, a career, or socioeconomic and cultural factors.

As such, the first time women tend to take a longer or more adventurous trip is later in life, which leads some to choose smaller, often more intimate group tours.

“There’s a growing desire to explore smaller, quaint, and charming destinations that offer rich culture, local connections, and a sense of discovery,” explains Ellen Flowers, travel blogger at The Perennial Style.

“Rather than the hustle and bustle of major cities, women travellers are drawn to hidden villages in the French countryside, serene coastal towns in Portugal, or lesser-known gems in Eastern Europe.”

Gabrielle Wise, founder of Walk Talk Eat France, recognises this desire and helps older, first-time – and often solo – women travellers feel more at ease through unhurried French food and wine tours.

“I offer a very relaxing 10 day retreat in the French countryside of the Dordogne region. Here, we go gentle: walking, talking, eating. It’s a slower pace of travel and activities. We have light exercises each morning overlooking medieval castles and villages,” says Wise. “We visit stunning prehistoric caves and visit vineyards and buy local produce from markets to take home and cook together.”

In several cases, Wise’s guests have found close companions on these trips that they then choose to travel with year after year.

Custom tours are designed for both active and ‘hobbyist’ female travellers

Many women-only trips tend to focus around specific hobbies, such as painting, horse-riding, and cooking. Future Market Insights estimates that the special interest tourism market could hit $5.1bn (€4.7bn) by 2025.

Tours by Marie, for example, specialises in gardening trips to France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, England, and Portugal.

“My clients are garden clubs and groups of passionate gardeners,” says founder Marie-Elisabeth Offierski. “Hands-on experiences such as a cooking class, a flower-arranging workshop or a photography session are popular. Women want to learn – that’s part of making the most of their time away.”

In other cases, women want to explore how other women live, and get a better understanding of their culture and lives, by championing local women entrepreneurs and spending time with female artisans.

“Our most popular women-only trips connect female travellers with women in their host country, often in ways that wouldn’t be accessible in mixed groups,” explains Sarah Faith at Responsible Travel. “These holidays are very much about seeing a country through the eyes of the women who live there.”

Active holidays, meanwhile, provide the sense of accomplishment and social connections that women enjoy – but through a more engaging low-impact exercise, such as walking, biking and hiking.

UK-based Walking Women, which has been providing walking holidays exclusively for women since 2021, offers different levels of treks depending on experience. It also sprinkles in local culture by collaborating with women winemakers, cheesemakers, and chefs. Demand is clearly there, as the company has grown from 300 guests in their first year to 1,000 today.

The company’s all-female guides go at a steady pace to ensure the entire group reaches the summits. “We hear this is not always the case in mixed hikes where sometimes women can be left behind,” says Ginny Lunn, one of the joint owners.

Women of all ages actively seek out adventure

Whether kayaking, trekking or backpacking, older women are more than happy to challenge themselves and explore the unknown. For many, it’s a sense of personal freedom.

“Women over 50 are proving that thrill-seeking has no expiration date,”says Kathy McCabe, executive producer of Dream of Italy.

“From scaling down cliffs to trekking through remote landscapes, these fearless explorers are breaking stereotypes and showing that meaningful, active travel is for everyone.”

Even higher-end travel experiences, such as a relaxing cruise, now offer opportunities for women to step out of their comfort zone and try new activities, and McCabe expects to see more spa-at-sea sanctuaries and exclusive women’s excursions in the coming months.

“We’re starting to see a range of cruise lines launching women-only voyages featuring female-led expeditions, immersive activities, and adrenaline-packed activities like scuba diving and polar plunges,” she says.

This growing trend of adventure travel is not only restricted to the more mature women, as co-founder Erika De Santi of WeRoad, an Italian scaleup focusing on group adventure travel for Gen Z and millennial solo travellers, observes:

“Whether it’s young professionals taking a break from the workforce, those looking to rediscover themselves after a breakup or major life event, or those in their 20s-40s who find themselves at different life stages from their friends and unable to find a travel partner – women are increasingly seeking out adventure, and going it alone,” she says.

The stresses and pressure of modern life, especially on younger adults, have caused a boom in wellness travel too, further influenced by social media platforms TikTok and Instagram.

WeRoad’s group yoga trips, for example, have seen a 400 per cent increase in bookings.

“These experiences aren’t just about relaxation but also personal growth and emotional rejuvenation, offering travellers the chance to disconnect from their everyday lives and connect with others,” adds De Santi.

Women worry about safety when travelling

Several of the female-led companies Euronews Travel spoke to told us they prefer to partner with women-owned hotels and transport partners as a way to guarantee comfort and safety.

This includes choosing female guides who have a unique women’s perspective into the local culture and know how to deal with harassment and women-focused scams.

Providing a good support network in case of issues or emergencies is also paramount.

Byway, a travel company specialising in flight-free holidays, focuses on providing this support with a WhatsApp chat which its female travellers can use throughout the holiday, along with a 24/7 emergency phone number.

“We always book private sleeper cabins and private hotel rooms, and focus on safer neighbourhoods with good nighttime lighting,” explains founder Cat Jones, who adds that as a female-led company all women travellers are “well catered for by default.”

Megan Vila, innovation manager at London-based TourAxis, agrees that women deserve more advice when navigating new destinations and cultural differences: “Understanding local customs, advising which areas or what behaviours to avoid, and putting a plan in place should they feel unsafe are the best ways to do this.”