Why Women Over 50 Are Traveling Solo More Than Ever

Solo travel is booming — and one group is leading the movement: women over 50.

In this episode of Roam Alone, we explore why midlife and older women are becoming one of the fastest-growing groups of solo travelers in the world.

From financial independence to life transitions like empty nests and retirement, more women are choosing to explore the world on their own terms.

Travel studies show women now make up the majority of solo travelers, and women over 50 are driving one of the biggest shifts in travel culture.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why solo travel is growing among women over 50
• The life changes that inspire many women to travel alone
• Why many solo female travelers are actually married
• The confidence and freedom that solo travel can bring

If you’ve ever wondered whether solo travel later in life is possible — or transformative — this episode is for you.

Roam Alone is hosted by Theresa Stephens.

Instagram: @theresaannstephens

Facebook: /theresastephens

Facebook: /RoamAlone

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

If you picture a solo traveler, what comes to mind? Maybe an 18-year-old backpacker who just graduated high school, they're taking a gap year, maybe going to Europe, hopping between hostels. Well, the reality is actually something very different. One of the fastest growing groups of solo travelers in the world today is women over 50. Women who spent decades raising families, building careers, supporting their partners. And now they're finally asking these questions. What if I stop waiting? What if I just went? What if I went alone? In the last decade, women have become the majority of solo travelers globally. And among them, women in midlife and beyond are driving one of the biggest shifts in travel culture. Today on Rome Alone, we're going to talk about why this is happening and why solo travel after 50 might be one of the most transformative experiences of a lifetime. Hello everyone, I'm Teresa Stevens, and this is Rome Alone. So, according to multiple travel studies, women now make up around two-thirds of solo travelers. We're talking tens of millions of travelers. But what's even more interesting is that the fastest growing segment of those female travelers is women over 50. Women over 50 represent 214 billion dollars of market share in the US alone. So data from Journey Woman shows that solo women over 55 drove 77% of all tour bookings. And that was research from three years ago. Everything I've read over the last few weeks suggests that number is only going up. So why is this happening? Why is it that women over 50 are heading out to travel all by themselves? Several factors. Number one, financial independence. Women today, over the age of 50, they've had careers most of their lives. So they have significant savings that they didn't have when they were backpacking in those hostels at the age of 20. They have retirement funds that they may be tapping into at this age. They can travel without waiting for someone else to help foot the bill, to share expenses with. They have those resources to do it alone. Also, life transitions, big things happen when women hit the age of 50 and beyond. Their children are grown up. They've graduated high school or they've graduated college. They've moved out. They're empty nesters now. Divorce. It happens it's happening, I think, more frequently than ever before after the age of 50. Widowhood, career changes. Maybe they're working remotely where they hadn't had the chance before. Maybe they're retiring in their early 60s. Maybe they're taking an early retirement in their 50s. When women are in their 20s and 30s, they're raising kids, they're building careers, they're supporting their families. But after 50, many women finally have that time to prioritize themselves. Women in this age group, they're seeking self-discovery, empowerment, the ability to travel at their own pace. And you know how it is. When you go with family, when you have children that you're taking on a trip, nine times out of ten, the children are going to determine what you're doing on vacation. They're happy, you're going to be happy. You know how it goes. But also, if you travel with your husband or you travel with family, a big family, a small family, a group of friends, you have to compromise so much of what you want to make the majority of people happy. And that also means you're compromising yourself and what you want. After years of balancing family and work, women over the age of 50 are seeking that autonomy to choose destinations and activities without compromise. Now, if you're a married man or a man in a relationship and you're listening to this, please don't freak out. Solo travel by a woman for a woman does not necessarily mean that woman is wanting to be alone, planning secretly to be alone in the future. No. Often it just simply means they want the freedom to travel on their own terms. Research shows over half of solo female travelers are married or partnered and plan to continue to be. The reasons that women who are in relationships but still planning to travel solo, they have different travel interests. They have different schedules. Think about, for example, women who are teachers. They have those summers off. And their husband or their partner works a regular 40-hour a week job throughout the year. And, you know, maybe they take a week in Florida over the summer while, you know, the woman who is a teacher is off of work. But she secretly would love to spend a month in Italy because she has the time off, but her husband doesn't. And so she has compromised that desire forever. But now is the time. Now she wants to take that month-long trip to Italy that she's always wanted. Why not? Why don't you just go? Go by yourself. It's okay. And the amazing thing is, is that it can be very, very good for a relationship. Season one, episode two of Rome Alone, I interviewed my very good friend Kristen Thoburn, who talks about this exactly. She and her husband, Nate, have been together for years. They travel together regularly and extensively. It's one of the things they love to do together, but they also travel independently. She has, in fact, booked a vacation for Nate by himself to go to Italy. She told him, You need a break, you need a reset, you need to go off by yourself and relax. And he did and came back rejuvenated. And so what she does as well. They go off independently, travel, and then they come back together and they reconnect and they're stronger than ever. Here's Kristen talking about this exact thing.

SPEAKER_03 7:01

We get to debrief, we get to hear stories from something else. You know, we work together and we live together. I see this person all the time. Yeah. And so it's rejuvenating. I've got a new thing to share, he's got a new thing to share, and he is excited to tell me about something he learned about, or I get to share with him something that lit me up and just amazed me or struck awe into my soul. It's it's such a fun way to connect.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Women consistently say the biggest benefit of solo travel isn't the destination, it's that sense of confidence that comes from navigating the world on your own. Things are inevitably going to go wrong. If you're on a trip or if you're traveling, however you describe it, something invariably goes wrong. It always does. There are delays in the airports. You are hiking, for example, from one place to another and the trail disappears and you're all alone. Like my friend Paula, who I interviewed just recently did. The trail that she was following on her solo hikes, it was gone. It had been washed away by a river. And you know what? She figured it out. I've interviewed so many women so far on this podcast. And the one thing they always say is something's gonna go wrong. Something's gonna get messed up, you're gonna get turned around, you're gonna get a little lost, something's gonna go awry. And you know what? Every single woman that I have interviewed says the exact same thing. I figured it out. I made it work. I pivoted, I changed the itinerary, I retraced my steps, and I figured it out. And it's that part of things where you figure it out when you're panicking for a moment, you're freaking out, you don't know what to do, and then you know what? You stop, you regroup, you figure it out. And it's in that moment that sense of empowerment grows like it never would have had things been perfectly easy and perfectly working just right. There was a time back, oh my gosh, this is probably 20 years ago, I think, I went to Alaska. It was a part of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. I was training for a marathon up in Anchorage. I'd never ran a marathon before. And I had to raise money for it and traveled all that way, and of course, you know, trained for four months. So I get there, so excited. We start the marathon, and I feel just a little bit of a twinge in my ankle at the very start of the race. And then 10 miles in, for some reason, there's this gravel path that we all have to run across. And I think at the time that I sprained my ankle 10 miles in. So I've got 16.2 miles left, and I sprain it and it's hurting, and I walk for a second, and I'm like, oh, you know what? I'm not gonna give up. I'm just gonna keep on going. We'll see how it goes. And I limped and walked and hobbled for 16.2 miles and ended up finishing that race. It was almost six hours long. I had planned to do it under four. Actually, I didn't find out until years later that I had actually broken my ankle when I went across that gravel path. But I finished. It was a disappointing time. It was incredibly painful. I walked almost the rest of it. But I learned in those moments, in those hours, honestly, what I'm capable of, how strong I actually am when I need to be. And those life lessons you take with you forever. You don't forget that. When things are hard and you're powering through, and this goes exactly with what happens when you travel alone. It's all on you. It's on you to figure out the itinerary of your trip, where you're going, how you're going to do it. And then you have the ability to pivot at any time because you know what? It's just you. If you want to sleep all day, you can do that. If you want to get up at 8 a.m. and go hike the whole day or go shopping all day long, nobody can tell you not to. And that's the amazing, powerful feeling that you take when you are roaming alone. So when I was doing research for this episode, I came across some amazing statistics that talked about why solo travel is so powerful. So get this 78% of women who travel alone say freedom is the top reason they will go. 62% say it's personal growth. 87% report increased confidence. Over and over and over, when I have been doing this show, I hear that same theme every time I interview someone. Here's Rosemary Sims.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

I think it just really helps you feel stronger and more validated in your personhood and just knowing that, you know, I'm completely capable in all ways, in all things. And I think there's it spills over into your career, it spills over into your relationships. You just feel empowered just all around. There's nothing you can't do.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

And so this is the cool thing. In addition to the other amazing cool things I've been talking about, the travel industry, they are finally realizing something important. They're catching on to this. These travelers, these women over 50, they're a massive market. This demographic has huge spending power, and the travel industry is learning about it. The market driven by women over 50 is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. So travel companies are thinking of you, and they are creating women-only tours, small group adventures, solo traveler-friendly accommodations. In a recent interview, we heard Paula talking about the natural adventure. They provide solo walks all over the world, all based on your personal fitness level. Here's Paula.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

And then I got there, and it just the walking, I mean, sometimes it would be hours that I would not see anybody. And I felt like, and I use the word transformative, it's just like I just had never felt like I felt then. I wasn't just having an adventure. I was having a transformative adventure. It was just, it was hitting me to my core about how important it was for me to be able to do this and feel it so deeply.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

She has done 10 walks from the age of 65 to 73, all by herself, all over the world, mostly in Europe, and she says she's just getting started. If safety is on your mind as a first-time solo traveler, Japan, one of the best destinations for solo female travelers due to its culture, its safety and adventure, that's according to Condor Ferries. Other top choices, Finland, Portugal, New Zealand, Canada, all for their safety and solo friendly experiences. When I interviewed my brother, he mentioned Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, in particular. That as Buddhist countries, pacifism is a major part of the culture and therefore safe overall. But still, of all the places to go, Europe is the most popular region for solo female travelers overall. From my research, my own experience, and interviews on this podcast, pickpocketing would overall be the biggest concern. Of course, that can happen anywhere, whether you're alone or with a group of people. It's a matter of being aware of your surroundings, carrying maybe a travel sling on the front of your body, not like a regular purse, not carrying anything in your back pocket. Many of my interviewees have mentioned preferring to stay in hotels when they travel alone instead of Airbnbs. Making friends with the staff is an especially good strategy. And also before you go out, if you're going out to a restaurant that you're planning and you're going alone, maybe mapping the itinerary in your mind, looking at the map, how to get there so that you're not looking down at your phone as you're finding your way to the restaurant. Little tips like that will keep you safe overall. The first time I ever did anything like this was when I went to Africa at the age of 48 to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Yes, I joined a group there, but I didn't know anyone beforehand. And I was 52 before I ever went on a weekend away alone. It was to Chicago for my birthday, and it was incredible. Travel has always been a big part of my life. It's gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, more and more important to me as I get older. But it took a lifetime, I feel, to ever get to the point where I felt comfortable going alone, giving myself permission to go alone. And it wasn't a rejection of my son or my husband at the time, or my family, or my friends, because I love traveling with all of those groups. But there is something that hits different when it's just you. And you do, you carry that feeling back when you get home. That's the one thing that I hear over and over from the women and the men that I have talked to on this show is that feeling that you bring home with you, that sense of empowerment, that strength. You know you can carry it over into your daily life. And one thing that I do remember when I talked to my friend Molly Connor, she said, if you're starting to think about solo travel, start small. Go to dinner by yourself. Don't invite friends, don't invite family, don't invite the kids. Just pick a restaurant that you have been wanting to try out for a long time and you can't find anybody else to go with, go by yourself and don't look at your phone the whole time. Set the phone down. Maybe, you know, keep it on the table where it's within safe distance, but set it down and learn to be comfortable with yourself. We can be our best companion if we allow ourselves to be. And the more I think you travel, the more you see new things and experience new cultures, the more interesting you are to yourself. You have the power to choose yourself. And especially over 50, you're entitled to it. You're entitled to uh do what you want to do, to what makes you happy. Isn't it time? As women, we I think are designed in some way to always want to be there for others and make others happy. And this isn't a rejection of that, and this isn't saying you shouldn't. Of course you should. We or should be in service to each other. But you also deserve to have this time alone and to do something solely for yourself. It's not selfish, it's a form of growth. It will make you a better person. I guarantee it. Try it just one time. Solo travel after 50 is not about escaping life, it's about reclaiming it. For many women, it's the first time they've chosen an adventure purely for themselves. Once that door opens, it rarely closes again. If you're a woman who started traveling solo later in life, I would love to hear your story. Send me a message or comment on the episode because I think this movement is just getting started. I'm Teresa Stevens, and this is Rome Alone.