Women only vacation tours
Posted September 29, 2009 by:
Comments(0)Women Travel: 5 Helpful Tips on How to Choose your Women’s Travel Operator.
Women’s travel has undergone significant change in recent times. It started slowly in the 80’s with a few female travelers breaking off from the norm of city shopping tours and choosing the adventure route. They were ready for hiking, rafting, mountaineering and just about anything that could make them sweat.
The women pushed the demand list; they weren’t carrying the kitchen and the cleaning bucket to their holiday; accommodation had to be comfortable, in short no roughing it up. For this they got some not-so-polite words being bashed on them but they had tough skins and they hanged on. What a turn around today – nearly every mainstream tour operator has a women’s travel desk proving that the girls had a point!
Who are these independent female travellers on women-only tours? The demographics answer this straight away as there are more women than men, but today’s lifestyle means that there are many women who find themselves single with disposable incomes and a strong desire for travel.
When discussing travel for women, we must step outside the marital status box and define “a single or solo woman” in a fluid way, to cover any woman who for whatever reason is traveling alone.
With so many offers on female travel, it falls on individual women to seriously evaluate their women’s travel outfitter before they book a tour. Consider that women travel is not just about the destination you will visit, it is also about the sense of security and peace of mind in knowing that you booked with the best tour operator that your money could link you with.
Read and follow these 5 tips , they will help you link up with the right operator for your solo women travel:
1. Is your outfitter legal? Make this your main concern – the fact that a tour operator says all the best things about women travel does not mean that you let your guard down in checking the validity of what they say.
Just like in all other sectors of travel, women travel has its inside issues and it is upon you to check that you are dealing with a genuine women’s travel operator.
2. Is the tour operator female oriented? It does not necessarily mean that women adventure travel is best done by women-owned businesses but, there is a satisfaction of knowing that your operator has been there and done that!
3. Are they offering your preferred adventure? If you are at home in the water, go for a rafting or a kayaking vacation. It beats reason to book a hiking tour, hoping that you will fall in the step by the 5th day. You need to jump into the action straight away on day one.
Is the adventure to your ability? Your adventure should be enjoyable and easy to do, not a physical endurance test. Check if the activities are flexible to accommodate different abilities.
4. If booking a women’s group tour, what is the composition of the group? It is important that group members give each other personal space but they should also click easily and be fun to be with.
This is more likely to happen with women travellers who are of about the same age. Really at 55yrs, would you want to be in a college girls travel group? OK they are women, but can you last 2 weeks in their company?
5. Finally on price – joining a women group tour does not mean that you pay above market price for your trip. Price has to be a reflection of the value items in the tour rather than a tag for women travel.
If possible compare similar itineraries for co-ed tours in the same way as you shop aorund for term life insurance rates and if you feel that the price is astronomical in the women-only category, ask questions and shop around for better deals.
Now that you know how to choose your women’s travel operator, hit the keyboard and you will not only get the women adventure tour that you want but also at the best price.
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Anne Huysman is the co-owner of Ontdek Kenya, a Safari operator based in Kenya. She has 13 yrs experience in women adventure travel, specifically women walking tours, bird watching tours and responsible wildlife safaris away from mass tourism. For a free consultation on your women travel to Kenya and for inspiring on-safari photos that give you a glimpse of the tours, please go to: => http://www.ontdek-kenya-safaris.com/women-walking.html
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