Travel

A solo traveler in the Serengeti seems to have the vast expanse of East African plains all to herself.

There are plenty of reasons why one would want to travel alone. Sometimes a frequent travel partner isn t available. Other times people simply crave quiet and solitude. For these and many other reasons, solo travel has become a growing niche over the past few years, and agents, tour operators and cruise lines are adjusting the way they do business in order to accommodate the new trend and the new travelers.

Last year, tour operator Abercrombie Kent launched a dedicated solo travel division that waived or greatly reduced supplements and fees for solo travelers, and saw a 26 percent increase in this niche for the last three quarters of the year. Bob Simpson. A K s vice president of product planning and business development, feels that this bump contributed significantly to the company s overall profits for the year. A full 11 percent of its overall client base is now people traveling alone. Simpson estimates that 50 percent of the company s solo travelers are not part of the single travel program, but sign up for a regular excursion.

Of course, identifying the solo traveler can be a challenge. A group of girlfriends who spend most of their trip together but who want their own rooms can count as singles for the hotel or ship where they will be staying, but might not consider themselves solo travelers. Or a grandfather may take his grandkids on a trip, and while he would count as part of the family travel market, he would also count as solo if he wants a private room. There are just as many types of solo travelers as there are families and couples and the market is rising.