by Isabel Conway –
Travel pundits predicted 2019 as the year of Solo Travel – no longer the preserve of backpackers taking off on their own into the horizon usually teaming up with kindred spirits in hostels and on ferries for onward travel – but for all of us independent travellers.
There has been a significant growth in the numbers holidaying solo. Social media has also allowed travellers the option of meeting others through a variety of platforms as well as homestays and escorted long haul trips.
Specialist tour operators report ever increasing interest from singles ticking off the bucket list without waiting for the friend or relative to endlessly dither about destinations and cost.
Going on holiday by yourself means you don’t have to compromise on your choice of destination, your itinerary or the activities you take part in. We’ve all gone on holidays with the friend who drags us into a hundred shoe shops in Florence or Rome while we want to browse a museum or people watch over a glass of wine or expresso at a pavement café. Never again….we mutter…but the unease of going it alone is sometimes a stumbling block to travel.
As a regular solo traveller I’ve often railed against the discrimination of single supplements on packaged holidays and group tours.
Insight Vacations, one of the biggest players, specialising in group travel are the latest to respond to the growth in solo travel.
With solo travellers in mind Insight Vacations has reduced or completely waived the single supplement fee on a number of their most popular 2019 Europe and Britain trips and departures.
Think wonders of Turkey and Egypt, the glories of Greece or the best of Italy that will see no single supplement on selected tours. A 90 per cent reduction of their country roads of Umbria and Tuscany holidays in July single supplements and 80 per cent has been taken off another popular Insight Vacations Italian Intermezzo in November. Half the single supplement meanwhile is waived on their Amazing Spain and Portugal and Treasures of Italy escorted journeys. For more details call 01-6994116 or go to insightvacations.com
