Last reviewed 7 September 2026. Every figure on this page was checked against the source named next to it; where two official series disagree, the difference is stated.
Solo travel has moved from niche to mainstream. The global solo travel market was worth an estimated USD 482.34 billion in 2024 and is projected to pass USD 1 trillion by 2030 according to Grand View Research's 2025 edition (its 2026–2033 edition now projects USD 1,624 billion by 2033), while Booking.com's Travel Predictions 2024 survey found 59% of travellers were looking to venture off alone. Hostelworld, which tracks more than four million solo trips a year through its platform, reports that 66% of solo travellers are aged 18–30 and 60% are women. This page rounds up the most reliable solo travel statistics available — market size, demographics, motivations, destinations, safety rankings and the economics of the single supplement — drawn from industry reports, large-scale traveller surveys and the Georgetown Women, Peace and Security Index, and reflecting the latest data available as of 2026.
Key solo travel statistics
- USD 482.34 billion — the estimated value of the global solo travel market in 2024, forecast to reach USD 1.07 trillion by 2030 at a 14.3% CAGR (Grand View Research, 2025 edition; the firm's 2026–2033 edition projects USD 1,624.23 billion by 2033).
- 59% of travellers told Booking.com's Travel Predictions 2024 survey they were looking to venture alone — men 63%, women 54% (via Solo Traveler World).
- 66% of solo travellers are aged 18–30, and 60% are women, per Hostelworld's State of Solo Travel 2025, based on over four million annual solo trips.
- 76% of Gen Z and Millennial travellers planned a solo trip, according to American Express's 2024 Global Travel Trends Report (via Forbes).
- Denmark is the safest country for solo female travellers, scoring 0.939 out of 1 on the Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26, which ranks 181 countries.
- 70% of travel insurance policy sales at World Nomads were attributed to solo travellers in May 2024 (via Solo Traveler World).
- 32% of women solo travellers want the single supplement scrapped altogether, per the Solo Female Travelers Club 2026 survey.
Market size and growth
- In its 2025 edition, Grand View Research valued the global solo travel market at USD 482.34 billion in 2024, projecting USD 1.07 trillion by 2030 (14.3% CAGR); the US market alone was worth USD 94.88 billion in 2024 (Grand View Research, cited by Solo Traveler World).
- Estimates vary by research house: Spherical Insights (June 2025 edition) puts the 2024 market at USD 471.67 billion, rising to USD 2,092.34 billion by 2035 at a 14.5% CAGR.
- Europe is the largest regional market with a 36.23% share in 2024, and domestic solo trips account for 63.46% of revenue (Spherical Insights).
- Female solo travellers generated 52.67% of global solo travel revenue in 2024 (Spherical Insights).
- Consumer interest keeps climbing: searches for "solo travel deals" and "best solo destinations" were up 30% as of October 2024, and Google searches for solo travel peak each July (Solo Traveler World).
Who travels solo? Demographics
- 66% of Hostelworld's solo travellers are aged 18–30, of which 39% are 18–24; 60% are women and 18% identify as LGBTQIA+ (Hostelworld State of Solo Travel 2025).
- The share of women varies with the community surveyed: Hostelworld's younger, hostel-based sample is 60% female, while Solo Traveler World's 2024 reader survey of 2,400 mostly 55+ travellers was over 80% women, and tour operator Overseas Adventure Travel reported 85% of its solo registrants were women (Solo Traveler World).
- Hilton's 2025 Trends Report, which surveyed 13,000 travellers across 13 countries, found 47% often travel by themselves — rising to 55% of Gen Z and 51% of Millennials — and 34% were eager to take a solo trip by the end of 2025 (via Forbes).
- Hilton's 2026 Trends Report (14,009 travellers across 14 countries, October 2025) found 48% are carving out solo time by adding travel days before or after family holidays (Hilton).
- 76% of Millennials and Gen Z planned solo trips in 2024, per American Express's Global Travel Trends Report (via Forbes).
- Solo travellers are frequent travellers: 43% of Solo Traveler World's survey respondents took three or more trips in the past year, and 75% take trips of two weeks or longer (Solo Traveler World, 2024 reader survey).
Why people travel solo
- Hostelworld's July 2025 poll of 3,334 solo travellers found the top draws were connecting with cultures (59%), unique experiences and adventure (54%), challenging themselves (52%) and reconnecting with themselves (52%) (Hostelworld).
- Among women, 85% cite freedom and flexibility, 81% escaping routine and 76% relaxation and self-care (Solo Female Travelers Club 2026 survey).
- Solo does not mean antisocial: 71% of solo travellers are actively looking to meet people, and 52% stay in touch with people they meet on the road (Hostelworld).
- Nearly 78% report improved confidence, better mental health or both after travelling solo, and 63% of first-time solo travellers intend to do it again (Hostelworld).
- AI is now part of the toolkit: 32% of solo travellers use AI for destination research and 27% for itinerary planning (Hostelworld).
- The appetite for challenge overlaps heavily with the adventure segment — our adventure travel statistics cover that market in detail.
Where solo travellers go
- The top five destinations for solo travellers in H2 2024–H1 2025 were Thailand, Spain, Italy, Vietnam and Australia (Hostelworld booking data).
- Sri Lanka was the breakout destination, with solo visits up well over 50% year on year (Hostelworld).
- 44% of solo travellers take multi-country trips, 35% stick to one country and 18% take city breaks; 35% describe themselves as last-minute bookers (Hostelworld).
- Two of the top-five solo destinations are covered in depth on Tripplo — see our Spain tourism statistics and Australia tourism statistics.
Safety: the safest countries for solo travellers
- Denmark tops the Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26 with a score of 0.939, followed by Iceland (0.932), Norway (0.924), Sweden (0.924) and Finland (0.921) — a clean Nordic sweep of the top five (Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security / PRIO, scores via Global Citizen Solutions).
- The index ranks 181 countries across 13 indicators of women's inclusion, justice and security; Afghanistan ranks last on 0.279 (GIWPS).
- Safety perception splits sharply by gender: 55% of women solo travellers cite safety concerns versus just 18% of men (Hostelworld State of Solo Travel 2025).
- Worry outpaces experience: 68% of women solo travellers were concerned about personal safety before a trip, but only 16% actually feared for their safety during one, and just 1% reported failing to keep themselves safe (Solo Female Travelers Club 2026 survey).
Costs, concerns and the single supplement
- Cost is level with safety as the top worry: 68% of women solo travellers are concerned about paying more than they would sharing a trip, and 32% explicitly demand an end to charging solo travellers more than couples (Solo Female Travelers Club 2026 survey).
- The industry is responding: Tauck waived all single supplements in Category 1 cabins on more than 250 departures in 2025, saving solo cruisers up to USD 1,000 per sailing (The Points Guy), and has repeated the waiver on more than 250 departures in 2026 (Tauck).
- Norwegian Cruise Line now offers single-occupancy cabins with no single supplement across its fleet, and Riviera ran 30 dedicated solo sailings in 2025 with no supplement at all (Travel Market Report); from 2027 Riviera is dedicating an entire river ship, MS George Eliot, to solo guests (Riviera Travel).
- Solo travellers are a core insurance segment: 70% of World Nomads' policy sales were attributed to solo travellers as of May 2024, up from 68% in 2022 and 69% in 2023 (World Nomads).
- Budget concerns rank third among all solo travellers at 33%, behind safety but ahead of loneliness at 28% (Hostelworld).
- At the other end of the spend spectrum, premium operators are courting solo guests too — our luxury travel statistics track that market.
Sources
- Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security / PRIO — Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26
- Hostelworld — State of Solo Travel 2025
- Grand View Research — Solo Travel Market Report
- Grand View Research — Solo Travel Market Size To Reach $1,624.23 Billion By 2033 (press release)
- World Nomads — Rise in solo travel insurance sales (May 2024)
- Hilton — 2026 Trends Report (October 2025)
- Spherical Insights — Solo Travel Market
- Solo Female Travelers Club — 2026 Solo Female Travel Survey
- Solo Traveler World — Solo Travel Statistics & Data (incl. Booking.com, World Nomads and Grand View Research figures)
- Forbes — Travel Trends Report 2025: Solo Travel (Hilton and American Express data)
- Global Citizen Solutions — WPS Index 2025/26 country scores
- The Points Guy — Tauck single supplement waiver 2025
- Tauck — 2025 savings for solo travelers (press release)
- Tauck — 2026 savings for solo travelers (press release)
- Travel Market Report — Solo-friendly cruise lines
- Riviera Travel — solo-exclusive river cruise, MS George Eliot (2027)
