DESTINATIONS SINGLE HOLIDAYS ESCORTED TOURS
RIGHT: Insider
Journeys in Laos
FAR RIGHT: Shearings
features the Cotswolds
ASK THE EXPERT
Andy Fairburn, marketing manager, Solos Holidays “Solo travellers today are adventurous, liberated and open to new ideas – and there are many opportunities available now for them. As well as touring, these include city breaks, ‘fly and flop’ sun holidays, ocean and river cruises, and holidays based around activities such as cycling, skiing, tennis and sailing.”
in a smaller unit – Insider Journeys, for example, offers a maximum group size of 16 and an average of 11. Some suppliers even tip off agents about the age and gender of other participants before booking, so clients can choose the departure best suited to them. While long-haul solo travel is a great option for the more adventurous, those looking to travel closer to home can take advantage of the extra departures added this year to Shearings’ Your Time programme for solo travellers, including a Guernsey, Herm & Sark tour and another to Ross-on-Wye and the Cotswolds. Shearings, in common with operators including Titan and Leger, charges no single supplements for rooms, while the likes of Insider Journeys, Contiki and Explore give travellers the opportunity to share a room with someone of the same sex to avoid paying extra. Cruise also offers an opportunity to mix with a range of travellers, but the notion of having to pay a pricey single supplement can be enough to put some people off. However, attitudes are changing. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines offers supplement-free double cabins, while The River Cruise Line often waives single cabin supplements. On Riviera Travel’s river cruises (excluding Seine sailings in 2017), a number of lower deck cabins are available with no single supplement, though early booking is recommended as they sell out quickly. Around a third of those travelling
on G Adventures’ newly launched river cruise programme are solo travellers,
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travelweekly.co.uk 2 June 2016
and they can avoid single supplements by volunteering to be paired up with someone of the same sex, although they can also upgrade to the My Own Room option if they prefer to have their own space. Cosmos Tours & Cruises also offers the option of sharing a room with another single traveller, priced at the normal cost of a twin-share, with the bonus that if there is no other single traveller available to share with, the customer gets the room to themselves.
w TAKING IT EASY Many escorted tour operators seek to ease solo travellers into their trip and quell any apprehensions. Titan, Collette and Saga are among those to offer a
home departure service to the airport, so singles need not worry about getting to and from the airport with heavy luggage. Then in-destination, the likes of Cox & Kings and Wendy Wu Tours lay on plenty of activities to spark conversation. “The Wendy Wu ‘Discovery Tours’ are really popular with single travellers, which is probably largely due to the activities on offer and the fact that solo travellers are often quite adventurous,” says Ben Briggs, head of marketing at Wendy Wu Tours. “They offer lots of activities that encourage interaction between the group such as calligraphy classes, tea ceremonies and meditation classes, which bring the group together and offer lots of discussion topics.”
LEFT: G Adventures on the Amazon
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