Solo Travel Continues to Be the Travel Industry’s Blind Spot

New survey highlights a long-standing market with strong demand—and limited industry response.

TORONTO, CANADA, November 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Despite continued media attention about the growth of solo travel, the results of the 2025 Solo Traveler Reader Survey—sponsored by Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T.)—point to a more pressing issue: solo travelers are one of the travel industry’s most valuable and misunderstood markets.

The global solo travel market—already valued at $482.5 billion—is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2030. Yet many travel companies and travel advisors still don’t understand this market. “For example, I am frequently explaining what the single supplement is, and how it is calculated, to tour companies and travel advisors,” says Janice Waugh, publisher of Solo Traveler.

“While I would say that the solo market is generally a blind spot for the industry, there are companies that do understand its value and are catering to it,” says Waugh. "O.A.T. is one of them".

Founded in 1978, O.A.T. has served solo travelers for decades, building one of the most robust and inclusive solo travel offerings in the industry. “In 2026, we will offer more than 27,000 single spaces across our land and small ship adventures and river cruises,” said Brian FitzGerald, CEO, Overseas Adventure Travel. “Ninety-two percent of those spaces have free single supplements, with the remainder having the lowest single supplements in the industry.”

Interestingly, the results of the Solo Traveler 2025 Reader Survey were not much different from previous years. Why, where and how they travel is pretty much the same as well as the indicators that solo travelers show high spending power and strong repeat travel patterns. This is backed up by a study by travel research agency M1nd-set that showed that “solo travellers outspend and convert more than the average traveller.”
A Significant Industry Gap: A Few Leaders—Hundreds Behind

Solo Traveler works regularly with a few dozen tour and cruise companies that design products thoughtfully for solo travelers, offering fair pricing, multiple single spaces, and inclusive itineraries.

Yet there are hundreds of travel companies still missing this opportunity entirely. “The majority of the industry is still leaving substantial revenue—along with long-term loyalty—on the table,” says Waugh.

While the solo travel market is being recognized more often in the media, recognition is not the same as readiness. Solo Traveler is urging travel providers to rethink how they serve the solo market by recognizing it as a growing segment that spends well and travels often. Recommended steps include:
● Increasing solo room allotments
● Reducing or eliminating single supplements
● Training teams to understand the needs of solo travelers

“Solo travelers are booking—consistently, year after year,” says Waugh. “The question is no longer whether the demand exists, but which companies will decide to meet it.”

ABOUT THE SURVEY
The Solo Traveler Reader Survey, conducted annually since 2012, is one of the most consistent and detailed data sources on global solo travel behaviour. The 2025 survey received over 2,000 responses from the United States, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Australia.

ABOUT SOLO TRAVELER
Founded in 2009, Solo Traveler is a website and online community with a mission to inspire, inform, and advocate for those who travel alone. With over 270,000 members in the Solo Travel Society on Facebook, Solo Traveler serves a large, diverse, community of solo travelers around the world. New content is published twice a week and weekly newsletters provide over 60,000 subscribers with additional content, including 100+ solo travel tours and cruises with no or low single supplements from a wide array of providers. SoloTravelerWorld.com

Established in 1978, Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T.) is part of Boston-based Grand Circle Corporation’s family of travel companies, which also includes Grand Circle Cruise Line and Grand Circle Travel. In 1992, founders Alan and Harriet Lewis established the Grand Circle Foundation, an entity of the Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation (founded in 1981), which has pledged or donated more than $250 million worldwide to support humanitarian, educational, and community development initiatives. O.A.T. offers more than 90 immersive small group adventures worldwide by land and small ship, with a maximum of 16 travelers by land and 25 by small ship. The company is the leader in solo-friendly travel, offering the industry’s lowest—and most often free—single supplements across thousands of departures annually. Learn more at www.oattravel.com.

Janice Waugh
Solo Traveler
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