Leisure Tourism: Theory And Application

The Rise in Solo Lifestyle

90% of UK adults are comfortable in their own company (OnePoll, 2106)

40% of UK adults would go to the pub alone (OnePoll, 2016)

A third would happily go out for a meal alone (OnePoll, 2016)

The stigma of doing things alone is lessening

Capacity to be alone is a sign of maturity (Storr, 1997)

People living alone make up 28% of all US households (Klinenberg, 2014)

Being alone (or solo activities) is seen by many as a positive lifestyle (both by solo’s themselves and non-solos – jealousy/admiration?!) (Ye-Jin, 2017)

Important to note that solo lifestyle is not always through choice (Putman, 2001)

Impact on social media on solo lifestyle? – Has it brought people together OR pulled them apart?

Does social media make solitary activity easier? Or does it increase the desire for solitary activity?

What is Solo Travel?

If we say “a solo activity is one performed alone without assistance”, is solo travel possible?

This question will be the focus of some of the tutorial

The Rise in Solo Travel

Many travel companies reporting large increases in solo travel bookings (Travelmarketreport, 2014)

Impact on the industry?

Why do people travel alone? (Will discuss in tutorial)

Solo in a group? (will look at in “Tour Group” focus below)

Markets :-

Single retirees

Female travellers

Backpackers? (depends on what we mean by “solo”)

Those at an advanced stage of their “Travel Career?” (Pearce & Lee, 2005)

MINTEL Report; Solo Holidays UK, October 2017 – Key Findings

MINTEL Report; Solo Holidays UK, October 2017 – Key Findings

Highlights concept of “pure solo travel”

Indicates that females more interested than males in idea of solo travel – but less likely to have travelled/will travel solo

Those who have been in relationship/married longer are more likely to take a solo holiday than those who have been in relationship/married for a shorter period

In response to how confident you would be doing the following activities on your own:-

71% going to the cinema

62% going on holiday in the UK

59% eating out in a restaurant

50% going on holiday abroad (this was the lowest result of 8 activities)

Motivators and Inhibitors to Solo Travel

Will form part of tutorial

Solo Travel: A Desire for Solitude or (un)Controlled Companionship?

Very little currently written on solo travel – most from a gender perspective

Offers anonymity – is this still the case with social media so prevalent?

Does the solo traveller become a subject of the “tourist gaze?” (Urry and Larssen, 2011)

How does the solo tourist link with Goffman theory of performance?

Possible to experience solitude in crowds (a mental rather than physical state)

Solitude as the positive opposite of loneliness?

An exploratory study of links between individuals’ perceptions of solo tourism and their desires for social interaction and solitude – Literature Review (Some Aspects)

Jordan & Gibson (2005) comment on the unwanted gaze of others in their study of solo women travellers, from a perception of being judged as “sad or lonely” to receiving overtly unwanted sexual attention.

Poria (2006) highlights that tourists can be conscious of others around them and adapt their behaviour accordingly.

Ratner & Hamilton (2015) raised the prospect that an individual may be reluctant to partake in a solitary activity if it was public and they ran the perceived risk of being observed and judged.

It is possible to consider a state of solitude as existing when one is in the presence of others but unobserved (Long & Averill, 2003; Detrixhe et al, 2014).

Those engaging in solo activities can often be stigmatised as lonely (Ratner & Hamilton, 2015)

Can be argued that such individuals are in fact displaying a developed sense of self as they are not in search of immediate social reinforcement (Long et al, 2006)

Velleman (2013) posits that enjoying solitude involves having awareness of enjoying one’s own company. Conscious effort to entertain oneself by keeping busy actually is a distraction from solitude.

There is an evidencable increase in solo lifestyle choices, particularly living alone (Klinenberg, 2012)

Budgeon (2008) notes the importance of choice in validating and embracing singleness.

A distinction must be made between loneliness and solitude, (Goodwin & Lockshin, 1992)

Wang (2006) formalised twenty types of solitude experience, rating them on a scale of desirability (includes self discovery; freedom; boredom and alienation)

It is a reasonable assumption that solo tourists seek different types of solitude perhaps depending on their individual personality and desires

An exploratory study of links between individuals’ perceptions of solo tourism and their desires for social interaction and solitude – Findings & Discussion (Some Aspects)

strongly suggests that a significant majority of individual’s desire some degree of social interaction, no matter the level of solitude they prefer.

The study did not aim to study the degree of solitude in an individuals’ life; rather the degree of solitude they desired.

See paper title for aim of the research

Findings led to a proposed typology of individual’s based on their level of desire for both solitude and social interaction

Next step will be to test this typology by interviewing those who have experience of solo tourism