Solo travel is a substantial part of measured travel demand, but the reasons people choose it are varied. Booking.com reported that 58% of people planned to travel alone in 2024, while VisitBritain recorded solo travelers as 28% of overnight trips in Great Britain during 2024. Hostelworld’s 2025 research adds detail on who travels alone, what concerns them, and what they hope to gain from the experience.
Contents
- How common is solo travel?
- Who is traveling alone?
- Safety and confidence
- Connection and the social side
- Personal benefits and motivations
- Responsible solo travel
How common is solo travel?
The available figures point to meaningful interest in traveling alone, although they measure different things and should not be treated as directly interchangeable. Booking.com’s Going Solo 2024 research found that 58% of people planned to travel alone in 2024. This is a planning measure, not a count of completed trips.
VisitBritain’s GB Tourist Annual Report 2024 measured completed overnight trips in Great Britain and found that solo travelers made up 28% of overnight trips. The report said this share was 3 percentage points higher than in 2023 and 4 percentage points higher than in 2022.
| Measure | Result | Geography and period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| People planning to travel alone | 58% | 2024, Booking.com research | Booking.com Going Solo 2024 |
| Overnight trips made by solo travelers | 28% | Great Britain, 2024 | VisitBritain GB Tourist Annual Report 2024 |
| Change in solo-trip share | +3 percentage points | Great Britain, versus 2023 | VisitBritain GB Tourist Annual Report 2024 |
| Change in solo-trip share | +4 percentage points | Great Britain, versus 2022 | VisitBritain GB Tourist Annual Report 2024 |
The Great Britain figures describe trip parties rather than a worldwide population. They nevertheless show that solo travel was not a marginal category in that market during 2024. The same VisitBritain report found that 72% of trip parties did not include a child under 16, offering wider context about the prevalence of trips without children, though that measure is not the same as traveling alone.
Other Great Britain indicators describe the broader travel environment. Car use accounted for 68% of trips in 2024, compared with 71% in 2023 and 64% in 2022. The report also found that the Family life stage accounted for 45% of overnight trips in 2024. Average spend for the Family life stage reached £320 per trip, up from £248 per trip in 2023. These figures are useful context for the market, but they do not identify solo travelers specifically.
Who is traveling alone?
Hostelworld’s State of Solo Travel 2025 reported that 53% of solo travelers in its research were women. The report also found that 55% of men planned to take more solo trips. That result describes men’s stated future intention; it should not be read as a claim that men represented 55% of solo travelers.
The Booking.com samples show how broad its 2024 research base was. Its Travel Predictions 2024 survey covered 27,730 respondents across 33 countries and territories. Country and territory sample counts included 1,005 respondents from the United States, 1,007 from Vietnam, 1,014 from Italy, 1,014 from the Netherlands, 1,016 from Hong Kong, 1,011 from Germany, 1,009 from Canada, and 1,009 from China.
Booking.com also reported a separate Sustainable Travel Report 2024 research base of 31,550 respondents across 34 countries and territories, including 1,000 respondents from the United States. These sample details describe the scope of the research rather than the share of each population that travels alone.
Hostelworld’s figures suggest that solo travel is not limited to people who see themselves as permanently independent travelers. In its 2025 survey, 63% of first-time solo travelers planned to travel more after their first solo trip. The result points to a possible progression from experimentation to repeat travel, but it remains a reported intention rather than a longitudinal measure of future bookings.
Safety and confidence
Safety was the most clearly quantified concern in the Hostelworld 2025 figures. Overall, 41% of solo travelers worried about safety. The gender breakdown was notably different: 55% of women said safety was a concern, compared with 18% of men.
| Hostelworld 2025 measure | Women | Men | Overall or other measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety was a concern | 55% | 18% | 41% of solo travelers |
| Stepped out of their comfort zone | 60% | 43% | — |
| Boosted self-confidence | 44% | 40% | — |
| Felt mentally refreshed | 47% | 37% | — |
| Cited emotional healing | 32% | 23% | — |
The same research found that less than 2% said they did not feel confident enough to travel solo. This figure is distinct from the safety result: someone can feel confident enough to travel alone while still considering safety a concern. Taken together, the results show that concern and capability are not opposites in the survey data.
Safety concerns also need to be read with care because the figures come from Hostelworld’s research, while the planning and trip-share figures above come from different studies and years. They cannot establish a single global safety rate or explain why respondents felt concerned. They do show that safety was a substantially more common reported concern among women than men in that 2025 survey.
Connection and the social side
Traveling alone does not necessarily mean seeking isolation. Hostelworld reported that 71% of solo travelers were actively looking to meet people. Among those looking for connections, only 3.7% met no one. In the same report, 52% of solo travelers said they stayed in touch with people they met on the road.
The figures were higher among Hostelworld app users. The report said 81% of app users looked to connect with others, and 68% reported making lasting connections. These are app-user measures, so they should not be generalized automatically to every solo traveler. They do, however, illustrate how social connection can be part of a solo trip rather than a contradiction of it.
The pattern helps distinguish independence from isolation. A solo traveler may control the itinerary, pace, and daily decisions while still seeking local experiences or meeting other travelers. The reported 52% who stayed in touch with people they met on the road suggests that some travel relationships continued beyond the immediate trip, although the data does not specify how long those relationships lasted.
Personal benefits and motivations
Hostelworld’s 2025 research measured several personal benefits, with women reporting each listed benefit more often than men. Sixty percent of women said solo travel helped them step out of their comfort zone, compared with 43% of men. Forty-four percent of women said it boosted self-confidence, compared with 40% of men. Mental refreshment was reported by 47% of women and 37% of men.
Other reported benefits included emotional healing, cited by 32% of women and 23% of men. Time for self-discovery was cited by 55% of women and 39% of men. Fifty-eight percent of women said solo travel helped them reconnect with themselves, compared with 43% of men.
Motivation figures show a similarly broad range of reasons. Fifty-eight percent of women and 45% of men said they traveled solo to challenge themselves. An urgent need to travel motivated solo trips for 45% of women and 30% of men. Cultural connection was cited by 60% of women and 56% of men.
| Reported reason or benefit | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Travel solo to challenge themselves | 58% | 45% |
| Cultural connection as a motivation | 60% | 56% |
| Time for self-discovery | 55% | 39% |
| Reconnect with themselves | 58% | 43% |
| Urgent need to travel as a motivation | 45% | 30% |
These percentages describe responses to separate survey prompts, so they are not mutually exclusive categories. A traveler could identify cultural connection, self-discovery, and challenging themselves at the same time. The results therefore describe overlapping motivations rather than a ranking in which every respondent chose only one reason.
Responsible solo travel
Hostelworld also reported several practices associated with responsible travel among solo travelers. Sixty-four percent brought reusable items such as a bottle or tote bag. Fifty-seven percent supported local businesses, while 54% preferred trains, buses, or ferries over flying.
Half of solo travelers, 50%, said they avoided single-use plastics. Forty-nine percent traveled light to reduce waste, and 35% aimed to respect local culture through responsible tourism. These measures concern reported habits or preferences, not independently measured reductions in waste, emissions, or tourism impacts.
Technology was part of destination planning too. Thirty-two percent used AI to research destinations, and 31% used AI to find local experiences. The figures do not indicate which tools respondents used, how often they used them, or whether the information changed their travel decisions.
The responsible-travel results sit alongside the social and motivational findings. Supporting local businesses, choosing ground or water transport, carrying reusable items, and respecting local culture are all behaviors that can fit an independent itinerary. The survey figures do not show whether respondents practiced every habit consistently, but they quantify the share reporting each one.
Reading the numbers together
The strongest overall pattern is variety. Booking.com’s 58% planning figure captures broad interest in traveling alone, while VisitBritain’s 28% describes the share of overnight trips made by solo travelers in Great Britain in 2024. Hostelworld’s 2025 results show that many solo travelers also seek connection: 71% were actively looking to meet people, and 52% stayed in touch with people they met on the road.
The data also shows a balance between opportunity and concern. Safety was a concern for 41% overall in Hostelworld’s survey, with a 55% result among women and 18% among men, yet less than 2% said they lacked enough confidence to travel solo. Personal benefits, cultural connection, and responsible habits appear alongside those concerns, giving solo travel a profile that includes autonomy, social contact, self-discovery, and practical choices about how to move through a destination.