Women make the world go round
As the popular song used to say ‘it is a man’s world’ but not anymore, as recent research suggests (source). Speaking about the matter at hand though, travel, women seem to be making all the decisions and possess the spending power to make them happen too. According to research by the Harvard Business Review, women control $15 trillion in purchases. This is quite a formidable amount as it accounts for more than India and China’s growth markets combined. As expected, a large amount of those funds trickles down on travelling expenses decided upon by women as research by suggests. Namely, 80% of travel decisions are made by women regardless of who is paying for the trip, where they go or who they travel with. As such, there has been a huge increase in travel companies devoted to women only travel during the past six years which amazingly surpasses 230%.
This trend -or shall we say, realisation- doesn’t go unnoticed in terms of personal spending. Based on research by , women travellers tend to spend $295 average on outdoor and travelling equipment on a yearly basis. Most purchases regarding travel and equipment are made online, therefore the buying power of the female population is formidable to say the least. This certainly implies that a holiday to Spain is mostly something that your significant other will decide on in case you are a man. This is also well represented in online travel communities, as female-oriented forums and digital media concerning travel have boomed in popularity and traffic. This certainly goes to show that women travel and they do so a lot!
In order to get a more detailed insight into the female traveler demographic, one has to look into travelling and spending habits. According to a US travelling agency’s demographics, 66% of travellers were women aged 25-39. In contrast to popular belief, women often opt for exotic destinations as in contrast to men they are more interested in the natural beauty of their destination. What’s more exciting on that front though is that a high percentage of women opt to travel solo, surpassing the equivalent attributed to men. This trend continues with group travel as hen dos and bachelorette travel numbers increase accordingly, thereby making a holiday to Benidorm for example, a much more enticing proposition for a female group. A factual representation of this trend is also noted in the numbers representing the most visited destinations. More specifically, women tend to prefer travelling in Europe at a rate of 45% of bookings with Mexico and the Caribbean coming second with a 33% share. Consequently, a holiday to Portugal or a holiday to Spain might be on your to-visit list already! In case it isn’t though, a holiday to Cancun or Jamaica is most possibly the next best thing that you have thought about doing.
Concluding, the travel market tends to shape, expand and follow a different dynamic, showing that women indeed have the power to make decisions. Moreover, women are not scared to follow their travel dreams and as such make use of their knowledge and buying potential in order to realise them. So is it a man’s world? In terms of travel decisions maybe not. However, each gender and person have their own decisions to make, so before you book your next getaway, get in touch with our expert team and rest assured that we at Purple Travel will offer you the best regardless of who you are or where you want to go.
