“We need specific research that studies the exact numbers and the behavioural aspects of women travellers, especially those travelling solo,” Matta vice-president for outbound tourism, Cynthia Tan told FMT.
“I would say 90% of them book and plan everything on their own. We find it difficult to cater for that specific group because they are independent and do research on their own when they want to travel,” she said.
She added that solo women travellers were encouraged to ask for advice when planning their travels for reasons of safety and their wellbeing.
Tan was commenting on what Marina Mahathir said at the recent launch of ZafigoX, a convention catered specifically for women travellers.
Marina said travelling solo could be a daunting experience for some women as they had to go the extra mile to prepare for it.
According to her, the issue of dressing, particularly in conservative countries, was one of the biggest challenges for women travellers. Another concern that she and other women had, was the possibility of sexual harassment.
Tan said, “There might be a slight difference of between 10% and 20% from the regular itinerary deals because of certain customisations to accommodate security concerns, but please do not take it lightly as travel agencies are able to provide you safe and reliable logistical plans with the right contact numbers for help in case of emergency.”
Higher ratio of single women
Meanwhile, data from the statistics department reveal a possible link between the rise in the number of solo women travellers to the number of unmarried adult women in the country.
Data shows 13.6% of women aged 25 and above in Malaysia were unmarried in 2010, compared with 10.4% in the year 2000.
The proportion of single women aged 35 to 39 in Malaysia also rose from 7.8% in 2000 to 10.8% in 2010.
Realising the growing power of women as a consumer group in the travel industry, Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) said they welcomed any initiative by the government that would benefit this group.
“That’s why Mita will also launch our own initiative catering especially for solo women travellers, with a ‘travel buddy’ acting as host throughout their travelling period,” Mita president Uzaidi Udanis told FMT.
“We found out that safety is their number one priority. Just because a place is a hot tourist spot, it doesn’t mean women travellers will go to that location if it is not safe,” he said.
He added that such a group would typically go on holidays that enabled them to shop, explore cities and gain an exciting experience from it. But they also tended to go to destinations they perceived as safe and typically closer to their home country such as Thailand.