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 Travel & Outdoors | January 2008 
Who Needs a Man to Travel?
 Gina Teel - Calgary Herald
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 |  | Women-only travel is shaping up to be one of the major trends in travel this year. |  | | | |
When it comes to the perfect vacation, Calgary travel agent Marilyn Thompson personally believes in the value of three different trips a year.
The first is a family holiday. The second is a getaway with just her husband. And the third sees the couple take separate trips with a gal pal or buddy, respectively.
"That's the perfect vacation," says the travel professional with Carlson Wagonlit Travel, with a smile.
Thompson cites a recent trip to Paris with a girlfriend, where the friends did considerable sightseeing and took in a bit of shopping. With their husbands along, she suggests the trip would have been considerably different.
"They would have said, 'Oh, let's sit down and have a beer,' or they'd want to do something else,' " Thompson said. "There's different interests, I guess is basically what it boils down to."
It appears Thompson isn't the only woman to arrive at this conclusion.
Consumer trends in the United States indicate that women's purchasing clout in terms of household spending now extends to purchasing airline tickets for increasingly popular gal-pal getaways and ladies-only travel.
In April, U.S.-based American Airlines became the first airline in the industry to launch an online resource specifically designed for the burgeoning women's travel market.
The aa.com/women site contains information and pointers on topics like safety and security, saving time and money while travelling, travelling with friends, family or partners, and advice and stories from other women travellers, the company said.
American, the world's largest airline, said the initiative could see the company boost the number of women travelling on the airline by two per cent, for an increase of $94 million in revenue annually.
Currently, women comprise about 48 per cent of American's customers annually.
In Alberta, Rick MacSwain, marketing and sales manager for Uniglobe Bravo Travel Group, said the American Airlines initiative will likely spark some interest, given the rising popularity of women-only tours here.
His agency is booking women-only tours to exotic places like Machu Picchu, India, Nepal, Egypt, Galapagos, and Tuscany.
MacSwain said women-only travel is a niche market driven by demand from baby boomers who want to travel but are maybe held back by a spouse, for example, or widows who like the security of group travel.
"It's not necessarily people that are divorced or single women, it's just women-only, so they're not dealing with some of the mixed-group things, and they can do the spas and the activities that are really applicable to ladies-only travel," he said.
Thompson agreed that the popularity of women's-only travel is on the rise.
She's organized packages to New York, where the focus is on shopping and theatre, and is considering putting together a package centred on cooking classes in Tuscany.
"People are looking for something different now; they've done Cancun, they've done Puerto Vallarta, and they want to go to different places," she said.
WestJet Airlines Ltd. spokeswoman Gillian Bentley said the airline is "very aware" of the growing trend of women travelling on their own, be it on business or solo with their families.
There's no special initiative in the works just for women, however.
"We only do have the one class on our aircraft, so we do look to make the best guest experience for all of our guests," she said.
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the topic of women-only initiatives hasn't been raised at this point. If it was, however, it would certainly be something they'd look at, he said.
"Obviously, we're concerned about the comfort and safety of all of our passengers, so we're always looking at ways to improve our service," Fitzpatrick said.
In announcing the website, American Airlines cited research that showed:
• 75 per cent of women in the U.S. use the Internet for general usage;
• among women who booked travel in the last year, 35 per cent did so online.
• the buying power of U.S. women is estimated at $6.1 trillion.
Uniglobe's MacSwain concurred on the Internet statistics, noting the trend now is for people to go to the web and do their research. However, he said they still go to an agency to book the actual trip.
MacSwain said he's seeing more and more people coming in who know exactly what they want -- from where they want to go to where they want to stay to even the tours they want.
"They just say, 'can you help us and give us some advice?' " he said.
But Debi Andrus, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, said the website strikes her as being behind the times, particularly in terms of attracting the female business traveller -- one of three distinct demographic groups in the women's market the website seems to cater to.
"The other two aspects of their segmenting is about making it relevant for younger women at different points in their lives, so that makes sense, but if you were targeting women in business, you should have been doing it a lot sooner," she said.
However, from a strategic perspective, it makes sense to add value given today's highly competitive airline industry, Andrus said.
When the large airlines have to compete with the discount airlines, they have to really be seen to be adding value to anybody who chooses to fly the larger carriers, she noted.
"The big challenge is, you can segment and provide a website, but if you can't carry that through in terms of how women feel when they're on an airline -- (for example) will I feel safer as a woman travelling on business on American Airlines verses another airline -- that will be the test," she said.
Given that gal-pal getaways and spa weekends have also been around for some time, the issue is whether the carrier can deliver something different for seasoned travellers that shows it has recognized those differences beyond its website.
"You can tell me that you'll make it easy for me to find my luggage, but if as an airline you can't get my luggage there with me, that becomes an issue," Andrus said. |
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