More and more women are selecting to travel alone, abandoning friends, boyfriends and family and as an alternative selecting holidays planned especially for them. Why not? Traveling alone could be incredibly liberating: it will probably make it easier to increase your self-confidence, you will have amazing stories to inform at parties, you will meet recent people and you will have the option to explore destinations You you should explore without having to sacrifice your experience for anyone else.
Nearly two-thirds of today’s travelers are women, and in 2017, Google searches for “women’s solo travel” reached a record high of 100 million searches. Pinterest has also seen a 350% increase in women submitting solo travel ideas since 2014.
However, knowing where to start out could be daunting, especially considering that when traveling alone there are various aspects to contemplate that might not be as necessary when traveling with others.
This is where the newly introduced Wander Women’s Index by Ampersand turns out to be useful. We’ve ranked countries all over the world based on a wide range of aspects to evaluate where on this planet it is best for ladies traveling alone. We have a look at aspects including safety, women’s rights, culture, scenery, adventure and Instagrammability – all aspects that ladies said were necessary to them when considering traveling alone.
Japan got here out on top, happily taking the highest spot attributable to its low crime rate and wealthy collection of natural assets, including Mount Fuji, Takachiho Gorge, and Jigokudani (Hell Valley).
Our other popular destinations, Indonesia, Thailand and China, also ranked high, rating fifth, thirteenth and nineteenth respectively.
The first place within the Wander Women Index went to Japan.
Japan has over 30 national parks in its relatively small area, covering a wide range of environments equivalent to volcanoes, forests, beaches and underwater marine habitats.
Japan also scored high due to its incredibly low crime rate, which is at all times a crucial factor when traveling solo.
France got here second attributable to its high rating on women’s rights and the indisputable fact that it had closed almost 80% of the gender gap, rating in the highest 20 on this planet. France also ranked in the highest 20 on this planet for adventure, due to its nice climate, natural landscape beauty and friendly people.
We were delighted that Indonesia landed in fifth place due to its great number of landscape wonders, high adventure rating and Instagrammability. Just have a look at Gunung Bromo to see why this is sensible.
Thailand and China also ranked high in the highest 20 for a variety of reasons: China ranks amongst the best by way of security and culture (attributable to the Great Wall of China, in addition to the festive Chinese New Year celebrated by everyone all over the world, but after all nowhere higher than in China itself). Thailand, alternatively, leads the way in which in relation to adventure and scenery; the country encompasses the fantastic thing about the Phi Phi Islands, the amazing architecture of Bangkok, and the national parks of Khao Sok and Khao Yai, so it’s really not surprising.
Methodology
When creating the Wander Women’s Index, we used the next methodology. We analyzed various studies and surveys conducted amongst women traveling alone to seek out out what they consider most significant in a given destination when traveling alone. The points that we considered necessary are:
– Security
– Women’s rights
– Culture
– Landscape
– Adventure
– Instagramability
– Culinary possibilities
– Volunteering
To determine what each travel destination has to supply, we took the 2018 rating of the very best solo travel destinations and assessed it against the aspects above, using a wide range of sources, including official crime statistics for every country, a report on the gender gap for 2017, the variety of Instagram hashtags for every destination and culinary appreciation in each country. We also checked out volunteer opportunities within the country, in addition to the variety of oral and intangible heritage practices and expressions, to evaluate the cultural elements of the destination. To evaluate the journey element of every destination, we used rankings from US News’ 2018 Best Countries.
You can see the information for every item in our table above. The data in our table covers the next issues:
– Security (crime rate)
– Women’s rights (2017 gender gap index)
– Culture (variety of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage practices)
– Landscapes (assessment of competitiveness in the sphere of travel and tourism)
– Adventure (rating of the very best countries 2018 in the journey category)
– Instagrammability (variety of hashtags for a rustic on Instagram)
– Culinary options (variety of cities included within the 2017 Best Food Cities rating)
– Volunteering (World Giving Index Volunteer Score)
For each of the above categories, we used the information above to rate each country on a scale of 1 to five (with 5 being the best number) and summed these scores to provide the ultimate Wander Women’s Index rating, with a complete of 40 being the best available. We then ranked countries based on their performance.
Sources:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/solo-travel-full-list
http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Crime-levels
http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2017/results-and-analytics/
http://reports.weforum.org/travel-and-tourism-competitiveness-report-2017/ranking/#series=INTANGHERITAGE
http://reports.weforum.org/travel-and-tourism-competitiveness-report-2017/ranking/#series=EOSQ502
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/adventure-full-list
https://www.caterwings.co.uk/caterers/best-cities-for-food-2017/
https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/cafworldgivingindex2017_2167a_web_210917.pdf
