What’s the growing appeal of small-group adventures? And why are so many more women booking them?

It had been three long weeks in the Sri Lankan sunshine, learning to surf (mostly falling and stumbling) in some of the island’s most beautiful spots around Ahangama and Weligama, near the stunning town of Mirissa, evenings spent stretching out sore muscles with yoga sessions. But when I caught the best wave of the trip at Whiskey Point in Arugam Bay and looked back, full of joy, at the coaches and new friends I’d made, I realized I wanted to share my success with people I didn’t know a month ago.

Such is the power of the small group adventure travel industry. According to recent studies by Global Market Insights, the adventure tourism market is projected to expand at 15.2 percent annually from 2024 to 2032, driven largely by Gen Z and Millennial travelers—and yet traditionally, small group travel and perceptions of hiking and cycling holidays have been the wheelhouse of older travelers.

I love solo travel and generally feel comfortable planning and exploring destinations on my own, but certain destinations and activities certainly entice me to group tours—especially as a woman with security concerns and self-doubts about my abilities. Sri Lanka a case in point—the safety of learning to surf together—minus the logistics of planning a multi-location trip—certainly felt appealing.

But what makes this style of small-group adventure travel particularly appealing to women?

According to Globetrender and Virtuoso, 71 percent of solo travelers are women, and a recent study by Condor Ferries states that 96 percent of women who have never solo-traveled would be more likely to on a group tour. In the same report, it found that 80 percent of all travel decisions are made by women.

For Louise Truman, founder of Plotpackers, a small -group adventure tour company focusing on ethical and affordable travel, 70 percent of their customers identify as female): “We find that women are particularly drawn to group adventure travel because it offers a unique combination of safety, empowerment, and connections to new lifelong friends,” she says. “Unlike standard group tours that focus on sightseeing, adventure trips create a sense of challenge and accomplishment.”

Joanna Reeve, General Manager UK & Ireland at Intrepid Travel (which publishes Adventure.com), is witnessing the same: “Over the past couple years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of women booking on to our small group adventures,” she says. “This is being driven by women in their midlife—with a 22 percent increase in bookings from this demographic compared to pre-pandemic.”

While I consider myself a generally adventurous person, would I have bungee-jumped in New Zealand if I hadn’t had the safety net of a tour? Probably not. Did I feel amazing and proud of myself for doing it? Absolutely—even if my mother wasn’t entirely thrilled by it.

Truman cites a 2024 study by ATTA (Adventure Tavel Trade Association) which shows 56 percent of UK women are seeking outdoor adventure activities; and half stating that such holidays boost their confidence and provide a sense of fulfillment. These same themes pop up time and again when it comes to why women look to group trips: Safety in numbers; meeting like-minded people for shared experiences; no or minimal logistical planning; and building confidence before embarking on fully independent solo travel.

That’s what Tim Riley, managing director of adventure travel insurance specialist True Traveller, has also found: “We’ve discovered that, rather than winging it with a backpack and no plan, women tend to opt for structured adventure tours, fully planned itineraries, and guided experiences, generally booked through specialist tour operators. They also like to arrange their travel insurance around the time of booking—so you could say they are organized, but adventurous.”

While safety plays a huge part in the surge of women booking small group adventure travel, it’s not the whole story. Describing themselves as a “social travel company,” Flash Pack has said that the top reason for most people booking with Flash Pack is to make new friends; the second reason, to travel to interesting places. This may point to another reason; as well as meeting like-minded friends, which can become increasingly harder as an adult, there’s the opportunity to meet romantic partners away from the horrors of dating apps—so instead of slogging through small talk in a bar, you’re climbing mountains or rafting down rivers, and spending days on end with new people.

Becky Hart is a frequent solo traveler, but still books small-group adventure tours for certain trips: “Beyond the basic safety of having a group to rely on, I also find it easier to try more adventurous activities than when I’m on my own. In Peru, we went off-roading in sand dunes. In Nicaragua, it was a sailing outing. I likely wouldn’t have done either of these things without the safety net of an organized tour group.”

And that plays into the psychological benefits of adventure, which are huge: The broadening of capabilities, confidence boost, and rush of endorphins all interplay with how we view ourselves. “Small adventure groups align particularly well with how women often process stress and build resilience,” Elvis Rosales, psychologist, LCSW, and Clinical Director for Align Recovery Centers, tells me. “The tend-and-befriend response, which psychological research shows is more common in women, means that supportive social connections during challenging situations enhance coping abilities. These groups create optimal conditions for psychological safety while women take risks or do things they normally wouldn’t.”

Rosales adds that this combination supports valid safety concerns without compromising the psychological benefits of adventure. Personally, this rings very true. While I consider myself a generally adventurous person, would I have bungee-jumped in New Zealand if I hadn’t had the safety net of a tour? Probably not. Did I feel amazing and proud of myself for doing it? Absolutely—even if my mother wasn’t entirely thrilled by it.

And the female adventure small group market is thriving for other reasons too. Claire Copeman, founder of Adventure Tours UK, puts it down to changing social norms over the last few decades. “More and more women now have the financial independence to be able to do their own thing,” she says. “Whether single or in a relationship, often women are finding their desire to explore and satisfy a curious mind is matched by their financial ability to live out the dream, and they’re going for it.”

How and where we work has also impacted travel styles. “The rise of work-from-away schemes and remote working has also made it easier for travelers to be more flexible with their holidays and visit destinations around the world,” says Intrepid’s Joanna Reeves. “We have customers who are staying longer in a destination and splitting their time between working and then joining an Intrepid trip.”

While the cost of living crisis is inescapable, the shift to valuing experiences over material things means that tours continue to thrive. This, combined with many younger millennials and Gen Z women coming to the conclusion that houses and families are out of reach (for now), shows a priority shift towards self-improvement, challenges, and horizon-broadening.

The idea of wide open destinations, free of the tourist hordes, is a popular one, harking back to a more adventurous, explorative age. With the rise of Instagram and TikTok travel content creators, adventurous places like Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Namibia have become bucket list staples for those looking for a wild, lesser-known challenge.

Solo travel is also not just a young person’s game. Statistics show that 18-to-24-year-olds only account for four percent of the solo female travel market; 65-year-olds and above account for 25 percent, in part due to more disposable income, more time, and more confidence.

Claire Makin, 74, traveled extensively with her “partner of the moment,” as she describes it, in her youth, including adventures from Tashkent to Rawalpindi through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Pakistan. Then, that began to change: “My middle years were a bit restricted by working, essential in order to pay for it all”. Now she tends to travel with small-group adventure companies. “The only places I want to visit now are the difficult, dangerous places that need the special knowledge that they have. The people who travel with them are like-minded souls who are traveling for genuine interest, not just ticking off countries on a bucket list.”

James Willcox from Untamed Borders, a small-group tour company specializing in off-the-beaten-path destinations, explains, “The vast majority of people who travel with us would normally travel independently to at least some destinations. However, they feel they need support in places where either visas and paperwork are difficult or the geography is remote, and they need logistical support. People who might join our trips to Afghanistan or Yemen would probably arrange their own trip to Italy or India.”

That’s the case for Claire Ramsdell who runs the The Detour Effect blog which offers tips, itineraries, and stories on self-guided hiking, solo backpacking, car-living, road trips and location independence. She’s been traveling solo for years, but since turning 30, she’s been straying from her usual style: “I’ve been intrigued to find out about some unique trip styles that tour operators are beginning to offer,” she tells me. “For instance, there are group trips you can join to archaeological sites around the world where the trip leader is a university professor who specializes in that destination.”

She feels guided trips can help travelers reach inaccessible places. “For instance, one region we traveled to in Kyrgyzstan required driving a treacherous, winding mountain road, and I rarely feel comfortable renting my own car in those situations.”

The idea of wide open destinations, free of the tourist hordes, is a popular one, harking back to a more adventurous, explorative age. With the rise of Instagram and TikTok travel content creators, adventurous places like Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Namibia have become bucket list staples for those looking for a wild, lesser-known challenge.

However, small-group adventure travel doesn’t have to be that extreme. ‘Soft adventure’ or ‘soft travel‘ is a term increasingly used for less adrenaline-fueled adventures from walking holidays to yoga and paddleboarding trips. But whatever the style, traveling with other people alongside us, in the same proverbial boat, mitigates the stress of the unknown, making activities feel more achievable, while improving our self-worth and self-belief—something many women struggle with on a daily basis.

Psychologist Elvis Rosales confirms this: “We’re seeing this surge [in adventure group tours] because women are recognizing the psychological benefits of combining nature immersion with social connection. Adventure travel serves as a powerful intervention against chronic stress and isolation that many women face, especially as an aftermath of lifestyle changes due to the pandemic.”

The pandemic has also fueled the growth of the adventure group travel sector for many women, with solo female travel searches surpassing pre-pandemic numbers—social isolation, health anxiety, uncertainty, homeschooling, to name a few, have tended to hit women harder than other groups.

Decision fatigue also explains the appeal for organized group travel, an issue faced by so many women who are responsible for so much of day-to-day life in their work, home and wider family—with organized group travel, that’s eliminated.

Following the reopening of borders and lockdowns, travel has also had more of a ‘why not?’ attitude, a ‘life is too short’ mindset hit, with many people booking those bucketlist trips and more adventurous tours, including ones incorporating hobbies and activities that people discovered during lockdown.

“The competitiveness and macho energy some men bring to adventures can sometimes feel isolating for women, leaving them discouraged rather than empowered.”

- Claire Copeman, founder, Adventure Tours UK

Did I think that I’d join my first ever hiking holiday in the north of England aged 29? But after so much time exploring the green space around Liverpool in lockdown, the yearning to just walk with like-minded women of all ages sounded like heaven. While this wasn’t my first small-group travel adventure, it was certainly the smallest group and the one with the largest age spread.

On our walking tour of five plus guide, I was the youngest by almost 20 years, but the gap seemed irrelevant. Despite the differing reasons that brought us together, we were largely looking for the same calming, simple challenge that this adventure offered us.

Over the past few years, women-exclusive adventure tour groups in various niches have also become popular, for another reason. India Paine, 28, a cycling journalist and enthusiast for cycling magazine Rouleur, notes, “A women-only trip can help remove some of the intimidation factors and create a more supportive environment where riders can ask questions, ride at their own pace in different groups, and not worry about proving themselves.”

Intimidation can play a big role in women’s attitudes to adventure travel, especially in small mixed groups. As someone who grew up playing sports and battling with the boys to be included, I admit I’m competitive—but when it’s something new, like surfing, it’s difficult not to be intimidated if you feel you’re the least experienced or feel you should be doing better. While this can of course  exist in all-women small groups, it doesn’t tend to have as harsher competitive edge. “The competitiveness and macho energy some men bring to adventures can sometimes feel isolating for women,” says Claire Copeman, “leaving them discouraged rather than empowered.”

Social media and influencer culture is also playing a role, and increasingly, we’re seeing women-only travel groups and tours crop up. Many travel influencers are now being employed by larger adventure tour companies to sell and run trips to their existing community.

Kate Woodley, also known online as KateAcrossBorderss and founder of group adventure company Stay Wild Travels, quit her corporate job at 23. Now in her fifth year of traveling, she’s seen this shift first-hand. “It feels like almost every travel content creator is running group trips now, whether that’s in partnership with companies or doing it themselves. “Most of the time, a relationship has already been established with that content creator,” she says. “Before, group trips may have been considered something for people who didn’t have anyone to travel with. Now, they’re seen as a really fun way to experience a country and make friends with like-minded people.”

Others include Dr. Nabila Ismail of Dose of Travel who has launched the Dose of Travel Club, a group travel company specifically for South Asian travelers to meet like-minded people through adventure. Nicole Hu, known as HuTravelsTheWorld, quit her job in 2023 during the pandemic to travel and now runs tours to lesser-visited adventure destinations like China, Egypt, Pakistan, Nepal, and Morocco.

And it’s not just younger influencers either. Jackie Nourse, known as Traveling Jackie, celebrated her 40th birthday at the end of last year and has pivoted from full-time travel and podcasting to create JUMP Adventures, a small-group adventure tour company offering trips from the W Trek in Patagonia to Croatian boat tours to multi-sports in Norway. By utilizing existing online communities, women are coming to a tour with an in-built connection to each other, which can remove a lot of anxiety about meeting new people and making friends.

Fundamentally, we travel to escape the everyday and see new things. Leaving decision-making, social isolation, and responsibility at home are huge draws when it comes to organized group travel for women, alongside concerns of safety, convenience, and meeting like-minded people.

Adventures boost confidence and bring excitement and possibilities that keep us coming back for more. While solo travel has its place, the increased possibilities of friendship, one-of-a-kind experiences in off-the-beaten path locations, and camaraderie of group achievements are clearly becoming more appealing. And with more female-centric adventure tours than ever, I’m excited to see what’s next for this emerging sector.

I know I stepped out of my comfort zone when I joined the trip to Sri Lanka. It was a lot of firsts for me: First time in Asia, first time on a surfboard, first time spending a month traveling—and the first time I dealt with a bankrupting airline. Without it, would I have had the confidence to travel the world solo after? Who knows but I’d certainly not have the confidence to try new sports, strike up conversations with strangers in hostels, or even the self-belief to embark on the freelance life. The lessons you learn on adventure group travel can shape you in ways you don’t even realize until years later. But as I wiped out for what must have been the 20th time that day, the bigger picture was blissfully far from my mind. Instead, I just turned around and kept paddling.

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