Q: What was the thinking behind the launch of women-only tours with Insight Vacations?
A: As with all new product ideas, it starts with an insight (no pun intended) and our data was the insight behind this one.
We know that anywhere between 65 to 73 per cent of travellers on any given departure with Insight Vacations are women so they already represent a huge portion of our travelling demographic.
Add to that it’s almost always a female who is the lead booking passenger in the household. And thirdly we were receiving a lot of questions about whether we had women-only trips.
We have dabbled in a few one-off bespoke departures in the past and they’ve always done very well but they’ve never been part of our regular portfolio.
Q: What criteria did you use in putting these tours together?
A: A big part of launching the portfolio was getting the right product in the right destinations. You will see from the 11 trips we offer that there’s a sprinkling of adventure based destinations, but they’re not all adventure based tours.
There are Italy and UK trips, which are just beautiful tours with all your creature comforts – five-star hotels and a nice glass of red wine at the end of the day as you relax with newfound friends or existing friends you are traveling with.
Q: What kind of reaction have you had so far?
A: The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive with an even sprinkling of interest across all the trips. We’re definitely seeing that we’ve got the product mix right for the first year so let’s see how it evolves.
It’s going to be really interesting looking at the data in 12 months’ time and see what they are booking. Are they looking to do women only trips in Nepal or are they looking to do women only trips in Italy, and what products best fit which destination?
I think we’d love to build the range in future years and for it to be part of our always on strategy and not just a one-off part of our portfolio.
Q: Why did you choose Insight Vacations as the launch brand and not one of the other companies in the TTC stable?
A: There is a lot of single sex travel out there already but quite often it seems to be in rustic, adventure style destinations.
We really wanted to make sure that we were offering a point of difference in the market, which was five-star accommodation, Michelin star meals, acclaimed restaurants and business class travel, which is why we picked Insight.
People are already asking about women-only tours with Trafalgar and Costsaver but that remains to be seen – we’ll see how successful Insight is first. But there are other brands in our portfolio that appeal to different travellers and different demographics that we might look to explore.
Q: Why do you think women sometimes prefer just travelling with other females?
A: It’s a really good question and it’s also why we’ve picked some of the destinations, like Egypt and Nepal, for our tours. Beautiful places that you can do in a premium way but where there is still that perception of it being a little uncertain.
Everyone wants their Eat Pray Love moment but they want to do it with some arms around them and an extra layer of support, with another 20 females, a guide, local experts and a tour director.
Q: What do you hope your guests take away from one of your women-only tours?
A: I think that there’s nothing greater than bringing a group of travellers from all parts of the world at that sweet spot of around 15 to 25 people to have shared experiences together.
If there’s just one thing I hope they can take away from a trip with us is new friendships and new connections, shared friendships and shared connections over really special unique moments.
Travel Agents can find full details on each of Insight Vacations’ new Women-Only tours and take advantage of 8% off until May 31 at:
