Grand View Research projects the solo travel market across the Middle East and Africa would grow at a compound annual rate of 15.7 percent between 2026 and 2033, reaching an estimated $114.6 billion by 2033. The market was worth about $35.8 billion in 2025.
That's the kind of figure that can show up in an industry report, gets quoted once, and disappear into a slide deck somewhere, with little to no action. But let's pay attention because many times data tells two stories; the visible one and the less visible one.
It tells us that solo travel is becoming a significant part of how people are choosing to move through the region, and that the businesses serving those travelers have a market that is changing faster than many of them may realize.
It also tells us something about women.
According to Grand View Research; younger travelers and women are the major drivers of the growth of solo travel in the Middle East and Africa, alongside; better connectivity, improved tourism infrastructure, safer accommodation and more tailored travel experiences are also making solo travel easier and more appealing.
So what is behind this growth, and what does it mean for the people actually travelling and the businesses trying to serve them?
Compounding is the part everyone skips past
Here's the thing about a growth rate: it doesn't describe a straight line. When something grows by 15.7 percent a year, each year's growth is calculated from a larger base than the year before. That's compounding, and it is easy to underestimate what it does over time.
Take a simple example. If a market is worth 100 units today and grows by 15.7 percent every year, after seven years it would be worth roughly 271 units.
It doesn't add the same 15.7 units every year. The increase itself gets larger because the market is getting larger.
That's essentially what Grand View Research is forecasting for solo travel in the Middle East and Africa. The regional market was estimated at $35.8 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $114.6 billion by 2033.
That is more than three times the 2025 market.
A 15.7 percent CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) does not mean the market will literally grow by 15.7 percent every year. It is a forecasted average annual growth rate over the period. Forecasts can change as economic conditions, travel behaviour, exchange rates, airline capacity and other factors change.
Still, the direction is clear. Grand View Research expects solo travel in the region to grow substantially faster than many traditional travel categories.
Globally, the same report puts the solo travel market at $549.8 billion in 2025, rising to $627.3 billion in 2026 and $1.62 trillion by 2033, representing a 14.6 percent CAGR.
That makes the Middle East and Africa's projected 15.7 percent growth rate slightly faster than the global forecast.
Though difference is small on paper, but it becomes much more interesting when you think about what it means over several years.
Women are central to the story, but the data needs some context
It would be easy to read a number like 15.7 percent and assume it reflects a general travel boom that happens to include more women than before. Though data does not support quite such a simple conclusion.
Grand View Research identifies women and younger travelers as important drivers of the growth in solo travel across the Middle East and Africa. It also points to safer lodging options and curated experiences as factors broadening participation.
But that is different from saying women are responsible for 15.7 percent growth. The report does not make that claim. What we can say with more confidence is that women represent a large and increasingly important part of the solo travel market.
Grand View Research's latest global data shows female solo travelers accounted for 54.6 percent of the market in 2025. Other industry datasets produce higher numbers, although they are often measuring different populations.
Condor Ferries, for example, reports that 84 percent of solo travelers in its compilation identify as female. Road Scholar reports that approximately 85 percent of its solo travelers are women.
Those figures should not be treated as though they describe every solo traveler in the world. Road Scholar's number reflects its own customer base, while industry compilations bring together statistics from different sources and definitions.
However, taken together, they point in the same direction; Women are a major part of the solo travel market.
A Future Partners survey of 4,000 American travelers found that nearly 40 percent of female respondents were interested in travelling solo in 2025, an increase of eight percentage points from the previous year.
Booking.com research has also been widely reported as finding that 54 percent of women surveyed were looking to embrace solo travel in 2024.
These numbers come from different surveys, different populations and different questions, so they should not be added together or treated as one giant global statistic. What they do show is a consistent pattern: there is substantial interest among women in travelling independently.
And that matters for a region like the Middle East and Africa, where the solo travel market is projected to grow particularly quickly.
Women also make a huge share of travel decisions
There is another piece of the puzzle that deserves attention.
Skift Research reported in 2024 that women make 82 percent of travel decisions, including choices around destinations, accommodation, tours and activities.
That statistic is broader than solo travel. It does not mean women personally take 82 percent of all trips, nor does it mean 82 percent of travelers are women.
It means women have significant influence over what gets booked.
Put those two things together and the commercial opportunity becomes clearer.
Women are major decision-makers in travel, and women also make up a substantial share of the solo travel market.
That is a useful signal for hotels, airlines, tour operators, destination organizations and travel platforms.
But it also comes with a warning.
Women are not one homogenous group, and "female traveler" is not a strategy by itself. Skift has since made this point explicitly, arguing that treating women as one broad demographic can lead travel companies to miss the very different motivations, preferences and spending patterns within the market.
The opportunity is not simply to put more women in travel advertising.
It is to understand what different women actually need when they travel.
The demand is growing, and the industry is responding
In October 2024, G Adventures launched Solo-ish Adventures, a collection designed specifically for solo travelers aged 18 and above. The program includes destinations such as Jordan, Morocco and South Africa. The trips combine group experiences with time for independent exploration, including a designated "Me Day."
That is significant because it reflects something many solo travelers already know.
Travelling alone does not necessarily mean wanting to be alone all the time.
There is a growing middle ground between a traditional group tour and completely independent travel.
You can arrive alone, have your own room, meet people, join an experience, explore independently and still have some structure around the parts of the trip where you want it.
That model is particularly relevant to solo travel because one of the biggest barriers is not necessarily a lack of desire to travel.
It is uncertainty.
What actually worries women about travelling alone
The Solo Female Travelers Club's 2025 survey gives a useful picture of that uncertainty.
Among the women surveyed, personal safety and the higher cost of travelling alone were tied as the biggest concerns, at 66 percent each. Language barriers came next at 42 percent, followed by worries about something bad happening, getting lost and loneliness.
The reasons women choose solo travel are almost the mirror image of those concerns.
- Freedom and flexibility came first at 87 percent.
- Escaping routine and responsibilities came next at 83 percent.
- Followed by relaxing and having time for themselves at 79 percent, and challenging themselves at 74 percent.
The organization says this ranking has remained stable across age groups since 2020.
That tells us something important.
The problem is not necessarily that women do not want to travel alone. Many clearly do. The problem is that wanting to go and feeling sufficiently informed and comfortable to go are two different things.
And that is where travel information becomes much more valuable than generic inspiration.
What a generic travel campaign misses
A campaign aimed at "travelers" broadly, with beautiful images of a couple watching a sunset, is speaking to a very different set of priorities.
A woman considering a solo trip to Cairo, Lagos, Marrakech or Amman may certainly want to see the beautiful parts of the destination.
But she may also want answers to questions that rarely make it into destination marketing;
- How easy is it to get around?
- What does transportation actually look like?
- Which areas are convenient for a first-time visitor?
- What is the experience of eating alone?
- How easy is it to find help if something goes wrong?
- What does the destination feel like outside the tourist district?
- What do other solo travelers say about the experience?
These are questions that bother them and rightly so. So, giving them viable information, can be what turns a destination from an idea into a viable trip.
Mabrian and The Data Appeal Company found in their 2024 analysis that solo female travelers already represented 14 percent of female tourism demand.
Their analysis also found that safety and the range of experiences available in a destination were important factors in destination choice.
The 14 percent figure is useful because it is based on actual travel demand, not just people's interest in travelling alone.
There is one important detail here. The analysis found that about three out of four female solo travellers in its main markets were travelling within their own countries.
So the opportunity is not just about getting women to travel across borders. It is also about making them feel more confident exploring destinations closer to home.
This is one thing we need to fix in Africa.
The information gap is an opportunity
This is where the conversation becomes particularly interesting for destinations across Africa.
A woman considering a solo trip does not necessarily need another list of "10 things to do."
She may need someone to explain how the destination actually works;
- How long does it take to get from the airport to the city?
- What does a normal taxi ride cost?
- Which areas make sense for a first visit?
- How easy is it to use public transport?
- What happens if you arrive late?
- Where do people actually eat?
- Which experiences are genuinely worth paying for?
- What should a first-time visitor know before arriving?
- And perhaps most importantly, what does the destination feel like when you are there alone?
That is a different kind of travel content. It is less about selling a fantasy and more about reducing uncertainty.
For a destination trying to attract solo travellers, especially women, that distinction matters.
The most useful content may not always be the most glamorous. Sometimes, it is the simple, practical information that finally gives someone enough confidence to book the flight.
What this means for the traveler
If you're the person wondering whether travelling alone is becoming more normal, the data gives you a pretty straightforward answer.
Yes.
Solo travel is already a substantial global market, and Grand View Research expects the Middle East and Africa segment to grow from $35.8 billion in 2025 to $114.6 billion by 2033.
Women represent a significant share of that market, although the exact proportion varies considerably depending on the dataset and how "solo traveler" is defined.
And the reasons are not particularly mysterious.
- Women want freedom.
- They want flexibility.
- They want a break from routine.
- They want time to themselves.
- They want to challenge themselves.
At the same time, they want to know that the destination makes sense for them before they go. Understanding that tension will be important for the travel industry.
The future of solo travel is not simply about getting more people to travel alone. It's going to be about making independent travel easier to understand.
That means better information, better products, better accommodation choices, better connectivity and experiences designed around the reality of travelling alone. For destinations across Africa, that creates a real opportunity.
The region already has the landscapes, cities, cultures, food, history and experiences that people want to discover.
The next question is whether the industry can explain those experiences well enough for someone travelling alone to feel that they know what they are getting into.
Because sometimes the difference between "I would love to go there" and "I've booked my flight" is not another beautiful photograph. It is a useful answer.
That is the traveler Aerial View is built for: someone who does not just want to know where to go, but wants to understand a destination well enough to make a confident decision about going.