A surge in solo travellers, particularly those flocking to affordable hostels in Asia, is reshaping the travel industry, according to Hostelworld’s CEO Gary Morrison.
The industry has historically focused on couples, often overlooking the needs and desires of individual adventurers, he said.
The shift is fuelled by a rise in “solo by circumstance” travel, where individuals find themselves alone due to life changes like relocation or relationship breakups, rather than a deliberate choice to travel solo, he said.
“To a large extent, the travel industry has been kind of closed off to solo travellers and it doesn’t really cater to them,” Mr Morrison said.
“Every single hotel room is for two people.
“I think, in the longer term, other parts of the travel industry will start catering to solo travellers – which is, to stop charging them for two-person rooms.”
Hostelworld, which is a platform for hostels around the world, has been involved in the social side of travel through its chat room app which launched after the Covid pandemic.
It works by connecting people who have booked into hostels in a particular destination, allowing them to co-ordinate plans or find like-minded people staying in the same place.
Bookings data from the platform show the proportion of solo travellers had risen from 57 per cent in 2021 to 63 per cent in 2024.
Furthermore, young female backpackers have become the fastest-growing group, spurred on by increasing opportunities to group up with others or enhanced safety measures including the availability of female-only hostel dormitories.
Mr Morrison said the “vast majority” of European travellers were going to Asia, particularly Thailand, because of the appeal of cheaper hostel rooms and living expenses.
He admitted that the shift “obviously hurts revenues” for Hostelworld, which last month said its average booking values had dropped from €14.36 (£12.26) in 2023 to €13.21 (£11.28) in 2024.
Mr Morrison said the company had set its sights on creating the “world’s largest travel network”.
It does not make money from people using the chat function, but the engagement is seen as driving bookings as people recommend hostel stays, or even make cheap bookings in order to access the feature.
