Single Parent Travel: Second-Class Travel Citizens

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

Travel’s Second Class Citizens

Can you imagine the travel industry, limping along in this sclerotic economy, not catering to the needs of an important travel niche market: Single Parents?
This travel cohort feels like second class citizens.
They’re not swingers.
Not looking for wild parties.
They want quality vacations that let them connect with other single
parents, and they want attention paid to them and their kids.
They want the travel industry to know they have needs that are different
from couples and families on the road.

Brenda Elwell, a single mom who’s traveled solo with her kids for years, says she often has no one to talk to or “hang out” when she vacations with her two sons.
“It’s lonely she says. “It’s a coupled world! The other guests are
either couples or have no kids and don’t want my company. Traveling as a
single mom can be a pretty lonely experience.”
Elwell took action and wrote what some consider the best book on single
parent travel: The Single Parent Travel Handbook and, she says, since more
than one-quarter of all US households with children are headed by a
single parent (16.5 million single parent households), the travel
industry is leaving money on the table, and under-serving an important
group of travelers.

They’re getting the message, it seems.

Increasingly there are single parent-only weekend getaways or short cruises that combine the need for a single mom or dad to spend quality time with their children, but also quality time with other single
parents.
Sure, some single parent travelers say they’re not averse to a little
romance on the road or high seas… but mostly they want a vacation that’s
designed for them.