This Master Thesis examines the experiences and motivations of solo travelers prior to, during as well as after the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 250 solo travelers completed a designed survey, and in addition eight solo travelers were in-depth interviewed regarding their solo travel experiences in connection to COVID-19. Having used a mixed method approach, content analysis has been chosen to be the most suitable analysis for this thesis, identifying patterns throughout the survey as well as the interviews answering the research question: Which overall impact did the COVID-19 pandemic have on solo travel?  Prior to the pandemic, the main motivations for solo travel were identified as independence, flexibility, personal growth, self-actualization, and the desire for freedom. The primary constraints were financial limitations, safety concerns about certain destinations, fear of being alone, and anxiety about not having assistance in challenging situations. Despite these constraints, participants reported positive experiences and deemed solo travel as worthwhile, as it allowed them to overcome internal fears and limitations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, travel destinations were limited due to restrictions, and destination choices were influenced by the accessibility and perceived handling of the pandemic by governments. Solo travelers sought destinations with fewer COVID-19 restrictions than their place of residence. Additional stress was associated with solo travel, including the need for proper documentation, COVID-19 tests, and vaccines. However, participants found it easier to travel solo during the pandemic compared to traveling with companions due to logistical challenges and restrictions on group activities. Respondents acknowledged the need for a higher budget and mental preparedness for unexpected changes in travel plans and potential COVID-19 exposure. The motivation to travel during the pandemic stemmed from the desire to escape the lockdown situation in the respondents' home countries and regain a sense of normality. The German concept of "Fernweh," the longing to be somewhere else, was mentioned as a driving force. The pandemic heightened awareness of the unpredictability and uncertainty of future travel, leading to a greater appreciation for the freedom and independence of solo travel. Post-pandemic, respondents expressed a heightened interest in solo travel, with a focus on regaining independence and making travel decisions based on personal preferences rather than travel restrictions. The constraints of traveling solo, such as not having a companion or fear of being alone, became less significant after the pandemic. Participants anticipated increased interactions and a desire to meet fellow solo travelers, indicating a shift towards more social engagement in the post-COVID-19 era.

Every summer solo-hikers roam the wilderness in northern Scandinavia; across mountains and rivers; they are in awe of the nature. This thesis explores the question: What do they seek out there? It uncovers their aspirations and experiences with a phenomenological research approach. Sixteen solo-hikers were interviewed in-situ (northern Scandinavia, June to August 2014) to gain immediate insights into the phenomenon. The analysis derived four major experiential themes from their narratives: the solo, the nature, the physical and the inner experience. Accordingly, the solo-hikers seek an individual mixture of experiences often linked to their personal life-paths. The study suggests that the solo-hike is both a journey of distance and closeness. The individuals seek (a perceived, not spatial) distance to common life-spaces and make sense of wilderness as a place that is away. However, they speak about the solo-hike as an experience of closeness to their inner selves. The thesis links to key concepts in human geography (such as place, identity) and central discussions in tourism studies (e.g. solo-travel, travel motivations). Ultimately, it also offers a thorough theoretical discussion of adopting phenomenology in human geography.

Women are increasingly active in the participation and consumption of travel, and are now recognised as a growing force within the tourism industry. This trend is linked to changing social and political circumstances for Western women around the world. Within Australia specifically, women's opportunities for education and for earning equitable incomes through employment have improved. Furthermore, traditional ideologies of the family have shifted, so that social expectations of marriage and the production of children do not yield as much power as they once did. As a result of these shifts, women living in contemporary Australia have a wider range of resources and opportunities with which to access an ever-increasing array of leisure/travel choices. It appears that one of the many ways in which women have been exercising their relatively recent financial and social autonomy is through independent travel. The solo woman traveller represents a growing market segment, with research showing that increasing numbers of females are choosing to travel alone, without the assistance or company of partners, husbands or packaged tour groups. However, little empirical research has explored the touristic experiences of solo women travellers, or examined the constraints and challenges they may face when journeying alone. 'Constraints' have been described variously as factors which hinder one's ability to participate in desired leisure activities, to spend more time in those activities, or to attain anticipated levels of satisfaction and benefit. While the investigation of constraints has contributed to the leisure studies discipline for a number of decades, the exploration of their influence on tourist behaviour and the tourist experience has been virtually overlooked. Research has shown that despite the choices and opportunities women have today, the freedom they have to consume those choices, and to access satisfying leisure and travel experiences, may be constrained by their social and gendered location as females. Although theorisations of constraint have remained largely in the field of leisure studies, it is argued and demonstrated in this thesis that there is potential in extending constraints theory to the inquiry of the tourist experience. Grounded in theoretical frameworks offered by gender studies, feminist geography, sociology and leisure, this qualitative study set out to explore the impact of constraints on women's solo travel experiences. Forty in-depth interviews were held with Australian women who had travelled solo at some stage of their adult lives. Adopting an interpretive and feminist-influenced research paradigm, it was important to allow the women to speak of their lives, constraints and experiences in their own voices and on their own terms. In line with qualitative methodologies, it is these women's words which form the data for this study. Based on a 'grounded' approach to data analysis, the results reveal that constraints do exist and exert influence on these women's lives and travel experiences in a myriad of ways. Four inter-linking categories of constraint were identified, namely socio-cultural, personal, practical and spatial. Further definition of these categories evolved, depending on where the women were situated in their stage of the solo travel experience (that is, pre-travel or during-travel). The results of this study show that there are identifiable and very real constraints facing solo women travellers. These constraints could stem from the contexts of their home environments, or from the socio-cultural structures of the destinations through which they travelled. However, these constraints were not immutable, insurmountable or even necessarily consciously recognised by many of the women interviewed. In fact, it became increasingly evident that women were findings ways and means to 'negotiate' their constraints, challenges and limitations. Three dominant negotiation responses to constraint could be identified; the women could choose to seek access to solo travel when faced with pre-travel constraints: they could withdraw from solo travel because of those same constraints, or they could decide to continue their journeys as a result of their in-situ constraints. Evidence of women negotiating suggests that constraints are not insurmountable barriers, and confirms that constraints do not necessarily foreclose access to travel. Furthermore, a focus on negotiation re-positions women as active agents in determining the course of their lives and the enjoyment of their solo travel experiences, rather than as passive acceptors of circumstance and constraint. Linking with the concept of negotiation, solo travel was also shown to be a site of resistance, freedom and empowerment for these forty women. Through solo travel, it was apparent that the women could transgress the structures and roles which influenced and governed their lives. This thesis shows that, through solo travel, the women interviewed found an autonomous and self-determining 'journey of their own'. At the same time, the extent to which this really was a journey of their own was questioned and revealed to be problematic under a feminist/gendered lens. Thus a more appropriate concept of women's solo travel is that it is a 'relative escape'. That is, their journeys, escapes and experiences were always situated relative to the societal expectations and perceptions of home; relative to the gendered perceptions and ideologies of the destination, and relative to the limited spatial freedoms as a result of a socially constructed geography of fear.

<p>Tourism is typically a hedonic product, and its consumption promotes positive psychology and wellbeing. Industry practitioners and academics have long been advocating sustainable practices and experiences that promote the health and wellness benefits of tourism. Indeed, studies that support designing tourism experiences with positive social and wellness outcomes are needed to better leverage design factors in delivering, communicating, and sustaining the health-related benefits of the tourism experiences. Food is an integral part of the overall tourism experience and has important implications for tourists’ pleasure and wellbeing. Thus, it is important to identify the factors that contribute to a better wellness value of the tourist food experience. </p> <p>Using a multi-qualitative method, the first study explored the communal dining experiences of solo travelers. The results indicate that solo traveler communal dining is affected by many motivations (e.g., socialization and authenticity seeking) and constraints (e.g., safety and health concerns). Other factors that were found to affect communal dining include socio-demographic factors (age, gender, cultural background, previous experiences, and extroversion); other diners’ factors (e.g., attitudes and behaviors, perceived similarity, and cultural barriers); dining place-related factors (e.g., social environment, entertainment, and employees openness); and situation-related factors (food quality, environment safety, group composition, communal dining vibes, and dining time). This study found that communal dining triggers four experiential domains: sensory, intellectual, affective, and behavioral which could result in a transformative and wellness value for solo travelers. Under the right circumstances, communal dining triggers a process of self-change that results in personal and social transformations. </p> <p>Continuing to examine the social experiences of solo travelers, the second study empirically examined the impact of the emotional display of fellow diners on solo travelers’ affect and perceived interpersonal relations during communal dining. The scenario-based experiment showed that other diners' display of emotions influenced solo traveler's affect and rapport perceptions in communal dining. Additionally, fellow communal table diners’ characteristics including their ingroup status and perceived similarity can play a role in impacting solo travelers’ communal dining experience. The perceived similarity was found to act as a trigger or “catalyst” for communal dining experience formation for solo travelers. Further, a positive influence of affect and rapport on solo travelers’ subjective wellbeing was noted.</p> <p>The third study examined the phenomenon of tourist food sharing. The study used experimental design to empirically examine the impact of food sharing on tourists’ interpersonal relationship development, sense of authenticity, and subjective wellbeing. The two experiments showed that tourist food sharing improves interpersonal relationships, tourist perceptions of experience authenticity, and wellbeing. Two culturally divergent tourist groups were compared: U.S. tourists and Chinese tourists. The results showed that U.S. tourists evaluated food sharing higher regarding its impact on authenticity and wellbeing than their Chinese counterparts. </p>