Sarah Chen has 20 working days of annual leave. This year, she took three holidays, all solo. The 26-year-old Manchester product manager isn’t unusual: 76% of Gen Z and Millennials planned solo trips in 2024, according to research from American Express Global Business Travel.
What’s fascinating isn’t the statistic—it’s the calculation behind it.
“I realised I was spending more time planning trips than taking them,” Chen explains. “Five WhatsApp groups, three Doodle polls, endless budget negotiations. By the time everyone agreed, I’d burned through hours of my life and half my enthusiasm.”
At Alpine Elite, we’ve spent months connecting the dots between disparate research streams, demographic studies, behavioural economics, and travel industry data, to decode what’s really driving the solo travel boom. What emerged surprised us: solo travel isn’t about loneliness or antisocial behaviour. It’s about a generation making a rational economic decision in response to converging pressures.
Consider Chen’s calculation. With 20 days of leave and three desired trips, she has roughly six days per holiday. Industry reports suggest that coordinating a group trip requires 8-12 hours of active planning time, not counting the passive stress of waiting for responses. That’s nearly two full working days of unpaid project management per trip.
But time is just the beginning. Young professionals today navigate what researchers have termed the “social performance tax”, the exhausting mental load of modern social interaction. UC Berkeley researchers documented this as “attribution ambiguity”: in hyperconnected, politically charged environments, every interaction requires careful navigation. Is this genuine interest or performative politeness? Will this joke land or offend? The cognitive load is constant and draining.
Now layer on economic pressure. The same generation facing increasingly long work weeks and side hustles to afford urban rent must also split restaurant bills seven ways, accommodate everyone’s budget constraints, and navigate the awkwardness when someone can’t afford the boutique hotel others prefer.
The data tells a striking story. While 22% of millennials report having zero friends according to YouGov research, only 26% of solo travellers cite lack of companions as their reason. The majority, 41%, simply prefer travelling alone. They’re not friendless, they’re selective about when coordination is worth the cost.
This selectivity extends beyond travel. Our research synthesis reveals correlations with the explosive growth in wellness tourism, projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2027 according to the Global Wellness Institute. Like solo travel, wellness retreats offer structured experiences with predictable outcomes. No negotiations, no compromises, no performance anxiety. You book, you go, you get exactly what you paid for.
Alpine Elite’s geographic analysis confirms our hypothesis. Solo travel concentrates in societies with the highest social complexity: the UK, US, Canada, and Western Europe. Where social rules multiply fastest and change most frequently, opting out becomes increasingly attractive. In Asia-Pacific, we found the trend appears primarily in rapidly urbanising areas where traditional support structures have dissolved but haven’t been replaced with new ones.
Here’s what should concern every business leader: Alpine Elite’s cross-industry research suggests this pattern is self-reinforcing. As solo experiences become normalised, group coordination skills atrophy. What begins as preference calcifies into inability.
Industry reports indicate that 36% of 2024’s solo travelers plan four to five solo trips in 2025. Once discovered, the efficiency proves addictive. Hotels report single-occupancy bookings now generate 75% of double-room revenue with higher loyalty rates. Restaurants design “solo dining” experiences. Entire industries are rebuilding around individuals who’ve decided coordination isn’t worth the cost.
Through our behavioural analysis, what’s emerging is a more nuanced relationship with social interaction. The same young professionals who travel solo often maintain vibrant online communities, participate actively in structured group activities like fitness classes or book clubs, and invest deeply in selected friendships. They haven’t abandoned connection, they’ve become strategic about when and how they engage. Solo travel represents just one choice in a broader pattern of intentional social energy management.
The solo economy isn’t replacing the social one, it’s running parallel to it. Older generations still value group experiences. Even solo-preferring millennials maintain deep friendships; they’re simply more selective about when togetherness justifies coordination.
Smart businesses are creating what we call “parallel infrastructure”, seamless solo pathways alongside traditional group options. Not either/or, but both/and. The boutique hotel that eliminated single supplements whilst maintaining family suites. The restaurant with communal tables for solo diners and private rooms for celebrations. The tour operator offering “join-in” activities where solos can briefly connect without commitment.
By 2030, when this generation reaches peak earning power, businesses will serve customers who view coordination as a cost to be minimised, not a pleasure to be shared. They’ll arrive alone, book digitally, and prize efficiency over interaction.
The question for your business is simple but urgent: what percentage of your customer experience still assumes people arrive in groups? Because for a growing segment of high-value customers, “table for one” isn’t a fallback, it’s a preference.
And they’re willing to pay premium prices for businesses that understand why.
Alpine Elite’s behavioural economics research synthesised data from American Express Global Business Travel, YouGov, Global Wellness Institute, and UC Berkeley to decode the solo economy phenomenon.
