Solo travel is growing faster than any other segment in the luxury safari market, with new data showing Australians are among the most enthusiastic independent travellers globally.
Research compiled by African safari operator Go2Africa, drawing on internal booking data and third-party sources including Google Trends, found solo travellers were the only demographic to increase as a share of the company’s enquiries year-on-year, rising from 13.1 per cent in 2024 to 15.4 per cent in 2025.
Australia stood out in the data. While the US accounted for more than half of all solo enquiries and recorded 26.3 per cent growth year-on-year, Australia saw a 119.8 per cent increase in solo safari interest. When adjusted for population, Australia led all markets with 48 enquiries per million residents.
The findings land alongside broader data showing solo travel at record levels globally. Google Trends and research platform Glimpse recorded 1.6 million searches for “solo travel” between 18 January and 14 February 2026, the highest figure on record. Search interest in the term has risen 230 per cent over the past decade.
In Australia, search interest peaked in April 2025, with consistent spikes each January. The most common related searches were “solo travel tips”, “female solo travel” and “group solo travel” – the latter pointing to travellers who want independent itineraries but prefer to travel alongside others.
The commercial case for targeting solo travellers is strengthening. Go2Africa’s data shows independent travellers spend 42.8 per cent more per person than couples on average. They also skew toward decisive, research-driven booking behaviour, with 81.2 per cent arriving with a clear destination in mind before making an enquiry, up from 72.8 per cent in 2024.
Solo travellers were also the most likely to conduct pre-trip research at 17.2 per cent, ahead of couples at 15.2 per cent, groups of friends at 10.6 per cent and families at 9.4 per cent.
Trip length data shows 30.1 per cent of solo travellers prefer around 10 days — consistent with other traveller types — but solo travellers are also the most likely to book either very short trips of under a week or extended journeys beyond two weeks.
The US solo travel market was valued at AU$147 billion in 2024 and is forecast to reach AU$295 billion by 2030, according to Research and Markets.
