Are we prejudiced against men?Absolutely not. A great many of our trips are for both men and women.But, if your trips are like mine, you may have noticed that a large percentage of the participants tend to be women – sometimes traveling with a spouse or partner, sometimes traveling alone. If that’s the case, why not designate one of your trips each year as a “Ladies Only" departure? I do just that. Design it around women’s interests and market it solely to the female of the species.



If you’re going to try this, you need to know what women are looking for in a trip just for them. I find a multitude of reasons women are drawn to such trips – some obvious, some subliminal.The first is safety – the feeling that there’s safety in numbers, that the trip will be fully escorted, and that they will feel comfortable certain social situations. For example, many women may not like going into a bar by themselves,but with a group may enjoy meeting for an after-dinner nightcap with the other members.If recently widowed or divorced, they will not feel that they are competing for male attention.There’s also the factor that they can tell their husband that they’re going with other ladies only, which often softens the blow to a man’s ego if “his woman" wants to go it alone without him.

Another reason is that women are often more interested in features in different areas or countries that are important to families or that men don’t wish to explore. This would include social issues such as children, schools, education, marriage,divorce, and relationships. Women are also interested in fashion, clothing and shopping for gifts for family and friends (and for themselves).Cuisine and cooking are often of great interest. I have had good luck taking groups to food markets, to cooking classes and meetings with known chefs.

Most ladies I’ve known also love to be good to themselves – spas, a manicure here or pedicure there, beauty treatments, facials, whatever they all add up to a wonderful feeling, regardless of age. Often this is something a woman may not do for herself at home or if she does,she may feel guilty spending on something “frivolous" for herself when she feels she should be spending on something for her family.

You’ll want to keep it no longer than nine days. In this way you’ll get women from different walks of life. The married woman can come along telling her family that she’s going away on short, one-week “be good to herself" trip but that she’s saving plenty of time for a vacation with her family later in the year. A single career woman can get away without feeling she may be out of touch with her office too long.The second requirement is to market it appropriately – as something sounding private, invitational,something they can’t find on the open market and can’t compare with a “public tour."Try it. You may find a successful avenue to market you didn’t know you had.