Are female solo travelers being ignored by travel technology? Sure, says travel meta search company, WayAway.
So much so, WayAway has developed its own maps that highlight neighborhoods that might be “no go areas” for female travelers due to higher than average crime rates or other user feedback.
WayAway is now calling for extra help from the travel tech industry to solve the challenges faced by female solo travelers.
The call comes ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, with WayAway concerned that despite technology solutions being found for almost every aspect of travel, the plight of the female traveler has gone unnoticed.
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WayAway wants the travel technology industry to use its “considerable innovation skills and resources to solve this worrying problem,” identified by a recent survey on the WayAway website showing that four times as many women as men felt that “traveling alone is unsafe.”
This year’s International Women’s Day has taken up the theme from UN Women of “DigitALL: innovation and technology for gender equality.”
Janis Dzenis, head of public relations and communications at WayAway, says it was “shocking” that more than 100 years since the first International Women’s Day “so many females still don’t feel as comfortable as men when it comes to traveling alone.”
“When it comes to travel almost every possible tool has been invented for every possible niche, but somehow for female solo travelers the technology on offer is, with few exceptions, pretty substandard, and most importantly far from universally available.
“For example, how many websites have filters that might cater for such needs? Or how many allow you to see female only commentaries and ratings?”
Dzenis says for those travel technology companies that could make an impact in this area “there is a huge financial reward on offer.”
“Female travelers will naturally gravitate toward, perhaps even swamp, travel platforms that can offer them the reassurances they understandably crave.”