The solo female Asian tourist.

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the travel motivations and experiences of solo female Asian tourists. Data were collected from ten in-depth interviews with a focus on Asian women’s travel motivations, experiences and constraints. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Resistance was found to be an important factor as in order to travel solo, the participants had to resist sociocultural expectations for Asian women’s behaviour. Sexualized male attention was also found to be an important constraint. Suffering harassment from men in the destinations they visited, the women became fearful of attack or abuse, and this limited their use of the leisure space offered at the destination. Being Asian was felt to further increase their vulnerability. None of these factors however deterred the women from future solo travel plans.