As Cindy Lauper famously said: “girls just want to have fun” and fun is often top of the list when we think of female-only tour groups.
However, as Hayley Morris, founder of Sisterhood Womens Travel, observes, there are often more serious reasons why women may opt for an all-female tour group.
Set up in 2005, Sisterhood Womens Travel is much more than a tour company. Community is at its heart, with Morris even arranging in-person meetings and regional trips for women who may feel the call to travel but could be apprehensive about a big trip abroad.
With a 50+ demographic there can be a multitude of reasons why women may be attracted to Sisterhood Womens Travel, Morris explains.
“I would say the biggest factor would be that they’ve lost their husbands,” Morris told Travel Weekly. “They’ve lost their confidence. They still have the money to travel but they don’t know where to start.”
In some instances, it was their husband who were in charge of organising and paying for trips. In other instances, women may be escaping domestic abuse.
“They might have finally broken free and now feel like the time is right for them to travel,” Morris said.
“I know one woman who suffered terribly with domestic violence. She first travelled with us 17 years ago and now she comes with us every year. She’ll attest to it – it has changed her life.”
Whilst women-only tours might be all the rage now, this was not the case when Morris was setting up in 2005. When she was seeking approval for the business she had to justify the need for an all-female tour group to VCAT. Morris enlisted the help of a male client who agreed that there was a great need for female-only travel.
“He actually wrote us a recommendation letter saying that he’d experienced or seen women on mixed-group tours who clearly didn’t feel comfortable.” Women who have lost their husbands don’t want to be around couples all the time Morris explained.
Despite the serious themes that may get women travelling, the trips themselves are great fun.
Morris’s spirit for a good time was evident during Covid when she refused to be downcast and made an unlikely purchase: a bright pink bus called Rosa.
“I bought this money-pit of a bus. She’s like a mutton dressed up as a lamb. That’s another way that we’ve been able to bring women together – through the small bus trips that we’ve had. We’ve had a lot of fun on those.”
The community focus of Sisterhood Womens Travel is evident in the way the platform markets itself. Morris has a weekly newsletter that has been running for around 20 years now.
“That’s probably what generates most of our bookings,” she said.
“The last couple of years we’ve also introduced an expo where we’ve had guests and speakers come along and talk. And we had one last year. We got 120 bookings.”
As well as supporting the Sisterhood community, Morris has helped a number of charities.
“Over the years we’ve sponsored 2 x playgrounds in Sri Lanka (and attended the special openings), sponsored a Cambodian Tuk Tuk, and built a Peace House in Cambodia via a non-profit organisation. We also sponsored one of our Moroccan drivers when he lost his home in the 23 Earthquake (via a Go Fund Me Page) to mention a few”.
This interview is part of our Women in Travel series ahead of the 2024 Women in Travel Awards. The awards celebrate women who have achieved astronomic success in their professional arenas, celebrating their invaluable contribution to the industry through leadership, innovation and courage.
This year the theme is ‘Follow her lead’ and we’ll be championing the power of community and women in the industry working together to create the best experiences possible for Australian travellers.
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