- They travel alone but want to live the experience as part of a community and use social media platforms to find groups of “unknown new friends” who they can explore new destinations with off the traditional beaten track. Most of these people are freelancers, public sector employees or entrepreneurs. This is a growing trend that doesn’t look like it’s going to fizzle out any time soon.
- This type of tourist is mainly driven by a desire for new adventures with unknown people and a wish to travel in a different way. This traveller also uses social media platforms to reflect their experience in the destination and with the community.
WeRoad , a community born to revolutionise the way of travelling, has uncovered a new type of tourist: the social traveller. This figure is that of an adventurer who seeks an experience: not only in the destination but also with new company. The figure of a solo backpacker is soon to be rendered a thing of the past by communities like WeRoad, where users connect via social media platforms and configure their own group of “unknown friends” they can travel with.
The most common profile is that of a professional with a keen interest in travelling the world—mainly freelancers, entrepreneurs and public and private sector employees—who have a busy or relatively unconventional calendar which allows them to travel all year round. Despite heading off on their journey without any company, this figure enjoys social relations wherever they end up. In fact, around 60% of these people are explicitly looking to experience new adventures.
The average age of the social traveller is 32 years, with 8 out of 10 of them being single people who live alone. Travelling is one of their favourite things to do in their spare time. Even though most social travellers live in large cities like Madrid and Barcelona, 40% come from smaller cities.
Iñigo Balbin, Country Manager of WeRoad in Spain, explained how “the profile of the social traveller couldn’t be a better match for the spirit of WeRoad. We’ve discovered that there are many people out there who are very keen to travel and who are hugely interested in exploring the world, but they have to juggle this with an awkward calendar or a small chance of convincing their friends or family to come along. The initial need became a trend, which is now an established form of travelling with increasing numbers of followers”.
