Travel Niches: ‘Girlfriend’ Trips
by John Hawks

From the Travel Channel to the major travel magazines, everyone is buzzing these days about a new trend in tourism: "women only" trips, where mothers and daughters -- or your friends from college days, or the bride and her bridesmaids, or fellow members of "red hat" clubs or other social groups, or just your best hometown "gal pals" -- hit the road without any men in tow to enjoy themselves for a few days.

This trend has led to the creation of "women only" tour companies, as well as hotels and resorts and cruise lines catering to their perceived notions of what women want when they travel together in groups. Many OSSN agents have seen the full spectrum of those perceptions -- everything from weekend getaways filled with spa visits and shopping treks to out-in-the-wild camping trips for women who want to climb a mountain to relieve stress from their men and their work.

read more