Barcelona, Spain – US State Department Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) country security reports now reference the safety score for women traveling on their own compiled by Solo Female Travelers in their Safety Index.
OSAC country security reports are the go-to resource for travelers when assessing the dangers and precautions required for a trip. They include general considerations for all travelers and specific advice for collectives such as women travelers, the LGBTI+ community or travelers with disabilities.
Mar Pages, Co-Founder of Solo Female Travelers says: “OSAC recognises that traveling solo as a woman brings additional challenges to those faced by men. Until 2021, there was no source of unbiased, accurate and comprehensive information for women to rely on when we travel on our own, so we had to create it”
According to the company’s annual survey on solo female travel trends, 64% of women worry about their safety when traveling solo. That fear is aggravated by the lack of transparent information about the real dangers of a destination or the considerations for women travelers.
Pages adds, “Most organizations in the travel industry have an incentive to paint a rosy picture of a destination and gloss over the real safety concerns or crime statistics; Instead, women are reminded to “do as they do back home and be cautious”, but what does that exactly mean?”
In 2021, Solo Female Travelers designed and built the first and only review-based ranking of countries and destinations around the world based on how safe they are for women travelers, as reported by other travelers like them.
The ranking is based on the average of seven variables that matter most to female travelers. Three of them come from external sources, the US and UK travel advisories and the Global Peace Index. The remaining four were defined based on what matters most to women travelers.
Risk of theft, harassment or scam as well as the destination’s attitudes towards women are all factored into the safety ranking and calculated from the personal scores given by independent solo female travelers who have visited the destination.
Beyond the score, which ranges from 1 to 4, with 4 being the most dangerous, reviewers can also include a personal comment to describe their experience and add context to their score.
To date, the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index has compiled over 1,000 reviews, and Co-Founder Mar Pages and Meg Jerrard expect the collaboration with OSAC to continue growing awareness and propeling usage.
“We hope the Safety Index becomes the source of unbiased safety advice and peace of mind for solo women travelers”, says Jerrard.
Solo Female Travelers is the oldest global community of women who travel solo and counts over 200,000 solo female travelers from all over the world. The community is committed to empowering women through travel with curated small group tours led by, and in support of, women, online courses, expert advice and a safe space for women to come together to discuss travelin on their own.
The Solo Female Travelers Safety Index is a ranking of 220 destinations across the world based on the average of 7 variables. The UK and US Travel advisory, the Global Peace Index are external given scores, whereas Risk of theft, Risk of harassment, Risk of scam and Attitudes towards women come from individual scores given by women travelers.
Press kit, including the founders’ bio and images, is available for download here. For more information, please reach out to Mar Pages or Meg Jerrard at [email protected].