TRAVEL- If travelers were animals: Men
A few sterotypes about men and travel are unfounded, so we focus on the ones that aren’t to try and get a handle on this curious half of the species.
Long-since incorrectly stereotyped as the stronger of the two genders, whilst men are often easier to track down than their female counterparts- both in and out of the urban jungle- just like women, they are usually much harder to define than cliches give them credit for.
Nevertheless, when it comes to travel habits, the males of the species have historically shown themselves to be more interested in activity holidays than the so-called ‘fairer sex’. According to one U.S. travel operator, namely G Adventures, American men book onto the company’s ‘active’ tours more frequently than American women. These include hiking, trekking, cycling, and kayaking to name but a few possible items on the itinerary, with ‘marine tours’ such as sailing, river cruises and polar expeditions also on the list.
Of course there will always be some differences between British men and those who live over the pond in the U.S., but in this instance there is similar evidence from Blighty. In contrast, women are more prone to spend their money booking what are coming to be known as a ‘Yolo’ trip- something that is a genuine once in a lifetime experience, the majority of which are geared towards the 18-39 age group, in addition to so-called ‘Local Living Tours’, wherein the focus is on cultural experiences.
Perhaps understandably, the male of the species is also more likely to book a trip as a solo traveller, whilst females are more frequently looking to travel in a group. A reality that is, if nothing else, thanks in part to the perception of females as more vulnerable and strength lying in numbers. Whether this is actually true or not, however, remains open to speculation, given most physical and violent attacks remain committed by men, and target men- two alphas crossing paths and basically winding one another up, or at least looking to prove themselves against the other.
It might not all be quite so cut and dry as all that, mind. Just as the concept that there are more women in the world than men is actually a falsity born from rumour and conjecture, so too is the idea that the two genders have completely different travel habits. In truth, the vast majority of surveys up until very recently tended to focus entirely on male trips, rather than female, and as such we can say with some degree of certainty that most of what we know about female travel habits is actually incorrect. In contrast, the man is far easier to pigeonhole, although never simple to define.
