The stigma of holidaying alone

According to a company specialising in holidays for single people (or their PR agency) there is a stigma in travelling alone. Can this be true? In this day and age when so much toleration is given and expected is there a bias against the person travelling on their own? And how does it manifest itself. Have any readers out there who are single travellers experienced any problem?

Granted there is one problem and that is primarily forced by tour operators and cruise companies. Their pricing is usually based on two people travelling together. In decades gone by when people didn’t create their holiday themselves by booking their own flights and accommodation, discrimination was probably the norm. It still happens but to a small extent. Railway companies and promotion companies often have 2 for 1 offers which do irritate sometimes but I have found someone else to join me on some occasions.

I travel on my own maybe fourteen times a year. Admittedly I don’t use package tour operators but hotels have single rooms and if they don’t there are usually prices based on a double for single occupancy. The only flight discrimination is that you fear you may get the middle seat in a row of five on a plane but since you can choose your own seats (at no additional expense on most airlines) I have no problem here.

So, granted a little discrimination is around still, does this cause the single travelled to be stigmatised? It’s such a strong word suggesting “outcast” or someone who is in quarantine. All-in-all this seems an over-the-top reaction by a company – or their PR agency – to get some publicity about themselves. And that is why I haven’t named them!