Airbnb sees surge in Canadian solo travel

New data is showing that Canadian travellers are increasingly choosing to explore the world on their own, as solo travel increased by nearly 50 percent on Airbnb last year¹. Amid this trend, and to support our growing community of solo travellers, we’ve expanded our dedicated safety-focused Solo Traveller Safety feature to guests in over 50 languages, following successful pilots in English and Hindi. 

With a focus on safety for solo travellers, Airbnb is revealing more new insights about solo Canadian travellers and solo travellers visiting Canada. 

Canadian solo traveller insights: 

• Solo travel by self-reported female guests from Canada rose nearly 40% in 2022 compared with 2021, higher than the global average of nearly 30 percent.
• Canadian solo travellers accounted for half of all long term stays bookings by Canadians.
• More than a quarter of travel by guests from Canada were for solo travel
• Travellers from Toronto are in the top 10 origin cities for solo travel, ranking sixth, globally. 

Solo travellers to Canada insights: 

• Approximately 30% of travel to Canada was for solo travel.
• Solo travel to Canada by self-reported female guests rose more than 20% compared with 2021.
• Solo travellers are choosing Toronto as a top destination, coming in sixth, globally – the only Canadian city in the top 10.

Airbnb strives to be a place where anyone can feel safe while travelling, whether with friends, family or by themselves, and our Solo Traveller Safety feature aims to support guests travelling solo in a private or shared room on Airbnb.

When a solo guest books a private or shared room reservation, this specialized in-app experience is activated and provides that guest with access to three key features: Expert tips they may want to try to help stay safe when travelling solo; an easy way to share their Airbnb itinerary with anyone they choose; and prompts from Airbnb suggesting important questions to ask the Host about their listing and neighbourhood.

The 10 most popular countries and regions for solo travellers to visit on Airbnb in 2022 were:

1. United States 
2. France
3. United Kingdom
4. Canada
5. Spain
6. Brazil
7. Mexico
8. Germany
9. Italy 
10. Australia

Our work to promote exceptional travel experiences for our global community is regularly informed by experts, and our Solo Traveller Safety feature is no different. The development of this product has been informed by counsel from members of our Trust and Safety Advisory Coalition, and in particular Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international non-profit that invests in women leaders solving the world’s greatest challenges, who provided guidance and recommendations on how Airbnb could help with solo traveller safety and women’s safety.

“Promoting positive experience for our community, including solo travellers, is paramount and at the heart of everything we do. As  solo travel surges in popularity, we’re proud to bring safety-focused features to more users around the world and help those traveling on their own to explore with confidence and added peace of mind.”

Naba Banerjee, Director of Trust Product and Operations at Airbnb

“As an international organization that works with women leaders in more than 84 countries, safe travel is essential to the work we do. Vital Voices is pleased to partner with Airbnb on this important mission to make moving about the world safer for solo travellers, especially women.”

Manira Alva, Vice President Issue Advocacy at Vital Voices

The Solo Traveller Safety feature is active and available in the following languages:

Our hope is that this feature equips solo guests to be more informed travellers by helping them to get answers to their pre-trip questions, information about the neighbourhood from their Host, and details of their travel plans to the important people in their lives about where they will be and for how long.

While safety incidents on Airbnb are rare, we are committed to evolving our products, policies and team training, including in partnership with members of our Trust and Safety Advisory Coalition, to promote safer travel experiences for our community. 

The expansion of our Solo Traveller Safety feature is the latest in our work to that end and complements our existing community-facing Trust and Safety tools and resources, including:

• Our 24-hour Safety Line, available in-app to users during a reservation, meaning if a guest feels unsafe they can directly reach our specialized Safety team for help
• Our Local Emergency Services feature, accessible in-app to users 24/7 – whether or not they’re travelling on Airbnb – to quickly connect them to the local emergency services (i.e. 911), with support in 70 countries and regions
• Safety tips for guests, including choosing a place to stay and interacting with others
• Our emergency contact feature, which allows all users to add up to four emergency contacts to their Airbnb profile. In the rare event Airbnb needs to contact someone on a user’s behalf, having an emergency contact can help to speed up that process.