Could group solos holidays help combat the loneliness epidemic?

Scrolling Instagram or TikTok, it’s easy to assume that our social lives are back on track. With pandemic restrictions in the rearview, workplaces increasing contact time and the perpetual highlights reel of social media, young people have never looked more socially fulfilled. But the reality is that Gen Z and Millennials are feeling less connected than ever. A report by The Campaign to End Loneliness, published in April, found that people in two younger age groups – 16-29 and 30-49 – were more than twice as likely to report feeling lonely “often or always” than those aged over 70 (9.7 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively, compared to 3.7 of older people).

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The report also found that higher loneliness levels have persisted since the pandemic – in 2018, around 5 per cent of people across all age groups reported feeling lonely often or always, but since 2021 that figure has lingered above 7 per cent. Across the pond, the US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy felt moved to publish a special advisory in May 2023, raising awareness of what he called “the epidemic of loneliness and isolation”.

“Our relationships are a source of healing and well-being hiding in plain sight – one that can help us live healthier, more fulfilled, and more productive lives,” said Dr Murthy. Comparing the risk to health caused by loneliness to that of smoking, he urged people to prioritise the loneliness epidemic “the same way we have prioritized other critical public health issues such as tobacco, obesity, and substance use disorders”. A recent article by the American Psychological Association recently pointed to research that says people with strong friendships are more satisfied with life and less likely to suffer from depression, as well as less likely to die prematurely from chronic conditions.

Luckily for the twenty-to-fortysomething travellers of 2023, the travel landscape is looking more inclusive and sociable than ever. Solo-focused start-ups like Flash Pack (aimed at travellers in their 30s and 40s) and Much Better Adventures (all ages welcome but most aged around 25-44), have joined established operators like Contiki (18-35s) and Intrepid (which runs 18-29s tours as well as all-ages trips) in a bid to get strangers travelling together…