Women Travel the World: Networking Women's Travel Businesses

Rosemary Neave is founder of Women Travel the World, a site that gathers listings for women- and lesbian-friendly businesses worldwide. Women on the Road wrote to Rosemary as she traveled across Europe checking out even more women's travel businesses.

Women on the Road: Why is women's travel networking important to you?
Women Travel the World: In my family my father went away with his mates fishing every year, and my mother went away with her girlfriends golfing and we had family holidays. I grew up knowing that while we could have a great time together, the men and the women had different and equally fabulous times on their own.

WOTR: Who is your site for?
Women Travel the World: It's for all women. These days many women are keen to travel but their partners are not, so they just say "you stay home and watch the rugby, I am off to Italy". There is no threat in it, just a recognition of different interests and passions.

For women on their own or who are single, sitting in a bus with a lot of other couples is not their idea of fun. Or, you may be part of a group of women friends traveling together. In small group tours, your needs and interests can be catered for and you can enjoy the company of a small group of women.

Finally, lesbian women too find it great to be in a environment where their reality is recognised and they don't have to keep explaining why they want a double bed.

Food sales in Hanoi
Photo: flydime via Flickr

WOTR: But isn't the web saturated with women's travel information?
Women Travel the World: There are lots of companies out there advertising women's tours, but our site puts those tours and tour companies together in one place. For example, we have a tour calender with tours from a range of different companies. If you know where you want to go and have a date that suits you, you can look up to see what is available.

Also our accommodation listings put together women-owned and run lodgings around the world. We make it easy for you to find a women's guest house in Wellington NZ or Rome or Florence or Berlin - all with Google Maps.

On my present trip I have stayed in fabulous places, in Le Couvent in South of France, Diva Espana in the South of Spain, The Pink House in Brighton, the Women's B&B in Florence and in Rome where 10 women are gathering there to stay in a women's hostel and celebrate a friend's 70th birthday.

WOTR: Your site has a particularly good listing of women's festivals - why focus on these?
Women Travel the World: I have done this as a public service. A lot of women are interested in festivals around the world, and no one else was putting them together in one place.

WOTR: What is the best way to use your website?
Women Travel the World: I planned my recent four-month trip in Europe using the site - I found a couple of women's tours to join, lots of great women's accommation places, and I've had plenty of fun and met some great people. That is what I hope - that women travellers will find it a resource to plan their own trips and to do some things that they might not have done otherwise.

Also I hope that women who run travel businesses - accommodation and tours - will get business from the site and appreciate being a part of a wider network of women-owned travel businesses around the world.

Rosemary also founded Women Travel New Zealand. You can follow her travels at Women Travel Blog.

Stall at Phsar Thmei Market in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
Photo: flydime via Flickr