Rise of Bangladesh’s ‘travelettes’

Since 2018, 31-year-old business owner Nasim Johora Lira has been travelling with Vromonkonna - Travelettes of Bangladesh, a Facebook-based all-female travel group. 

She has been on several tours with the group and had some of the best experiences of her life when she travelled to Bhutan and the Sundarbans with large groups of Bangladeshi women. 

"I have been on tours with my friends, colleagues both male and female, and also my family. But there is a certain peace or comfort in an all-female travel group, that I don't think is possible to get on combined tours or with family," Lira shared. 

According to her, on a trip with an all-female group, she doesn't have to be conscious of what she is wearing and can enjoy outdoor activities without any pressure or restriction. 

Morsheda Anwar (not her real name), a 40-year-old mother of two, has been on a trip with an all-female travel group. Now that her children have grown up and her husband can take care of them for a couple of days, she took the courage to step out on a vacation with Vromonkonna. 

"When I am with my family,  there are certain responsibilities that I have to perform even though we are on vacation. I am the one who feeds the children and decides what everyone is going to wear. I also have to be careful what I am wearing as a mother of two," Morsheda said. 

All these can be a bit tedious, understandably. But with a supportive and non-judgmental homogenous group around, she felt free and safe. "I love my family, but I would like to travel with women once in a while," she added.  

Although there are no particular statistics on women travellers in Bangladesh, women travelling in groups is becoming popular, according to Nusrat Jahan, associate professor of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka. 

In her 2018 paper Women Travelling Alone: A Tourism Perspective of Bangladesh, published in the Journal of Business Studies, she mentioned several factors for this, the changing and progressive attitude of society towards female education, better jobs, elevated status, growth of independent working women segment, late marriages, changing nature of 'Ethic of Care' and joint sharing of familial responsibilities between the spouses.

She also mentioned several constraints and traditional ideologies women face while travelling alone in Bangladesh. "Women are constrained by family responsibilities and societal norms, which never permit them to travel alone in the conservative settings of Bangladesh," she mentioned in her paper. 

These might be the reasons why all-female travel groups and agencies in the market are getting popular in Bangladesh. 

We spoke with Vromonkonna (76,000 followers on Facebook), Fly Far Ladies (196,000 followers on Facebook) and Wander Women (86,000 followers on Facebook) to get their perspectives on why more women prefer to travel with these groups.  

'We have tours every week and have 1,500 female clients this year'

"On 27 November 2016, the group was formed [on Facebook by two friends Sakia Hoque and Manoshi Saha] and in the last seven years, we have organised 223 travel events, including seven international trips in India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. In the initial years, we had 300 to 400 clients a year.

The number has since increased three to four times. Now we have tours every week and have 1,500 female clients this year," said Mushfiqa Rahman Nijhum, the group's vice president.  

Till now, Vromonkonna – which essentially started from a Facebook post – has had more than 10,000 female travellers as their clients. 

However, they didn't limit their activities to only organising tours, they now have five other projects centring on travel.   

According to her, the group has 29 core committee members, eight region leaders in eight divisions, and 1,200 volunteers (both male and female) all over the country to conduct the programmes. 

"It is a not-for-profit organisation and everyone here has jobs and families to take care of. Despite that, we take some time out from our schedule and volunteer because it feels good to be a part of a community."

In the beginning years, they faced trust issues from family members of the travellers. The guardians or family members didn't allow the women to travel. "There had been so many instances where we had to talk to the parents and convince them that we are an all-female travel group and it is a safe space. 

Also, we had to struggle to hire long-route buses because of the prejudice that 'women need to go to toilets more often.' But we have come a long way now," said Nijhum. 

Safety prejudice is another issue they face. "On our first trip to Bilaichhari in Rangamati, we were not allowed by local authorities to go to the spring just because we did not have any man in our group of 40 women."  

But two years later when they attempted again, they were successful. No one stopped them. "When we started seven years ago, we never thought this day would come when a group of women would travel without a man, or a family would allow this, or the travellers themselves would not worry and simply enjoy the experience. I guess the society too is becoming more accepting towards women travellers," Nijhum ended. 

'We have 60+ aged female clients going for trekking'

While Vromonkonna is a not-for-profit travel group, Fly Far Ladies (FFL) is a for-profit travel agency, which started in September 2018. In the last five years, the agency has organised a total of 368 tours both domestic and international. 

"Now we have three to four international trips per month. We have covered more than 20 countries in the Asia and Africa continents," Nusrat Jahan Opi, founder and CEO of Fly Far Ladies mentioned. 

Although their target clients are female travellers, the agency designs customised tours for both males and females. They provide services like air ticket booking, visa processing, and customised tailored packages for family members including accommodation and transportation. 

According to the agency, the number of female clients has increased over the years since 2020. "In 2020 we had more than 1,200 female clients, the next year it was 1,430. In 2022 we had 1,567 female travellers, and in 2023, we have had almost 2,000," Jemima Zaman from the agency's business development team informed. 

FFL has packages for adventure to luxury leisure tours. "We have 60+ aged female clients going for trekking while many young women want relaxed tours," Nusrat said.

But the majority of their clients are aged 30+, who already have a stable life and a profession, and they self-finance their trips. Most of them mostly prefer comfortable relaxed tours with good accommodation and transport. 

"I feel women are very conscious of their mental and physical health now. They think of their mental well-being and hence prefer to go on trips so that they have a check and balance in their lives. They want to spend time with themselves on the tour," Nusrat Jahan said. 

According to her, at the end of the day, women want to have human companionship but nowadays everyone is busy in their lives, and they have fewer opportunities for women's outings. So, travelling with fellow female travellers from various backgrounds works as a convenient respite. "Travelling with women from various backgrounds and home situations helps them to create bonds through shared, similar, or even completely different experiences as women," Nusrat explained. 

To champion female travel and challenge cultural norms in Asia, Fly Far Ladies started a counselling session exclusively designed for parents.

Through the programme 'Enabling Journeys: Empowering Girls to Explore' FFL provides counselling sessions for parents about the importance of their daughters' travel aspirations, and addresses concerns they may have. 

All-female travel groups give scope for networking opportunities

Sabira Mahrin, founder of the travel group 'Wonder Woman,' notices in her six years of experience that women want to travel with all-female groups because it enriches networking opportunities as well as creates connections one craves for life.

"We noticed women also choose group trips to gain confidence and permission from their family members to validate their safety and capability to travel on their own," she said. 

Sabira founded Wander Women in 2017, first as a FaceBook group. Currently, the organisation consists of an all-female 12-member team (including two part-timers), more than 60 volunteers, and approximately 42,000 members. They offer guided international and domestic tours where groups of women can sign up to travel together.

According to her, women in general like to travel. Some prefer to travel solo, others with their families and friends or with all their loved ones. Perhaps, more importantly, they choose to travel with all-female groups when they can't find like-minded travel mates for various reasons. "Women prefer all forms of trips but they prioritise safe, hygienic, and non-judgmental experiences," she added.