Rethinking solo travel? Meet the influencers hosting your next group trip
See the world, skip the logistics
“I really hope that it opens up everyone’s eyes to travel, and makes them fall in love with it, the way I did.” These are Briana Morger’s hopes for her first group trip to Costa Rica.
Briana is a content creator who documents her solo travels on Instagram. Social media is awash with travel influencers sharing the highs and lows of solo travel, their favourite destinations, and recommendations with their followers.
AirBnB described solo travel as experiencing a renaissance in their travel predictions for 2026. Solo travellers are focusing on self-discovery and prioritising “me time”, using their holiday as an opportunity to slow down.
But solo travel doesn’t always mean travelling alone. Group travel operators have offered solo-friendly options for a while. Intrepid Travel launched their first tours designed for those travelling alone back in 2018 due to an uptick in solo bookings.
Influencers are presenting a new offering to would-be solo travellers and invite you to take that trip with them. Instead of joining an anonymous group trip, here is a guarantee that there’ll be a familiar face - one you’ve seen all over your socials.
Caroline Edwards reports on online trends for CORQ, an influencer intelligence service. She thinks that influencers are using group trips as a way to diversify their revenue stream.
“Creating a community and having an offline community has been really key, especially that they don’t have to rely on algorithms,” she observed.
Travel solo, but not alone
Whatever their motivations, the trend seems to be resonating.
One of the reasons is that there is still hesitancy to travel alone. Almost a third of Americans are afraid of solo travel according to a survey by Talker Research - and among those who haven’t tried solo travel yet, safety concerns were the top reason.
Laura Ericson runs her own travel company and takes small groups to destinations all over the world. Interest is growing so much that she predicts she will no longer be able to attend every trip herself.
“I realised I could kind of fill my own need and desire of wanting to travel to more off- the-beaten-path destinations and not have to go alone,” she said.
Combined with a reluctance to travel alone, there’s strong demand for long-haul travel destinations. The ABTA Travel Trends 2025 survey suggested that over a third of UK adults planned to visit locations outside of Europe.
Long-haul trips require more planning, and for some, this is off-putting. If you’re travelling alone, there’s additional pressure to get it right.
Caroline Edwards at CORQ thinks it’s no coincidence that influencer trips are often to far-flung destinations, “places that… you potentially wouldn’t want to go to alone because the culture is so different and there might be safety concerns.”
Group trips come with an itinerary and the reassurance that someone else is organising everything on your behalf.
“There’s that ease … and that peace of mind. Like, okay, everything’s taken care of. I don’t have to lift a finger,” says Briana Morger.
Find someone you trust
Briana thinks it’s sensible that some might be doubtful about trusting an influencer they’ve never met in real life.
“You’re trusting a stranger on the internet, essentially, to go across the world and meet up with them. I fully understand it,” she said.
However, most influencers are working with a reputable travel agency like TrovaTrip or, as in Briana’s case, Worldpackers. These companies are doing the planning, while the influencer-host brings the group together and takes the lead while you’re actually there.
Briana’s advice is to ask for a call with the influencer for reassurance. She thinks that reputable creators should make the time to meet and discuss if you request it.
She adds, “If they’re just all about the sale, or just don’t feel reputable, follow that intuition.”
Krystina Smith has lost count of how many trips she has taken with Laura Ericson. She likes that Laura always visits a destination before, which is not always the case with influencer-led trips.
“I feel like, when I travel with Laura, I’m going to be in good hands,” she said.
Find your niche
Another common concern is that influencer-led trips will be hyper-focused on getting content for social media feeds. And these trips do exist. Some travel influencers organise trips that are a crash course on how to make engaging content and become a successful content creator.
Laura Ericson said “You’re bringing people that have the same interests… who won’t be annoyed by everyone having their phones out, filming their dinner.”
She continues, “You know you’re all in the same place and you have this common goal.”
But there’s other types of trips, such as wellness retreats, and it’s about finding something you identify with. For example, Lindsey Holland (@marnierays_) hosts women’s surf retreats, which welcome women with all levels of surfing skills.
Find new friendship
You might instinctively look for a trip with people in your age bracket. However, intergenerational trips do exist, and they can be a surprising way to connect with people.
Laura Ericson’s group trips generally attract travellers in their 30s and 40s. But her oldest traveller was 77 years old.
She said “I’ve just seen a lot of friendships form between different generations, and I haven’t found that it [age] matters.”
The online relationship between influencers and followers is one-sided, a type of parasocial relationship according to experts.
Dr Hannah Yelin has written extensively about women in the public eye. Her research into parasocial relationships suggests we should be doubtful about whether influencers, always accessible online, can form genuine friendships with followers. This online exposure can be dangerous, according to Dr Yelin.
She says “This is a fantasy of absolute access that is inevitably impossible to deliver on.”
Briana Morger is more optimistic.
“I think that it’s so special, and I think that’s why most people go on these trips to have that connection and friendships. It’s like built-in friendships… it’s just going to happen naturally.”