A growing number of people opt to travel solo. While I acknowledge that this trend has some benefits, the drawbacks are more significant.
Regarding the benefits of traveling alone, one advantage is that people choosing this way of traveling can have more freedom. For example, they can choose the time to start, where to live, what to eat and what activities to do during their trip. They can also choose to change their schedule without having to consult anyone. By contrast, these matters usually need to be decided upon before the trip when people travel in a group, which can sometimes cause conflicts and tension. Furthermore, because of the growing number of people traveling alone, more accommodations will be needed, thereby developing the hotel industry.
However, these advantages pale in comparison with the drawbacks, one of which is related to the costs of traveling alone. Typically, when people travel together, they can share the costs of accommodation and perhaps transportation. However, those traveling alone will have to bear all these costs, making their trip more expensive. More importantly, traveling solo means people have no one to look after them if they get sick or have an accident. Therefore, their safety will be greatly undermined. For example, I struggled a lot and even feared for my life when traveling on my own to a far-flung mountainous area in Vietnam, when I realized that I was lost and had lost my wallet and phone and had no way to contact anyone.
In conclusion, despite the benefits of greater personal freedom and developing the hotel industry that come with the trend to travel alone, I believe these are outweighed by the disadvantages, including higher costs and safety issues.