For years, the travel industry has sold solo travel as liberation.

No compromises. No debates over where to eat. No arguments about whether that museum is worth visiting. Just you, your suitcase and a world waiting to be explored.

The reality, of course, is slightly more complicated.

Many first-time solo travellers happily embrace the freedom but quietly worry about everything else. Will I fit in? Will I know anyone? Will I spend the first day awkwardly staring at my phone while everyone else seems to have arrived with friends?

Just You believes it has found a solution.

The specialist escorted tour operator has launched Kindred, a new online community platform designed to connect solo travellers before, during and after their holidays. In an industry obsessed with apps, algorithms and digital disruption, this is refreshingly simple technology aimed at solving a very human problem.

Loneliness.

The platform allows guests booked on the same itinerary to meet online before departure through dedicated “trip chats”. Travellers can introduce themselves, swap travel tips, ask questions and begin building friendships before anyone reaches the airport check-in desk.

It may sound like a small innovation, but for nervous first-time solo travellers, it could make a world of difference.

After all, walking into a departure lounge filled with complete strangers feels very different when some of those strangers have already become familiar names and faces.

The conversations continue throughout the journey and long after travellers return home, creating communities that extend beyond the holiday itself.

It’s a clever evolution of what escorted touring has always done well.

Long before social media arrived, escorted tours were quietly bringing strangers together. Many travellers still recount stories of friendships formed on coaches, cruise ships and guided journeys decades ago. Kindred simply moves that process forward to the planning stage.

Tom Morgan, Trade Sales Director at Just You, says the platform reinforces the company’s core philosophy.

“Kindred perfectly demonstrates that travelling solo doesn’t mean travelling alone. Designed from the ground up as a social connection tool, it is a dedicated space where clients connect with fellow travellers, their destination and local communities”.

“At its heart, Kindred is about enhancing the overall solo travel experience and helping guests feel more supported throughout their journey. For agents, it strengthens trust with clients by highlighting the community experience of a Just You tour.”

An interesting feature is the involvement of Just You’s Holiday Directors, who join trip chats shortly before departure. Rather than leaving travellers to navigate pre-trip questions on their own, experienced tour leaders can step in to provide guidance and reassurance.

It’s a practical touch, likely to be appreciated by travel advisors fielding those inevitable last-minute questions from anxious clients.

The launch also comes as the solo travel sector continues to outperform many traditional market segments.

Australian travellers have embraced the category enthusiastically, particularly since pandemic-era travel restrictions encouraged many people to stop waiting for friends or family to commit before booking a holiday.

Just You entered the Australian market last year with a proposition tailored specifically for independent travellers. There are no single supplements and every guest receives a guaranteed twin or double room to themselves, a detail that often proves far more attractive than marketing slogans.

Its programme now covers around 100 itineraries worldwide, ranging from short breaks to extended journeys, with group sizes averaging 27 travellers. The company’s Max 20 departures offer a more intimate experience with numbers capped at twenty.

The bigger story, however, may not be the tours themselves.

Travel companies spend millions trying to convince consumers they belong somewhere. Kindred attempts to create that sense of belonging before the journey even begins.

And in a sector built on human connection, that may be one of the smartest ideas to emerge this year.

For more information, visit https://www.justyou.com/au/ or call 1300 009 412.

 

By: Stephen Morton – © 2026.

Read Time: 4 Minutes.

 

About the Author.

Stephen Morton has spent nearly fifty years shaping how the travel industry thinks, speaks and sells itself. From a family agency in 1976 to today’s digital frontier, he’s rarely followed the crowd; more often, he’s been waiting at the front long before anyone noticed the line forming.

In the mid-nineties, he pushed Agents Support Systems online while the industry still clung lovingly to the fax machine. In 2001 came e-Travel Blackboard, a daily bulletin that grew into Australia’s most read industry newsletter, expanding across New Zealand, Asia, the Americas, and MICE.

Global Travel Media followed in 2009, earning international awards and spawning new titles, from Destination Thailand News to Global Cruise News and now GTM Holidays and the forthcoming GTM Mall.

Lecturer, founder, agitator Morton has always turned instinct into impact.

 

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