💡 Adam's Ideas Issue #3 - Solo UK Travel

Welcome to the new joiners this week!

In this issue we’ve got:

• The Idea - Solo travel is becoming big business, but there aren’t many options for visitors to the UK. Cash in on it now with these opportunities.

• Steal This Idea - Bit of a weird one today… Ever seen Snowpiercer? Today’s idea to steal reminds me of the food blocks given to the tail, but with the rise of brands like Huel are such things the future of food?

• In The News - The Department For Education has approved the UK’s first fully online school.

Estimated read time - 3 minutes.

The Idea

Solo travel is booming.

COVID has changed the world in many ways, and that creates opportunities. Solo travel has always accounted for a notable proportion of the travel market, but it’s grown significantly post-pandemic.

Look at some of these statistics:

• Pre-pandemic only 14% of travellers were going solo, as of mid-2021 that figure had nearly doubled to 23% - and 54% were considering going solo in 2023.

• Searches for single-person flights are up 36% in 2023 compared to 2022.

• 9 out of 10 solo travellers prefer to take group tours some or all of the time.

What’s the opportunity here?

Search for solo travel in the UK and you’ll largely be met with tour companies based here offering tours elsewhere in Europe.

There are UK tours, but the offerings are very limited when specifically catering to solo tours.

Whilst solo travel is booming the industry to support them in the UK is in its infancy - which presents an opportunity.

What are the options?

Opportunities like this are completely scalable to the level of investment you want to make:

• Solo walking tours - launch a walking tour just for solo travellers to connect with like-minded people.

• Solo traveler social events - start a regular event in tourism hotspots exclusive for solo travellers to meet others.

• Solo traveler tours - build and run solo tours in the UK, the easy route here is to partner with an existing tour provider to run solo traveller only tours.

• Solo traveller information - build a website positioned as the authority on UK solo travel. Include advice, itineraries, and solo traveller friendly accommodation.

There is no go-to authority on UK solo travel currently, so starting small and scaling to own this niche is entirely possible.

Steal This Idea

It really is a bit of a strange one today!

Meal replacement options like Huel and Soylent have grown significantly over the last few years, but I recently came across something which takes it to a whole new level - Squareat.

If you’ve ever seen Snowpiercer (if you haven’t, watch it!) this will remind you of the ‘food’ given to the tail section.

‘Squares’ are effectively blocks of real food that you combine to make a meal.

My initial reaction was probably the same as yours - why on earth would anyone want to eat this?!

But the more I thought about it the more I kind of get it. Nutritionally dense, long-lasting shelf life, easy to heat up (you can just pop them in boiling water) - in today’s fast-paced world I can see the benefits.

If you can see the benefits too I’ve got great news - they’re currently only available in Miami. So steal this idea now!

In The News

I’ve decided to add this as a new section this week - news brings ideas and opportunities so it felt relevant.

Today’s news of note is that the Department For Education has approved Sophia High School as the UK’s first Accredited Online Education Provider.

This is the first accreditation under the DfE scheme which is open for applications from other providers.

I’m a firm believer that the UK education system is broken, it doesn’t set children up for success in modern society - is this the start of a revolution?

I hope you enjoyed this week’s issue!

I would love feedback on what you like and what could be improved with this newsletter - just hit reply to this email.

See you next Sunday,

Adam