The Impact of Affinity Networks on Empowerment: The case of Female Backpackers Travelling Alone

• Objectives/Research questionsThe goal of this study is to understand how women seeking new tourism experiences can gain empowerment through solo travel and the affinity networks that have been established.• Methodology/approachWe conducted an exploratory study on exchanges between women travellers on an online forum (2 268 messages).• ResultsA lexical analysis conducted with the Alceste 2019 software revealed the existence of three types of empowerment: intellectual, experiential and identity-based, whose mechanisms are fed and relayed by the presence of women’s affinity networks. Appearing after the trip, identity-based empowerment is a new form of empowerment which has not been identified in this context until now. It is characterised by a better knowledge and greater self-confidence, reinforced by the recognition of peers in affinity networks.• Managerial/societal implicationsManagerial implications are identified for the pre-trip (accompanying intellectual empowerment), for the trip (facilitating experiential empowerment) and for the post-trip (identity empowerment and the return to daily life).• OriginalityThe originality of this study is based on the population studied (women travelling alone) and its study through online affinity networks. It highlights the mechanisms of the three forms of empowerment at work between the search for solitude and network support.