Girlfriend, this tour package is for you -- and your sisters too

Mary BETH Lyle, a computer software consultant from Marietta, Ga., near Atlanta, was at a midlife crossroads. Fed up with her hectic career pace and hoping to meet new people, she went on sabbatical and booked a five-day, women-only tour to Santa Fe and Taos, N.M., in September.

“I’d never been there, and I needed to breathe new air and experience new things,” she said. She did plenty of both: hiking daily, staying at nice hotels, luxuriating at a spa and taking in historic sites, museums and art. It didn’t take long before she and her tour mates, most in their 40s or 50s, melded into “a big group of girlfriends,” she said.

More tour organizers, hotels and publications are catering to Lyle and others like her: women traveling with women. It’s a diverse group, so they’re getting more choices in destinations and activities. If you haven’t tried a women-only trip, now could be the time.

“It’s not just bachelorette parties,” said Stephanie Oswald, editor in chief of Travelgirl, a glossy national magazine based in Chamblee, Ga., that publishes six times a year. “Now there are golf weekends for women.”

Since its debut in June 2003, Travelgirl has tripled its circulation to 150,000, according to publisher Renee Werbin. Its 130-plus pages are packed with ads from heavy hitters, including Rolex and Sandals Resorts.

The articles explore topics such as sailing single on cruise ships, taking along children and visiting Senegal in Africa -- plus mammograms and makeup. (The content is 60% travel and 40% “lifestyle,” Werbin said.)

Another sign of growth: Gutsy Women Travel, a 3-year-old division of the luxury Maupintour company, based in Summerlin, Nev., is preparing to send 2,000 customers next year on its 25 worldwide trips for women, up from 1,200 clients this year, said Vice President April Merenda.

Meanwhile, San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, which runs 38 lodgings across the country, this year began devoting part of its lifestyle website, www.kimptonlife.com, to articles, advice and packages for its female customers. (Click on “Women InTouch.”)

Although women of all ages travel together, many new offerings and much of the advertising are aimed at those who are middle-aged. The key reason: They have the money.

“This is a huge, largely untapped market base with an enormous profit potential,” Merenda wrote in a newsletter distributed to travel agents this month.

“With as many as 40% of all women over 40 either single, divorced or widowed,” she stated, “and many having found themselves suddenly guarding an empty nest, they are choosing to pursue new avenues of self-fulfillment or exploration.”

Many in the industry say their research indicates that most vacation decisions are made by women -- another reason to market to them.

It turns out that women are a distinct niche. We travel differently from men and do different things. That’s why, tour operators said, married women increasingly are choosing to take trips with other women.

More women than men want their vacations to be all inclusive -- that is, with one price that covers airfare, lodging, food and recreation, according to the National Leisure Travel Monitor, an annual survey of Americans by marketing consultants Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell and Yankelovich Partners. More women also prefer beautiful scenery, a beach, a spa, cultural sites, shopping and a small boutique hotel, the survey found.

Women are more concerned than men about safety and security. But don’t write them off as unadventurous: More women than men -- 86% versus 75% -- are eager to go to “a place I have never visited before.”

It’s a female paradox that can be resolved by going to a new destination with other women. That feels safe.

“I hate to generalize ... but men are more apt to dive into something,” said Deanna Keahey, who founded Adventurous Wench, a year-old active-travel company in Mesa, Ariz., that organized Lyle’s trip to New Mexico. “Women want to know what they’re getting into.”

Men also tend to be more competitive, she added. On women-only trips, participants can escape the pressure to keep up the pace.

There are several good Internet directories of tours and advice for female travelers, including www.journeywoman.com, founded by Evelyn Hannon, a Toronto-based entrepreneur, and www.womentraveltips.com, maintained by travel writer Marybeth Bond.

Women looking for lesbian-focused trips can check www.olivia.com, the site of Oakland-based Olivia Cruises & Resorts, founded in 1990. It’s not the only such company, but it’s one of the oldest and largest.

Hotel and resort packages for women come with many fanciful themes. Among recent offerings:

* “Giddy-up Gals Getaway”: Rancho de los Caballeros, about an hour northwest of Phoenix, is one of several dude ranches that offer retreats for women. This one, priced at $570.40 per person, double occupancy, for two nights with meals, includes riding classes, unlimited trail rides and a team-penning competition. (800) 684-5030, www.sunc.com.

* “MenoPause Escape”: For $175 per person, double occupancy, Cherry Valley Lodge in Newark, Ohio, 25 miles east of Columbus, provides a night’s lodging, a massage, a “cooling pillow” for hot flashes, a flax-seed candy bar with phytoestrogens (compounds that act like the hormone estrogen) and more. The resort also has scrapbook and quilting weekends. (800) 788-8008, www.cherry valleylodge.com.

* “Cosmo Girls Weekend Getaway for Four”: For $650 per night, Hotel Monaco San Francisco provides a luxury suite and deluxe double room with a bar and ingredients to mix vodka cosmopolitans; women’s magazines; and shopping discount coupons. (800) 214-4220, www.monaco-sf.com.

Hear more tips from Jane Engle on Travel Insider topics at www.latimes.com/engle. She welcomes comments but can’t respond individually to letters and calls. Write to Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or e-mail jane.engle@latimes.com.