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This paper aims to profile solo independent women travellers in Tropical North Queensland, describe their key motivations for travel and behaviours, and locate this group on a typology of solo independent travellers in Australia. Previous research has painted solo independent women at one end of a travel spectrum as fearful and risk‐adverse and at another end, as risk‐takers who have few concerns about safety within the destination. This analysis is based on visitor surveys completed over 21 months at Cairns Airport (n = 2,618). The results indicated that solo independent women travellers (n = 228) felt safe in the destination and participated in a wide variety of activities including those with some degree of risk. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.