Consumer spending with travel agents grew by 7.5% year-on-year in December, up from 7.3% in November, and was matched only by growth in spending on digital content and subscription (also 7.5%).
Agents also enjoyed the largest year-on-year increase in total transactions of any of the sectors monitored by Barclays following a 17.8% year-on-year increase in December. This compares with year-on-year growth in transactions of 15.6% in November.
Spending with airlines, meanwhile, went up by 3.6% year-on-year in December, down from 10.6% year-on-year growth in November, although total transactions fell by 0.8% year-on-year in December.
Travel as a whole saw spending increase by 4.7% year-on-year in December, while total transactions increased by 3.4% year-on-year – putting the growth seen by travel agents ahead of the industry-wide totals.
The figures highlight an upward trajectory for the travel industry despite a sometimes difficult economic picture in 2024. Consumer card spending was flat in December, which Barclays put down to Brits cutting back on essential spending, such as with supermarkets, in favour of travel and entertainment.
Indeed, spending on essentials fell by 3% in December, as did total transactions on essentials, whereas non-essential spending grew by 1.5% in December accompanied by 2% growth in non-essential transactions.
Barclays’ accompanying consumer confidence survey, which asked 2,000 UK consumers to rank their discretionary spending priorities, found that three out of four Brits plan to travel in 2025, suggesting the sector is likely to see this momentum continue throughout the year.
“Brits are planning to prioritise memorable moments in 2025, with travel emerging as a clear spending priority,” said Barclays head of retail Karen Johnson.
Overall, travel has continued to outperform the majority of other sectors in terms of consumer spending, although year-on-year growth slowed in 2024 compared with the previous year.
Consumer spending on travel grew by 6.9% in 2024, down from 15.2% in 2023, while growth in total travel transactions also slowed from +11.4% last year to +6.8% this year.
Holidays have nevertheless remained consumers’ number one discretionary spending priority, according to Barclays
“Three in 10 consumers (28%) have already booked a getaway for 2025, with almost a quarter (23%) of these holidaymakers booking early to save money, and one in three (31%) choosing to visit a new destination they’ve not been to before," said Barclays in its 2024 year-end report.
