It all started with Black Friday — then came Cyber Monday.
Now, consumers hungry for deals have one more day to shop. “Travel Tuesday” — the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving — targets those looking for discounts on travel, rather than TVs and other electronics.
Searches for “Travel Tuesday” have increased by more than 500% from 2021 to 2023, according to a study published by McKinsey & Company.
Searches are more prevalent among American and Canadian consumers, but interest is also rising in Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, and Spain, according to McKinsey.
Google Trends supports this data, showing that searches for “Travel Tuesday” began in November 2017, dropped during the pandemic, and surged sharply in 2022 and 2023, particularly in North America, Western Europe, and Australia.
“European travel companies anticipate the possibility that ‘Travel Tuesday’ will become a growing phenomenon in their region,” notes the McKinsey report.
Flights, Hotels, and Cruises
The McKinsey report, titled “Travel Tuesday is Real — and Growing,” showed that bookings for hotels, airlines, and cruises among American travelers increased on last year’s “Travel Tuesday,” which occurred on November 28, 2023.
Airline bookings increased by more than 60% that day, and cruise bookings rose by over 50%, compared to the two-week period before and after, according to the report.
Hotel bookings also increased by 28%, although they were slightly boosted by reservations made the day before, which was Cyber Monday, according to the report. Searches for “Cyber Monday” are much higher than for “Travel Tuesday,” but interest in the former is declining, it showed.
“Travel bookings made on Travel Tuesday surpassed those made on Cyber Monday,” said Ryan Mann, partner in McKinsey’s Travel, Logistics, and Infrastructure practice and one of the report’s authors.
Those ready to book their next vacation may find discounts on flights, cruises, and vacation packages next Tuesday (December 3), with many hotels offering 20-30% off the best available rates.
Behavioral Shift
The interest in Travel Tuesday is further evidence of a behavioral shift among people after the Covid pandemic.
More than half of Americans (58%) say they prefer to spend their money on travel rather than shopping, according to WalletHub’s 2024 Winter Travel Survey.
A global Amex Trendex survey of 2024 with over 13,000 adults earning at least $50,000 per year showed that about one in three respondents said they plan to give an “experience” to a loved one or their children. The rate jumped even higher for friends, with nearly 70% saying they would prefer to give an experience or trip over a material gift, according to the survey.
The top experiences were for entertainment (59%) and travel (54%), according to the Amex survey published in September.
Source: CNBC