First there was Black Friday, then there was Cyber Monday.
Deal-hungry consumers now have one more reason to shop online. “Travel Tuesday” (the first Tuesday after America’s Thanksgiving holiday) targets people looking for travel discounts, not flat-screen TVs.
According to a report published by , search interest for “Travel Tuesday” increased by more than 500% from 2021 to 2023. McKinsey & Company on Thursday.
Searches are highest among consumers in the United States and Canada, but interest is also growing in Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain, according to McKinsey.
Google Trends confirms this, with searches for “Travel Tuesday” starting in November 2017, declining during the pandemic, and spiking in 2022 and 2023, primarily in North America, Western Europe, and Australia.
“European travel companies can anticipate the potential for Travel Tuesday to become a growing phenomenon in their region,” the McKinsey report said.
With the exception of Singapore, Travel Tuesday has not yet caught on in Asia, the report said. This is likely due to the regional popularity of China’s Singles’ Day, a multi-week sales period that peaks on November 11th each year.
Search interest for “Travel Tuesday” in Google Trends since 2019.
Source: Google Trends (https://www.google.com/trends)
But that hasn’t stopped Asian companies from jumping on the sale to reach customers around the world.
Kristen Jennings Graf, director of sales and marketing for Bawa Reserve, an eco-resort in Indonesia’s Riau Islands, said her company will launch its first Travel Tuesday promotion in 2023.
“I had the option of an upgrade, a discount, or one free flight,” she said. “It brought us good sales.”
Flights, hotels, cruises
A McKinsey report titled “Travel Tuesday is Real and Growing” found that American travelers spent the last year on “Travel Tuesday,” November 28, 2023, on hotels, airlines, and cruises. It shows that reservations have increased rapidly.
According to the report, flight bookings for that day jumped by more than 60% compared to the two weeks before and after, and cruise bookings by more than 50%.
Hotel bookings also increased by 28%, according to the report, but were slightly behind bookings from the previous day, which was Cyber Monday. Although the number of searches for “Cyber Monday” was significantly higher than for “Travel Tuesday,” interest in the former was shown to be declining.
“Travel bookings made on Travel Tuesday exceeded those made on Cyber Monday,” said Ryan Mann, a partner in McKinsey’s Travel, Logistics and Infrastructure practice and one of the report’s authors. said.
But Mann warns that Travel Tuesday may not have the same effect on the travel industry as Black Friday had on retail.
On both days, consumers are looking for the best deals, he said. “But unlike some of the impulse purchases consumers make on Black Friday, booking travel may require more careful planning.”
Those ready to book can find discounts on flights, cruises, and tour packages, with many hotels offering 20-30% off their lowest prices. Travelers can check out the 2023 “Travel Tuesday” sale to find out what to expect this year.
Some year-end expenses
In the face of rising travel costs and inflationary pressures, travelers say finding great deals is a top priority.
According to McKinsey, travel discount dates during a period when bookings are typically low can be a benefit for travelers and an opportunity for businesses to increase revenue. Late November to early December is often considered too late for winter bookings and too early for summer bookings, the report said.
This could also be a way to get some of the spending out of the year-end holidays, which have long been dominated by physical gifts.
According to personal finance company WalletHub’s 2024 Winter Travel Survey, more than half of Americans (58%) say they would rather spend their money on travel rather than shopping.
A 2024 Amex Trendex global survey of more than 13,000 adults with an annual income of $50,000 or more found that approximately one in three respondents would give an “experience” to their significant other or their children. I replied that it was planned. According to the survey, the percentage is even higher for friends, with nearly 70% saying they would prefer to give an experience or trip over a material gift.
According to an Amex study released in September, the top experiences were entertainment (59%) and travel (54%).
