According to the Barclays survey, around 39% of the 2,000 people surveyed agreed that they wanted to go on holiday to places where it is sunny rather than rainy, so a third of people choose to holiday abroad rather than take domestic trips.
Resorts, hotels reveal their first decline approximately 0.7% since May 2023. In the same time, the data of the bank for this April have shown 7,1% growth as regards their travel arrangements.
A third (32%) of consumers say they are prioritising holidays abroad over staycations this year, Barclays said as it reported monthly transactions at travel agents rising by 14.4%.
Barclays said: “Consumer card spending slowed to 1.6% growth in April, down from 1.9% in both March and February, and below the latest CPIH [Consumer Prices Index] inflation rate of 3.8%. While consumer confidence in household finances rose to its highest level in over three years, a slowdown in food price inflation and cutbacks on food and drink led to a decline for restaurants and the smallest uplift in supermarket spending since June 2022″.
Airlines saw a 6.2% growth in monthly spending, with transactions up by 9.2%. However, this was a reduction on the 9.7% growth figure in March.
With inflation expected to have dropped back to two per cent in April, and with many anticipating a boost from the National Living Wage increase, it is encouraging to see consumer confidence picking up.
“Given the long squeeze consumers have faced, it may take time for this to translate into stronger discretionary expenditure, but easing interest rates in the second half of this year should spur consumers’ confidence and spending.” commented the bank’s chief UK economist Jack Meaning.
