United Kingdom
United States
Asia Pacific
Wet and cold August brings surge in last-minute travel
A wet August prompted a surge in last-minute travel, according to the latest spending figures from Barclaycard.
Based on its data, travel spending jumped 7% as consumers supplemented their already-booked breaks with additional shorter trips.
The number of travel transactions jumped 28%, with hotel bookings up 10.5%, and airline spending 4.4% higher.
Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of all credit and debit card transactions in the UK, said the cold temperatures and above-average rainfall helped continue an above-average performance with growth of 8.1% this summer, more than double the 3.2% seen over the same period last year.
Last summer, growth in spending on travel, which includes holidays, airlines and hotels, peaked at 5.3% in August.
But this summer travel-related transactions doubled, leading to growth of 10.3% in June, 6.9% in July and 7% cent last month.
Barclays believes there was a surge in last-minute travel as Brits booked additional shorter trips to escape the British washout.
These, often-shorter and therefore cheaper, trips led to a 15.3% fall in the average transaction value for travel spend this summer.
With airlines reporting higher load factors, and therefore not needing to cut fares to sell the last of the summer’s seats, the average transaction value for airline spending was down just 0.4% this summer, compared to 7.6% last year.
Meanwhile, the number of hotel transactions was 10.5% higher in August, and is up 11.4% over the past three months.
Chris Wood, chief operating officer at Barclaycard said: "The number of travel transactions jumped 28% last month – a record for August – helping drive a 7% increase in spending on holidays and family trips.
“This is being driven by shorter, cheaper trips, which is shown in the lower average spend.”
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
Walt Leger on New Orleans’ Resilience and Major Events Ahead
Cindy Mackin Shares Estes Park’s Winter Thrills
Mark Jaronski of Explore Georgia on FIFA World Cup 2026
Connecting Small Businesses to Global Tourism Markets: Nate Huff of Tourism Exchange
North Carolina’s Resilience: Wit Tuttell on Recovery and Tourism
Kittipong Prapattong’s Plan for Thailand’s Tourism Growth: Taxes, Visas, and Campaigns
James Jin: Didatravel’s Journey from China to Global Reach and the Impact of AI on Travel
Darien Schaefer on Pensacola’s Evolution: From Small Town to Global Destination
Florida Tourism’s Next Frontier: Dana Young on Expanding Beyond the Classics
Patrick Harrison on Tampa Bay Tourism’s Resilience and Marketing Strategy
Bubba O’Keefe on Clarksdale’s Vibrant Music Scene
Commemorating Elvis and Embracing Tupelo’s Culture with Jennie Bradford Curlee
BA suspending all Heathrow to Abu Dhabi flights
Unexpected wave rocks cruise ship
Report: Cruise guest died after ship lashed in heavy storm
British teen in serious condition after paraglider collision
JetBlue scraps London Gatwick flights