Agents defy first-quarter fall in consumer spending on travel

Barclays card spending data suggests consumer spending on travel fell year on year in the first quarter of this year in every region of the UK bar the northeast which saw a small increase of 0.3%.

London saw the sharpest decline in spending in the three months to March, with a decline of 2.8% on last year, according to Barclays head of client insights Rohan Kumar. 

The capital was the only region to see a fall in travel spending last year compared with 2024.

Travel agents were one of the few categories to see a spending increase in the first quarter and the only part of the travel sector to see growth, with a 1.4% increase in spend over the three months despite a 4.6% decline year on year in March following the start of the US and Israel’s war on Iran.

Speaking at the Barclays Travel Forum in London on Wednesday, Kumar noted airlines saw a 5.6% fall in spending year on year in the first quarter and cruise and ferries a 5.4% decline, while spending on accommodation remained flat.

Travel saw a 3.3% fall in total spending in the month of March and airlines a 4.1% decline, according to Barclays card data.

Growth in consumer spending on travel fell behind growth in other categories of discretionary spending for the first time in three years in January and February.

Kumar noted the proportion of Barclays’ card customers spending on travel had peaked at 55.2% in 2024 and had fallen by 0.1 percentage point last year but was down by a full percentage point in the first quarter of this year at 54.1%.

However, he said the amount spent on travel continues to grow, driven by those aged 50-plus. 

Spending on travel by 25-34-year-olds fell 3% year on year in 2025 and spending among 16-24-year-olds was down 1.1%, whereas 50-64-year-olds spent 3.4% more on travel last year and those aged 65-plus 6.8% more.