‘Resilient’ travel sector bucks trend amid overall decline in card spending in 2025

Travel was among the sectors that bucked the decline in consumer card spending in 2025, according to Barclays.

The bank’s annual consumer spend report, based on credit card transactions between December 25, 2024 – November 21, 2025, showed an overall decline in card spending by 0.2%, compared with growth of 1.6% in 2024 and 4.1% in 2023.

Spending on travel grew by 2.7%, though the number of transactions fell by 3%, while the level of spend with travel agents grew by 3.2%, alongside an 8.1% rise in the number of transactions.

Barclays described travel spending in 2025 as “resilient”, but noted a decline compared with 2024 when growth of 6.9% was recorded.

Consumers each spent £1,158 on average on travel, but Barclays said 54% opted to travel at off-peak times or during the shoulder season to keep costs down. A total of 27% used AI tools for planning and budgeting their trips, the bank added.

Among AI users, the most common tasks were creating itineraries (35%), researching and choosing destinations (32%) and translation (30%), while more than a quarter (27%) were finding and comparing prices, discounts and deals.

Airlines recorded spend growth of 2.8%, alongside a decline of 5.7% in the number of transactions.

The strongest performing spend category for the year was pharmacy, health and beauty, which registered growth of 9.5%.

Confidence in the UK economy remained low throughout 2025, Barclays noted, with a monthly average of one in four adults (24%) feeling confident in the UK’s economic strength.

Spending on entertainment grew by 4.3% year on year, while spending on digital content and subscriptions rose by the same percentage.

Taking into account all spending categories, the number of transactions fell by 1.2% compared with the previous year.

The total spend on essentials fell by 2.3%, with transactions dropping by 3%, while the total spend on non-essentials grew by 0.8%, with the number of transactions staying the same (0% change).

Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: “While confidence in the UK economy has declined, UK households’ confidence in their ability to manage their money has remained strong, translating into the resilient performance of categories such as travel, entertainment and beauty.

“It is encouraging to see that through purposeful spending, consumers continue to prioritise the things that bring them joy, unlocking the potential for UK economic growth.”