Agents continue to outstrip steady retail rebound as sector returns to growth

Spending growth throughout retail improved by a marginal 0.1% year-on-year in August according to Barclays – the first time it has grown since March.

Travel agents, though, are continuing to enjoy strong year-on-year growth in spend, which increased by 7.2% in August compared with August 2023 according to Barclays latest consumer spend report – the agency sector’s strongest month since February.

Airlines had an even stronger month, with spending growth up 8.3% year-on-year. Spend growth across travel as a whole increased by 6.8% in August.

However, there was a marked difference in transaction growth in August – while agents saw transactions grow by 11.7% year-on-year, this growth ran only to 1.6% for airlines. Across travel, transactions were up 5.9% in August.