Data confirms solid January travel sales as spend hits £428m

Nationwide’s Spending Report showed holiday and airline bookings up 6% year on year to £428 million in January.

Spend on travel during January was a huge 50% more than December 2023, showing the impact of peaks. The number of transactions, 2.2 million, was up 6% year on year.

However, the report warned of spiralling cost of living issues, with renters seeing payments soaring 28% year on year, while mortgage repayments were up by 11%.

Another cause for concern was the increased spend in discount stores, which rose 41% year on year, “a sign people are shopping around to increase spending power,” Nationwide said.

Household budgets were also stretched further by increases in insurance (+17%), travel (+10%), TV and broadband (+8%), debt repayments (+7%), pet costs (+7%) and supermarket spend (+6%).

The report is a monthly analysis of more than 214 million debit card, credit card and direct debit transactions.

Mark Nalder, Nationwide’s payments strategy director, said: “Our data highlights how many households are being resourceful with their finances by spending smart. 

“But despite essential costs remaining high, there are potential green shoots of optimism, with non-essential costs up year on year – demonstrating that many are able to balance what they need with what they want.”