The cardboard supplier discovered that journey spend elevated 87.three% final month in comparison with November, whereas transaction worth rose 67.9%. Barclays additionally discovered that airline spending rose 62.four%, with spend up 37.9%. Gross sales to UK motels, resorts and lodging elevated by eight.2%, with a price improve of 6.2%.
The month-to-month knowledge comes from Barclays credit score and debit card spending, which contains “virtually half” of the nation’s transactions, plus non-card funds corresponding to direct debits. The most recent figures had been collected within the interval from December 16 to 20.
An encouraging signal for retailers is that December face-to-face transactions throughout all sectors had been up 7.5% in comparison with the earlier month, and on-line gross sales had been up simply zero.5%. The worth of the latter fell by three.7%, however face-to-face gross sales rose greater than 6%.
Barclays director Esme Harwood stated: “The retail, journey and hospitality sectors all noticed exceptional progress in December.”
He added: “It’s price noting that these figures look extra constructive in comparison with December 2021, because the unfold of Omicron saved Brits off excessive streets and hospitality venues. It appears to be like like consumers have returned to the excessive avenue this 12 months to profit from the festive interval regardless of cost-of-living challenges.”
Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the postal strikes had “hampered on-line retail attributable to fears of lacking supply dates earlier than Christmas”, which can have skewed retail knowledge.
The survey additionally revealed ongoing issues about the price of residing. The share of Brits who reported issues about rising meals costs was 91%, with 65% saying they’d regarded for methods to scale back the price of their weekly buy, solely a marginal discount in comparison with 69% for november.
Practically half of those consumers (49%) purchase worth or personal label merchandise as a substitute of name-brand merchandise, and 28% solely purchase objects which can be discounted or on sale.
The figures present the impression of the rise in family gasoline payments, with a 40% improve on this expense for the second consecutive month. Barclays discovered that 62% had discovered methods to save lots of vitality at dwelling, with half saying they averted utilizing central heating except “completely mandatory”.