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 resorts, 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 similar to direct debits. The most recent figures have 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 have been up 7.5% in comparison with the earlier month, and on-line gross sales have 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 development in December.”
He added: “It’s value noting that these figures look extra optimistic in comparison with December 2021, because the unfold of Omicron stored Brits off excessive streets and hospitality venues. It seems like customers have returned to the excessive road this yr to profit from the festive interval regardless of cost-of-living challenges.”
Nonetheless, he acknowledged that the postal strikes had “hampered on-line retail resulting from fears of lacking supply dates earlier than Christmas”, which can have skewed retail knowledge.
The survey additionally revealed ongoing issues about the price of dwelling. The proportion of Brits who reported issues about rising meals costs was 91%, with 65% saying that they had regarded for methods to cut back the price of their weekly buy, solely a marginal discount in comparison with 69% for november.
Practically half of those customers (49%) purchase worth or personal label merchandise as an alternative of name-brand merchandise, and 28% solely purchase objects which can be discounted or on sale.
The figures present the influence 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 power at dwelling, with half saying they prevented utilizing central heating except “completely obligatory”.