Interest in 'Travel Tuesday' soars, with more consumers saying they prefer travel to shopping

First there was Black Friday — then Cyber Monday.

Now deal-thirsty consumers have a reason to shop online one day longer. "Travel Tuesday" — the first Tuesday after the American Thanksgiving holiday — targets those looking for discounts on trips, rather than flat-screen TVs.  

Search interest for "Travel Tuesday" rose more than 500% from 2021 to 2023, according to a report published byMcKinsey & Company on Thursday.

Searches are highest among American and Canadian consumers, but interest is also rising in Australia, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Spain, according to McKinsey.

Google Trends supports this, showing searches for "Travel Tuesday" beginning in November 2017, dropping off during the pandemic, and rising sharply in 2022 and 2023, mostly in North America, Western Europe and Australia.

"European travel companies can anticipate the possibility that Travel Tuesday will become a growing phenomenon in their region," McKinsey's report notes.  

Except for Singapore, Travel Tuesday hasn't caught on in Asia yet, the report noted, perhaps because of the regional popularity of China's "Singles' Day" — a weeks-long sales period that peaks annually on Nov. 11.   

But that's not stopping Asian companies from jumping in on the sale to reach global clientele.

Kristen Jennings, director of sales and marketing at Bawah Reserve, an eco-resort in Indonesia's Riau Islands, said her company launched its first "Travel Tuesday" promotion in 2023.

"We had an offer that was a choice — upgrade, discount, or one free flight," she said. "It generated good sales for us."

McKinsey's report, titled "Travel Tuesday is Real — and Growing," showed that hotel, airline and cruise bookings among American travelers spiked on "Travel Tuesday" last year,