Spending with agents grew by 4.2% year-on-year in September according to Barclays latest Consumer Spend Report. This compares with a 2.6% year-on-year drop in essential spending and a 0.2% increase in non-essential spending.
Transaction growth with agents, meanwhile, ran to 18.1% – more than double the next highest sector, electronics, at 7.9%. Overall growth in essential transactions fell by 4.3% and in non-essential transactions by 0.8%.
The report covers spending in the period from 23 August to 26 September 2025 and draws comparison with spending from 24 August to 27 September 2024.
Travel agents among strongest performers
Spending with airlines contracted by 4.3% year-on-year in September, while transaction growth slowed by 8.6%. Overall, spending on travel grew by 0.8% in September, helped by growth in spend on what Barclays categorises as "other travel", although this is weaker than August's 3.1%.
The hotels, resorts and accommodation sector also took a hit in September, with spending growth falling by 2.2% and transaction growth by 6%.
The only fly in the ointment for agents, potentially, was a 1.6% drop in face-to-face spending growth and 3.9% drop in face-to-face transaction growth.
"The travel category saw marginal annual growth of 0.8% in September, below August’s 3.1%," said Barclays. "Within this, travel agents saw the strongest performance, up 4.2%.
"However, hotel spending (-2.2%) dipped for the first time since July 2024 and airlines (-4.3%) declined for the first time in over four years."
'Room for spending to accelerate again'
The latest report, though, came with a warning, laid out in Barclays accompanying survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was carried out over 26-30 September.
This found that 38% of those respondents planning to cut non-essential spending said they will spend less on holidays abroad.
Nonetheless, Barclays found consumers' confidence in their ability to live within their mean reached its highest level in more than four years in September (78%) while confidence in household finances climbed to 74%, a seven-month high.
Julien Lafargue, Barclays chief market strategist, said: “Although spending habits keep evolving, the UK consumer remains resilient in the face of an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop. With wage growth continuing to outpace inflation, there is room for spending to accelerate again when visibility improves."
