Hospitality and Leisure
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Our latest report looks at UK consumer spending patterns for the 23rd March 2024 to 19th April 2024.
Overall consumer spending slowed down in April, as consumers made the effort to reduce discretionary spending ahead of summer. Cutbacks were seen in the food, drink and household categories, with the cold weather also hampering in-store shopping.
Head of Client Insights, Barclays
Essential card spending grew 1.7% in April 2024 when compared to this time last year. This is the lowest year-on-year growth since August 2023 (1.0%) as spend growth in Grocery and Public Transport, both Essential spend categories, decreased compared to previous months.
Non-Essential card spending grew by 1.5% in April 2024 when compared to this time last year. This is the lowest year-on-year growth since September 2022 (1.1%), as the weather continued to impact multiple sectors in April, while consumers also cut back on spend at Restaurants.
Spending on Public Transport declined by -1.4% in April 2024 when compared to the same month last year. This is the first month of negative growth in this category since March 2021, impacted by the significant industrial action last month.
Overall Retail spending fell by -0.1% in April 2024, a decline compared to the year-on-year growth of 0.7% in March 2024. This comes as the unseasonal weather continued to deter shoppers from visiting the high-street, resulting in a slowdown in face-to-face retail (excluding groceries) and clothing sales. Spend growth in the Grocery category also decelerated month-on-month, with a record number of consumers actively looking for ways to reduce the cost of their weekly shop, despite falling food price inflation.
Spend in the overall Hospitality & Leisure sector also saw a smaller uplift in the month, at 4.1% in April 2024 compared to March 2024 (4.7%) as consumers reined in discretionary spending and cut back on food and drink spending in April. This was evident in the Restaurants category, where spend declined -13.1%, compared to this time last year. However, some discretionary spending areas such as Bars, Pubs & Clubs saw growth, due to the Easter weekend.
Spend on overall Eating & Drinking grew by 2.8% in April 2024, an slight uplift compared to the year-on-year growth in March 2024 (2.6%). This uplift was driven by a rise in spending at Bars, Pubs & Clubs, at 3.9% in April 2024 compared to 3.2% in March 2024, as the Easter weekend likely encouraged consumers to socialise.
However, spend at Restaurants decreased by -13.1% in April 2024 versus this time last year, a further decline compared to March 2024 (-12.6%), whilst spend growth on Takeaways and Fast Food remained flat at 3.0%. This comes as 49% of consumers say they are concerned about how much they spend on food and drink, with the same proportion making the effort to cut back on discretionary spending. Of this group, the majority are spending less on dining out and ordering takeaways, both at 54% respectively.**
Meanwhile, spending on Entertainment grew by 3.2% in April 2024, on par with March 2024 (3.1%), as families spent on leisure during the half-term break.
Consumers made an effort to reduce discretionary spending in April, resulting in cutbacks on food and drink spending. However, demand for travel continued to remain strong, as consumers booked their summer getaways.
Head of Hospitality and Leisure, Barclays Corporate Banking
Spend at Travel Agents remained strong at 7.1% in April 2024, on par with the year-on-year growth in March 2024 (7.1%), as consumers continued to book summer getaways.
However, spend at Hotels, Resorts & Accommodation declined by -0.7% in April 2024, marking the first month of negative growth in this category since May 2023 (-4.9%). This is likely due to 32% of consumers wanting to prioritise holidays abroad over staycations this year, with 39% of these consumers motivated by the desire to escape the wet and cold weather in search of some sunshine.**
Spend at Supermarkets increased by 1.1% in April 2024, the lowest year-on-year growth since June 2022 (-0.8%). This comes as food price inflation dropped to 4.0% from 5.0% the prior month, and reached its lowest level since November 2021 (2.5%).*
Nonetheless, despite the fall in food inflation, a record 73% of consumers are actively looking for ways to reduce the cost of their weekly shop, the highest percentage since Barclays started tracking this metric in January 2023. 44% of supermarket savers are avoiding impulse buys at the checkout, while 37% are stockpiling their go-to products when they are on offer.**
Consumers are also trying to cut down on their broader household costs, with spend growth in the Household category falling by -4.1% year-on-year. This comes as 40% of consumers say that they will not spend on their home or garden ahead of the summer, with many are opting to postpone renovations or home improvements.**
Overall Retail spending fell in April, with consumers remaining wary about rising living costs and cutting back on costs where possible. The wet weather also hampered retail spend growth, with in-store shopping falling compared to previous months.
Head of Retail and Wholesale, Barclays Corporate Banking
Overall Retail spending declined by -0.1% in April 2024, marking the first month of negative growth in this category since September 2022 (-2.0%), with in-store shopping being hampered by April’s cold snap. Specifically, spend on face-to-face retail (excluding grocery shopping) and Clothing declined by -2.5% and -2.1% respectively compared to this time last year
However, Pharmacy, Health & Beauty retailers bucked this trend, seeing a 4.9% increase in April 2024, boosted by a number of macro factors, such as the “lipstick effect”, the wellness boom and viral makeup and skincare videos.
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Appendix
Spend growth | Transaction growth | |
Essential | 1.7% | 1.3% |
Non Essential | 1.5% | 2.9% |
Overall | 1.6% | 2.3% |
Retail | -0.1% | 1.7% |
Clothing | -2.1% | 2.1% |
Grocery | 1.0% | 1.8% |
Supermarkets | 1.1% | 1.4% |
Food & Drink Specialist | 0.4% | 4.0% |
Household | -4.1% | 3.2% |
Home Improvements & DIY | -6.6% | -1.0% |
Electronics | 0.8% | 9.0% |
Furniture Stores | -4.0% | 4.9% |
General Retailers | 2.4% | 2.1% |
General Retailers & Catalogues | 5.3% | 6.3% |
Department Stores | -1.4% | 1.2% |
Discount Stores | -8.6% | -11.3% |
Specialist Retailers | -1.0% | -1.2% |
Pharmacy, Health & Beauty | 4.9% | 1.9% |
Sports & Outdoor | -8.1% | -8.2% |
Other Specialist Retailers | -2.4% | -2.9% |
Hospitality & Leisure | 4.1% | 3.3% |
Digital Content & Subscription | 10.6% | 7.4% |
Eating & Drinking | 2.8% | 0.9% |
Restaurants | -13.1% | -14.2% |
Bars, Pubs & Clubs | 3.9% | 2.7% |
Takeaways and Fast Food | 3.0% | 0.5% |
Other Food & Drink | 5.8% | 1.9% |
Entertainment | 3.2% | 5.7% |
Hotels, Resorts & Accomodation | -0.7% | -2.9% |
Travel | 5.8% | 6.5% |
Travel Agents | 7.1% | 14.4% |
Airlines | 6.2% | 9.2% |
Public Transport | -1.4% | 1.8% |
Other Travel | 9.1% | 16.3% |
Other | 2.4% | 2.0% |
Fuel | -4.8% | -2.6% |
Motoring | -2.5% | 5.5% |
Other Services | 9.3% | 6.4% |
Insperience | 5.0% | 3.3% |
Online | 3.4% | 6.0% |
F2F | 0.1% | 0.8% |
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Data source
Barclays debit card and Barclaycard credit card transactions in the UK.
Data range
The spending data in this report relates to the period 23rd March 2024 to 19th April 2024.
Inclusion criteria:
Customers aged at least 16 in the relevant period. Active customers using card payments in the relevant period (excluding spending on banking products, i.e. mortgages, loans, savings, utilities, tax and gambling).
Spending growth calculation:
Percentage difference between total spend per customer in the period 23rd March 2024 to 19th April 2024 and total spend per customer in the period 25th March 2023 to 21st April 2023.
Spending categorisation:
*CPIH: Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs
**Denotes a comment from the consumer confidence survey. The consumer confidence survey in this press release was carried out between 19th April and 23rd April 2024 by Opinium Research on behalf of Barclays. There were 2,000 respondents, providing a representative sample of UK consumers by age, gender, region, and income group.
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