What Is Travel Tuesday and How You Can Capitalize

Image: Travel savings. (Photo Credit: Kittiphan/Adobe)
Image: Travel savings. (Photo Credit: Kittiphan/Adobe)
Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 1:00 PM ET, Fri November 29, 2024

The vast majority of travelers are familiar with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two days that have since evolved into lengthier periods offering massive deals on getaways.

However, another sales period has emerged in recent years in Travel Tuesday, which falls on December 3 this year.

Countless travel suppliers will be offering significant savings and special perks for Travel Tuesday but much like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, customers don't have to wait until the day itself to take advantage.

In fact, many airlines, hotels and resorts, cruise lines and other brands have been offering discounted travel for weeks with many sales periods wrapping up during the first week of December.

Therefore, it's in travelers' best interest to act fast. Just because a deal is tied to Travel Tuesday doesn't mean it's only available for 24 hours and waiting until December 3 could mean missing out as bookings add up and suppliers run out of inventory.

According to data scientists at New York-based travel tech company Fareportal—which includes CheapOair and OneTravel—2023 sales for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday saw double-digit increases as compared to the previous week.

Interestingly, Travel Tuesday's performance outpaced the three-day average by a remarkable 59 percent and researchers expect this trend to carry over to this year's activity.

What's more, a recent McKinsey & Company report titled "Travel Tuesday is Real — and Growing" found that hotel, airline and cruise bookings among American travelers spiked on Travel Tuesday—November 28—last year.

Airline bookings soared more than 60 percent that day, cruises by more than 50 percent and hotels by 28 percent compared to the two-week period before and after.

"As consumer awareness of Travel Tuesday has increased over the years, so too has the airlines’ focus on providing exciting deals over the Thanksgiving weekend period," said Sandeep Gill, Fareportal Interim President.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a travel company not running some sort of sale or promotion over the long Thanksgiving weekend and the more flexible customers the more chances they'll have to score great deals.

In addition to having flexibility, travelers can make the most of this sales period by monitoring fares and setting alerts, signing up for free loyalty programs and packaging travel. 


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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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