Travel spending up, says MasterCard

MARCH saw the UK travel sector’s first sign of positive growth in 13 months on the back of increased confidence in economic recovery, according to new research. The sector grew by two percent year-on-year last month as consumers booked summer holidays with an assurance that was missing 12 months ago, according to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, a macro-economic report tracking national retail and service sales.

Apart from impressive January growth of 4.2 percent, March showed the strongest growth rate for overall UK retail sales in three years at 4.1 percent.

‘Retailers benefited from a return to discretionary purchasing with consumers spending more in sectors such as clothing, department stores and travel,’ the report said.

MasterCard UK and Ireland president Marion King said: ‘The impressive sales figures in the UK for March should certainly put a spring in the step of travel businesses and retailers overall.’

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