Economy
$29 Flights, Half-Price Cruises: Whether It’s Black Friday or Travel Tuesday, Deals Abound
Our Frugal Traveler columnist waded through the sales, and found some of the best bargains she’s seen in years.
As a sales season, Black Friday long ago turned the weekend corner to extend to Cyber Monday. And it’s still growing as Travel Tuesday — this year falling on Dec. 3 — gains traction.
In a recent report, the consultancy McKinsey & Company found that bookings for hotels, cruises and airlines spiked on Travel Tuesday 2023. Airline purchases soared, beating the average for sales over two weeks on either side of the date by more than 60 percent. Cruise bookings jumped 50 percent.
“More people are investing in travel and experiences than ever before,” said Hayley Berg, the lead economist at the travel booking app Hopper. “On the flip side, we’ve seen more marketing and more providers participating, so it’s really snowballing.”
But don’t wait for Travel Tuesday to book a deal. Companies now introduce bargains as early as late October.
In addition to offering an escape, Black Friday travel deals arrive just before the early December lull in travel.
“Black Friday weekend represents a last-ditch effort to gain significant sales until traffic picks back up in January,” said Sean Finelli, the chief executive and co-founder of the Tour Guy, a tour operator that will offer a 10 percent markdown on its guided day trips — such as walking tours of London and food tours of Paris — between Nov. 26 and Dec. 2 (use the code BLACKFRIDAY10).
