Presented as a day of promotions on flights and accommodation, Travel Tuesday takes place this Tuesday, December 2. But is this event really interesting? RMC Conso explains.
An operation little known in France. A few days after Black Friday, favored by 55% of French people, according to an Ipsos survey for Le Dénicheur, it is the turn of “Travel Tuesday” to make its appearance.
This “Travel Tuesday”, in French, is a day originating in the United States, during which airlines and accommodation booking platforms can offer promotional offers. And even if it is less popular in France, Travel Tuesday would allow you to benefit from discounts of around 15 to 25%, depending on 20 Minutes.
But in reality, do airlines really provide attractive offers? What about hosting platforms? We take stock.
Air France, Transavia, Tui Fly…
While Travel Tuesday is sometimes presented as the “ideal day” to book plane tickets, most of the companies used by the French do not in reality offer any specific offer on this date. Indeed, when questioned by RMC Conso, Air France, Transavia and Tui Fly for example claim to have not planned any discounts. The other companies have not issued any communication on this subject.
“During Travel Tuesday, we highlight Tui offers. These are offers available at TUI throughout the year, with a new promotion each week by product type. It is therefore not a specific reduction for that day which is offered”, Tui Fly tells us.
The Belgian company thus mentions a “mechanism of action totally different from what we do for Black Friday”. Like most of its competitors, Tui Fly offered offers on this occasion.
Kayak, an online flight and stay comparator, also told RMC Conso that it would not participate in this operation either.
Some initiatives
If the companies contacted by RMC Conso do not mention any offers, accommodation reservation sites, such as Hotels.com or LastMinute.com, provide some offers.
On the Hotels.com side, the promotions offered on the occasion of Travel Tuesday are part of a global reduction period including “Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday”. The latter began on November 22 and ends on December 4.
“Members can save 30% or more and receive special benefits like upgrades at select VIP Access hotels,” Hotels.com tells us.
Requested by RMC Conso, the reservation platform Booking.com did not provide a clear answer on its participation in Travel Tuesday. The latter, however, makes no mention of it on its site.
“This is not the time when the French book their vacations”
Unlike Black Friday and sales, Travel Tuesday is still relatively unknown, not only among customers, but also among professionals in the sector.
“It’s undoubtedly a question of awareness and adoption. It’s still an emerging phenomenon,” explains Adrien Lanotte, senior analyst at MKG, a firm specializing in the tourism sector.
Also, if Travel Tuesday is more popular in the United States than in France, it is also because it does not come at the “right time” here. Indeed, Americans go on vacation after Christmas. This is why they take advantage of this event to book their stays. “That really explains why the phenomenon is important among them,” adds the specialist.
“On the contrary, this is not the time when the French are booking their vacations. They are not yet planning for summer and have generally already booked their vacations in the mountains,” he explains.
But even if its popularity is very limited at the moment, it could nevertheless “grow in strength”, as was the case for Black Friday, warns Adrien Lanotte. “It’s a little early to say whether it will work or not,” he concludes.
