If it's Tuesday, it must be time to get the heck out of here.
With the holidays approaching we're going to be hearing all kinds of stories about the big spending days of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, when people can shop till they drop without ever leaving their homes.
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And now there's another shopping day of the week to add to your consumer calendar: Travel Tuesday, which according to McKinsey is an actual thing where shoppers can find deals on travel purchases.
"Over the past two years, Travel Tuesday has gained increasing interest from consumers who are on the hunt for travel bargains," the consulting firm said in an Oct. 31 report.
"Travel industry players can potentially benefit from paying close attention to this burgeoning phenomenon — which in 2024 will occur on Tuesday, Dec. 3 — by finding ways to shape relevant promotions and campaigns around it," McKinsey added.
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Image Source: Carnival Corp.
Cruise industry bounced back from pandemic
Last year, Travel Tuesday saw notable increases in hotel, cruise and airline bookings by U.S. travelers, compared with the two weeks before and the two weeks after, McKinsey said.
Travel booking — which occurs predominantly online — also intensified on Cyber Monday, a popular day for internet deals.
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Travel Tuesday is gaining traction as a marketing concept, McKinsey said, noting that "a day centered on travel deals seems like a potential fit for a moment when people are yearning to travel more than ever before but are often in search of discounts because of rising living costs."
Cruises are a popular travel choice once again as the industry rebounds from the crippling impact of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
Last year's passenger volume reached 31.7 million, surpassing 2019 by 7%, according to the Cruise Line International Association's Annual State of the Cruise Industry report, dated April 2024.
The forecast for cruise capacity shows an increase of 10% from 2024 through 2028, as cruise lines make progress toward net-zero emissions by 2050.
The association said that 27% of cruisers over the past two years were new to cruise, up 12% from a year earlier.
Cruises are also a top choice for multigenerational travel — with more than 30% of families traveling by cruise with at least two generations and 28% of cruise travelers traveling with three to five generations, the group said.
Expedition and exploration are the fastest-growing sectors of cruise tourism, with a 71% increase in passengers traveling on expedition itineraries from 2019 to 2023.
“Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean have completed their Covid comebacks," said Daniel Kline, executive editor of Arena Group's Come Cruise With Me website and newsletter.
"The newer ships are all full, prices are going up, and demand continues to increase as younger people embrace cruise vacations."
"If Americans have more money to spend, some of that will go to cruises, as they are an incredible value compared to land-based vacations," he added.
Carnival CEO cites phenomenal Q3
Carnival (CCL) is the world's largest cruise company with about 45% market share. The company owns and operates several brands, including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Cunard and Seabourn.
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On Nov. 13 Carnival announced the debut of the Sun Princess, describing the ship as "the ultimate destination to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah and New Year's in grand style with loved ones."
Carnival shares have risen 33% year-to-date and the stock has almost doubled (up 93%) from a year ago.
In September, Carnival posted adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.27 a share, up from 86 cents a share a year earlier and beating Wall Street’s expectations of $1.17 a share.
"As September comes to an end and we closed out the year, I am happy to report that we are delivering well in excess of 2024 expectations," Chief Executive Josh Weinstein told analysts during the company's earnings call.
"We've also built an even stronger base of business for 2025, and we're off to an unprecedented start to 2026."
"Our third quarter, by all accounts, was phenomenal, breaking multiple records and outperforming on every measure," he added.
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Revenue rose 15% from a year earlier to a record $7.89 billion and beat analysts’ forecast for $7.82 billion.
"We have certainly come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. In just two years, we've already more than doubled our revenue and are going from negative Ebitda to an expected all-time high of $6 billion this year," Weinstein said.
Bank of America Securities, impressed with Carnival's progress, raised its price target on the cruise line operator to $28 from $24 and affirmed a buy rating on the shares.
"We believe this is appropriate given an improved fleet mix vs pre-pandemic, normalized earnings power next year, and the ability to de-lever after the pandemic," the investment firm said in a note.
B of A's aggregated credit and debit card data show that monthly cruise spending increased 8.3% year-over-year in October.
Spending remains meaningfully ahead of 2019 levels, and this month saw the second-strongest year-on-year growth rate of 2024, the firm said.
B of A raised price targets across the cruise group after the post-election bump higher in valuation multiples. The investment firm said industry fundamentals remain solid and the election results are likely to bolster consumer strength further, the firm said.
The investment firm increased its price targets to $240 from $210 for Royal Caribbean (RCL) to $29 from $26 on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) . It reiterated neutral ratings on both.
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