On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, when the glow of Black Friday has dimmed, it’s time for serious travellers to score big on Travel Tuesday deals. Flight alerts start pinging, inboxes begin to fill with promises of faraway beaches and city lights, and a new kind of fever takes hold. It’s Travel Tuesday: an entire day devoted to the best travel bargains on the market.
For most of the year, travellers chase small-scale deals like 10 per cent off hotels or student rates on train tickets, but on Travel Tuesday, expect to save big. Born from a pattern noticed by the flight-booking app Hopper in 2017, Travel Tuesday has become the travel industry’s response to Cyber Monday. It began as a marketing experiment and has since become a global movement where airlines, hotels, and tour companies unleash their best offers of the year.
The appeal is obvious. After a weekend of shopping for products – electronics, clothes, and other usual suspects – Travel Tuesday tempts us to invest in something else entirely: experiences. A new passport stamp, a long-delayed reunion, or a luxurious weekend break are all just a click away.
Since Travel Tuesday is still fairly new, there’s plenty about it that remains a mystery to the average traveller. Here’s everything you need to know about my favourite day of savings, deals, and sales, including how to find the best offers and maximise your budget.
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What is Travel Tuesday?
Travel Tuesday happens on the Tuesday (December 2 for 2025) after Thanksgiving, a 24-hour window when the travel industry offers some of its steepest discounts of the year. It falls just after the Cyber Monday sales, which means by this time, most people are done purchasing new TVs and laptops, and travel companies have the stage to themselves.
Unlike the broad sweep of Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday has a singular focus. The deals aren’t for gadgets or winter coats; they’re for flights to Iceland, villas in Tuscany, and overwater bungalows in the Maldives. Platforms like Expedia, Priceline, and Airbnb line up offers that sometimes rival those reserved for flash promotions or loyalty members. Expect savings on everything from hotels and flights to cruises and car rentals.
Behind the scenes, there’s a method to why brands can offer such exceptional prices. The week after Thanksgiving is one of the slowest booking periods of the year, so travel brands use discounts to jump-start interest for the coming season. It’s a win-win: they fill their calendars, and we get to plan something worth counting down to.
What’s the difference between all the Cyber Week deals, and why does Travel Tuesday stand out?
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday may dominate when it comes to gadgets and fashion, Travel Tuesday is where wanderlust meets real value. Airlines have reported getting up to 60 per cent more bookings than on a typical Tuesday. Plus, major hotel brands and cruise lines roll out deeply discounted rates, free upgrades, and added perks like resort credits or complimentary excursions; think 20 to 30 per cent off a boutique hotel in Lisbon or an unexpected bargain on a flight to Japan just before cherry blossom season.
