Visa: 15% Prioritize Holiday Spending on Experiences

By Grace Kim

Only 15% of respondents to Visa’s 2026 Holiday Spending Outlook said they planned to prioritize experiences, even though more than half put experiences such as travel and live events at the top of their holiday wish lists. Twenty-seven percent said they planned to spend on physical gifts.

Visa’s survey shows a wide divide between what consumers want and where they expect to direct their money. Experiences dominate stated preference, but physical gifts take a larger share of planned spending than experiences. The 15% and 27% figures describe spending priorities rather than shares of total holiday dollars.

Visa principal U.S. economist Michael Brown told Inc.: “Consumers are still in a position to spend, but they’re being thoughtful about where those dollars go.”

What do the bookings show?

Visa Business and Economic Insights examined anonymous credit card transactions on airfare bookings made in September for flights departing between November 1 and January 15. The timing gives the company a view of travel commitments made before the coming holiday travel period, with the bookings separated by household income.

For households with more than $200,000 in annual income, Visa found 29% more trips booked compared with the same period a year earlier. That group also spent 38% more during the period. Consumers in other income groups decreased both their spending and their travel bookings.

Brown said higher-income households were benefiting more from strong financial markets and rising household wealth. Those conditions gave them greater capacity to keep spending, he said, while lower- and middle-income consumers had less room for flexible spending.

Visa’s figures show relative changes, not the holiday market’s absolute size. Still, the direction is clear: the strongest gains in both trips and spending sit with households earning more than $200,000, while every other income group recorded declines.

Brown described the consumer as resilient overall, but not equally resilient across households. He also said inflation remained a central part of the equation. The combination points to a holiday market that can remain healthy in aggregate while feeling constrained for consumers below the highest-income group.

What should hospitality businesses do?

Sandy C. Chen, a professor of hospitality management and tourism at Ohio University, said the widening gap between income groups and the difference between consumers’ desire for travel and their financial ability to do so were both notable. She said the second point did not mean demand for experiences had collapsed.

“Hospitality businesses may need to respond by offering greater flexibility, more affordable travel packages, and value-oriented experiences to attract budget-conscious consumers,” Chen said.

Chen said the tilt toward physical gifts may have more to do with the flexibility of pricing and purchasing decisions. Travel and experiences may not offer the same flexibility. For households under budget pressure, that makes the practical choice a trade-off between what they want and what they can comfortably spend.

Chen interpreted the finding as a shift in consumers’ spending priorities rather than a decline in their desire for travel and experiences. She said consumers must make trade-offs when household budgets are under pressure.

Chen’s recommendation gives operators a concrete response to the gap: flexible terms, lower-priced packages, and experiences positioned around value. It also aligns with Visa’s broader finding that strong demand at the top of the income distribution coexists with pressure among other groups.

For the holidays, Visa’s data point to a split market: higher-income households have more room to turn wish-list demand into trips, while broader consumer demand will depend on offers that protect value and flexibility.