Q3 Travel Retail Insights: Families, Leisure Travel, and Gifting Opportunities

Q2 marks the transition into the summer travel season, but it’s Q3 that really represents the peak of Summer and the annual leisure travel. Passenger volumes increase significantly, but perhaps more importantly, the composition of those passengers changes markedly compared to those spring months.

So, what do we expect to see from a traveller profile perspective as we move into Travel Retail’s powerhouse quarter:

👨‍👩‍👦 Families become ‘the’ dominant audience: The most noticeable shift in Q3 is the sharp increase in family travel as schools across much of Europe, North America and parts of Asia break for the summer holidays. Family travellers typically have longer dwell times, are more likely to browse multiple categories and often purchase across several occasions, including self-treats, gifting and products to consume during the holiday.

🌅 Leisure travel reaches its peak: While leisure travel increases and is relatively strong during Q2, it becomes the dominant travel purpose during Q3. Holidaymakers are generally in a more relaxed mentality, making them more receptive to browsing, discovering new products and indulging in discretionary purchases.

🌍 Tourism becomes more diverse: Q3 also sees a broader mix of nationalities travelling through airports as long-haul tourism reaches its seasonal peak. This reinforces the importance of understanding nationality-specific shopper behaviours, with different nationalities and traveller groups varying significantly in areas such as gifting, brand familiarity, premiumisation, staff engagement and willingness to experiment.

🎁 Gifting and sharing occasions increase: Summer travel naturally brings more opportunities for travellers to purchase gifts for friends and family or products to enjoy together whilst away. Brands that position products around sharing, entertaining and gifting can benefit from these seasonal occasions, particularly through larger pack formats, travel exclusives and premium gift sets.

🏫 Younger travellers become more prominent: With universities closed, Q3 will also bring a higher proportion of Gen Z travellers. This audience is typically more digitally engaged, more open to experimentation and often influenced by innovation, social media and visually impactful retail experiences.

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