Discovery Bank Festive SpendTrend 2024/2025: Clients’ book 18 000 flights and fly 320 million kilometres

An analysis of Discovery Bank’s client transaction data during December 2024 highlights interesting festive spend behaviours among the Bank’s clients and the value derived from their travel and lifestyle rewards.  

Discovery Bank is well known for the shared-value rewards and savings its clients enjoy as they improve their financial and physical wellbeing. During the festive travel period, Discovery Bank clients who booked flights on the Vitality Travel platform could be found on more than 18,000 planes, visiting over 90 countries and collectively flying more than 320 million kilometres.

Hylton Kallner, CEO of Discovery Bank, says, “Our clients are highly engaged in managing their finances and adopting behaviours that assist with building financial resilience. As a bank, we encourage them to manage money well and reward them with various discounts.

“Travel is an essential part of holidays, and in 2024, flight prices on the most popular local routes increased by up to 16% and on popular international routes by up to 20% compared to the same period in 2023.

Vitality Travel continues to make travel more accessible and affordable, and our clients enjoy deep discounts of up to 75% on flights booked with partner airlines and the option to pay for flights using Ðiscovery Miles.”

Over the festive period between 8 December and 14 January, 79 000 Vitality travellers booked 158 000 seats, filling the equivalent of 900 planes and flying a distance equal to 420 trips to the moon and back.

Helping clients to manage money well

“The December holiday period is known as a time of increased spending. So, it’s no surprise that our clients, in general, spent an average of 15% more than in other months of the year.”

From our analysis, they also spent 7% more compared with the same period in 2023. Some of the top categories of increased spending included 62% more on outdoor activities, 51% more on movies, 32% more on children’s toys, 26% more on eating out and takeout, and 15% more on clothes.

It’s also fascinating to see the change in behaviour comparing categories like spending on alcohol in December compared to stationery and how their respective patterns change come January.

A central component of Discovery Bank’s shared-value approach is to help clients build financial resilience. Kallner adds, “Over the course of a year, at least 42% of our clients maintain a surplus of their monthly salaries, showing effective financial management. As expected, with increased spend in December, clients deplete their salaries faster, and it declines to 36% of clients maintaining a surplus.

It does, however, recover to close to standard levels by January, which is a fair indication that our clients are able to recover after a period of increased spend, such as December months.”

The Bank provides financial education and support through a partnership with Worth. For a limited time, Discovery Bank clients can access an expertly designed financial education course directly from the banking app for just R5 – a saving of R6,445.

Find more interesting information in the Discovery Bank Festive SpendTrend edition here.