From late November through to the new year, up to one million people a day pass through motorway service areas, and this Christmas is set to be no different. Sixty percent of travelers take long journeys over the festive period, stopping up to four times in a month, and the single getaway weekend accounts for 20 million car trips on its own. With rail services reduced over the holidays, more of that migration happens by road than at any other point in the year, and MSA audiences are 22% more likely to have travelled within the UK over Christmas than the national average.
The spending behaviour behind that travel is significant. MSA users are 59% more likely to spend over £750 on gifts this year and 69% more likely to be spending more year on year, with an average dwell time of 22 minutes and a captive audience of 4.1 million. They are also 28% more likely to buy on tablet and 7% more likely to buy on mobile than the national average, which makes MSAs a genuinely digital-first part of the path to purchase.
Critically, the window stays open for longer than brands often assume: MSA audiences build steadily and are still mid-shop through December, with users 148% more likely to have bought most of their gifts during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday window and 21% more likely to say they take inspiration for Christmas gifts from advertising.
Across the whole window, the network sees 7 million visitors and projects 1.12 million visitors on the single busiest day before Christmas Eve alone, concentrated at sites that double as Christmas traffic and retail hotspots.
Sources: YouGov Profiles, monthly MSA users vs nationally representative; ANPR/i-media analysis; AA Christmas 2025 traffic; Beauty & Perfume Insights 2026; MSA EPOS data (WHSmith at Moto).
