Today’s travel agencies, through a looking glass
As the travel distribution business continues to evolve, a snapshot of the typical travel
agency today would depict a small business, primarily serving leisure clients, with cruises
and tours accounting for nearly half of its total sales. Its airline ticket sales would account
for about a third. The picture is similar to a snapshot taken a year ago, but a close comparison would suggest that certain trends are speeding up or giving way to new ones. In
any evolutionary process, however, the “final” results are never in. What we have, for now,
is merely the latest snapshot, the 2006 Travel Weekly Travel Industry Survey:
Years in Business
More than
30 years
19%
2 years or less
7%
3 to 5 years
7%
6 to 10 years
11%
GENERAL TRAVEL AGENCY CHARACTERISTICS
■ Single-office locations, the predominant type
of agency, account for 49% of all locations in this
year’s sample, down from 57% a year ago. Home-based agencies account for another 18%, up from
6% last year. (Part of this shift stems from a revision in the wording of the questionnaire and the
apparent shift of some responses from the “Other”
category, which dropped from 5% to 1% of the total.) Locations that are part of multibranch chains
account for 32%.
■ Of the multibranch chains, most are fairly
small. Nearly half, 47%, have between two and five
branches. Another 21% have between six and 10
branches. Nearly one in five count 25 or more.
■ Most agencies are small businesses. Over
60% employ five or fewer full-time workers; 16% have
only one full-time employee. Agencies with more than
25 employees make up 12% of the sample.
■ Among brick-and-mortar agencies, about half
report annual sales of $2 million or less. Roughly a
third report sales between $2 million and $10 million. At the upper end, 19% report annual gross
sales of $10 million or more.
■ Among home-based retailers, one in five report annual sales of less than $25,000, and about
half are below the $250,000 mark. At the high end,
12% report sales of $1 million or more, and 2%
report sales of $3 million or more. Two-thirds of
these retailers describe themselves as “full-time.”
■ A majority of agencies, 61%, are affiliated
with or buy the services of a consortium or association whose principal concern is discretionary
travel, while 17% are affiliated with a group whose
principal concern is business travel.
Types of Travel Agency Offices
Branch office
on site
3%
Home-based
agency
18%
Other
1%
Single location
offi ce
49%
Head
offi ce
14%
Branch office
15%
Number of Employees
More
than 25
12%
11 to 25
10%
6 to 10
15%
2 to 5
47%
1
16%
■ A majority of agencies, or 58%, claim to have
a specialty. The specialties most often claimed
were cruises, 69%, and groups, 52%, followed by
inclusives and luxury travel, each at 45%. A third
of agents claimed to specialize in weddings or in
geographic destinations.
21 to 30 years
25%
11 to 20 years
31%
Gross Dollar Bookings
(Brick-and-Mortar Agencies )
$10M- $20M
5%
$20M
or more
14%
$5M- $10M
8%
$3M- $5M
11%
$2M- $3M
13%
$1M- $2M
21%
Gross Dollar Bookings
(Home-Based Agencies )
$2M- $3M
1%
$3M or more
2%
$500K- $2M
22%
Under $25K
20%
$250K- $500K
23%
$25K- $250K
32%
