Airline bookings continue to fall as a source of agency revenue
■ More than a third of travel agencies, 38%,
report they receive offers of incentive and over-
ride commissions from airlines that pay no base
commission.
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP SALES
■ Sales to individuals represent about 86% of
total sales; group sales and group tours account
for 17% of the domestic business and 11% of the
international business, or 14% overall. Of the individual leisure sales, 30% are for tour or vacation
packages.
■ Leisure and personal travel account for
72% of group business. Meetings, conventions
and incentive trips account for 11%, 9% and 8%,
respectively.
Sources of Revenue -
Types of Group Sales
Business
meetings
11%
Incentive
trips
8%
Leisure and personal
travel
72%
Group
convention trips
9%
Sources of Revenue -
Individual and Group Sales
Individual
business
travelers
20%
Group sales
and tours
14%
Individual
leisure travelers
36%
Individuals
traveling on tours and
vacation packages
30%
Segment Sales - Low-Fare Airline Bookings
Cruises represent 27% of sales, but most cruise sales include
some other component, such as air, hotel or car rental.
2005
Increase
Decrease
No change
SEGMENT SALES
porting a decreased use of low-fare
carriers rose slightly from 9% to
14% of agents.
2004
■ Agents report their 2005 air sales were 58%
domestic and 42% international, no significant
change from 2003 and 2004.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
■ Air travel continues to represent a diminishing
portion of travel agency activity. Air bookings represented 31% of agency sales in 2005, down from
36% in 2003 and from 34% in 2004. By contrast,
air accounted for more than 60% of agency sales in
the early 1980s.
■ Among agents reporting an increased use of low-fare carriers, the
growth of such bookings seems to
be moderating. For 2005, little more
than half, 57%, of agents reporting
increased low-fare carrier sales said
the increase was greater than 10%.
In 2004, nearly three-quarters, 72%,
of agencies reported increases of
that magnitude.
2005
Increase 34%
Decrease 14%
No change 53%
Percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding.
2004
45%
9%
46%
■ For the majority of agencies, or 54%, airline
bookings account for less than 25% of sales. Conversely, air accounts for 51% or more of total sales
for only 17% of agencies. About 11% of agencies
say they do no air at all.
Segment Sales - Air Bookings
40%
2003
36%
2004
34%
■ Fewer travel agencies are reporting an increased use of low-fare carriers. One-third of respondents said their use of low-fare carriers increased in 2005, down from 45% in 2004 and 49%
in 2003. Meanwhile, the percentage of agencies re-
■ Cruises represent about 27% 38%
of sales. Close to three-fourths of
survey respondents report that their 36%
total dollar volume of cruise sales
includes some other component, 34%
such as air, hotel, car rental, etc.
32%
These other components typically
account for about 22% of the re-
30%
ported cruise volume.
2005
31%
