US Travel Agencies : Strong Revenue Growth for the Second Year in a Row

“A second year of strong growth shows that agencies are connecting with consumers who want to work with a travel professional,” said ASTA President and CEO Zane Kerby.

“ASTA agencies are confident that they can continue to expand their business in 2014.”

Overall, in 2013, 55 percent of travel agencies reported an increase in revenue, 53 percent reported an increase in transactions, and 55 percent reported an increase in clients.

Corporate agencies expressed the strongest performance in 2013, with 65 percent reporting increased revenue and 57 percent reporting increased clients.

The 8 percent gap between increased revenue and increased clients suggests that individual corporate customers are traveling more.

Profits are up. 64 percent of the travel agencies reported a profit in 2013. When broken out, 72 percent of corporate agencies reported a profit. The average profit reported was 9% measured as a percentage of total revenue.

The future looks bright too. Agencies are forecasting stronger profits in 2014, with Retail Leisure agencies forecasting an 11 percent profit, Independent Agents forecasting a 13 percent profit and corporate agencies forecasting a 10 percent profit.

Survey data was collected through the 2014 ASTA Research Family. The ASTA Research Family is a panel comprised of a representative sample of ASTA member travel agency owners and managers and reflects ASTA members in key agency demographics including sales volume, leisure/business mix, number of part-time and full-time employees and geographic location.

The survey data was collected online via www.surveygizmo.com in January-February 2014. The reply level indicates a minimum of 95-percent confidence with an error rate +/- 5 percent. For more detailed results, download the summary report from ASTA’s Research Page.