Growth of at-home travel agents is robust
A surprising American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) study found the number of home-based agents is increasing dramatically while a decreasingly number of agencies are located on main streets and strip malls.
By way of comparison, in 2002, 7.3% of ASTA travel agencies defined themselves as being home-based. By 2006, that number rose to 17.4%.
But agencies located on main streets and in strip malls fell by 6.3% and 2.4%, during the same time frame.
The study also found that travel agencies with sales of between $5 million and $10 million make up the fastest growing segment of ASTA’s membership.
In 1998, 7% of ASTA members reported sales volume in this category, while in 2006 that figure rose to 10.1% for a 44.6% increase overall.
The 2006 ASTA Agency Profile report also found that the number of agencies who reported sales volumes as being either between $4 million and $4.9 million or more than $10 million has grown by 24% during the same time period.
Another trend in the study is that between 2000 and 2006, the sales mix of US travel agencies has undergone a major shift. In 2000, agencies reported well over half of their sales mix came from air sales. Six years later, that figure dropped by more than half.
In contrast, sales of both cruises and tours saw a strong increase.
The report also found that the average number of full-time employees is 8.1, although 42.6% of respondents reported having only between one and two employees.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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