Just over 75% of travel agencies were profitable in 2006 and expect to be profitable again in 2007 and 2008, according to ASTA’s Financial Benchmarking Report.
The average profit, as defined by percentage of revenue, reported for 2006 was 7.1%. Labor and rent were the two largest operating expenditures, with employee salaries and benefits alone representing 49.6% of operating expenses (the percentage varied from 41.5% to 59% depending on the responding agency's regional location).
On average, respondents have 9.8 full-time equivalent employees in their agency. The median was 4.8 full-time equivalents.
Almost three-quarters (73.6) of respondents of said they primarily sell leisure travel.
With respect to commissions and service fees, base commissions were the primary source of revenue for cruises and tours. Among non-air travel segments, only car rental revenue comes primarily from service fees.
For air bookings, 16.6% of ARC revenue was derived from international flights.
The study was conducted in May 2007 and polled ASTA's Research Family, a group of 491 travel agents. The survey has a 95% degree of confidence with an error rate of +/- 6.
ASTA’s Premium members receive the study as part of their membership. The full report is available for purchase for $950 to non-members, and ASTA Travel Agent members can buy the full study for $350.