ARC says August air ticket revenue fell 20% from July

With higher spread of Covid-19, ARC-accredited travel agencies saw air ticket revenue decline by 20% in August compared to July.

Total agency sales for the month were $3.2 billion, down from $4 billion in July. 

"Airlines and travel agencies anticipated a drop in overall sales and passenger trips in August as new mandates and border restrictions began taking effect in July," said Steve Solomon, ARC's vice president of global sales, marketing operations and customer experience. "Our data shows that decline beginning to level off toward the end of August." 

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Sales have stabilized in September when comparing 2021 with 2019.

For the week that ended Sept. 12, ARC-accredited agencies sold 40.7% fewer tickets than the same week in 2019. The value of those tickets was down 59.6% compared to 2019.

By comparison, agencies sold 43% fewer tickets during the week that ended Aug. 29 compared to the same week in 2019. Volume for those tickets sales was off 60.1% from 2019.