ARC reports that the year is getting off to a good start, with total travel agency sales in January rising 10.7%, to over $5.9 billion.
Total transactions rose nearly 7%, to 12.1 million.
But while the totals mark an improvement over 2009’s numbers, most of ARC’s data points for the month still lag behind the totals reported for the prior three years (2006-2008). In those years, January’s sales regularly topped $6 billion, and the January transaction count hovered around 14 million.
Breaking out the monthly total, ARC said the $5.9 billion includes $2.6 billion in domestic fares, a 7% increase, plus nearly $2.4 billion in international fares, a gain of over 15%. The total remittance also includes some $871,000 in taxes and fees.
The strong increase in international sales continues a recent trend whereby international bookings represent an increasing share of the dollar volume of ARC activity.
January’s dollar total is 52.3% domestic and 47.6% international. As recently as 2006 the split was approximately 60/40.
None of ARC’s January indicators showed a decline from the same month of 2009 except cash sales and cash transactions, which continue to decline.
The number of cash transactions for the month declined 2.7%, to 1.4 million, and accounted for 11.8% of the total number of transactions. In dollar terms, the cash receipts fell 2%, to $581 million.
The January data reflects activity for 189 airlines and 15,767 retail locations plus 930 satellite ticket printer sites.