Through July, U.S.-based travel agencies were running slightly
behind last year in airline ticket sales, ARC reported Wednesday.
During the first seven months of the year, U.S. agencies sold
$55.4 billion in airline tickets, off 1% from last year. Ticket sales in
July were $7.4 billion, down 1.7% from a year earlier.
The slight dip in sales was due to lower purchase prices, not
fewer ticket sales. The number of ticket transactions recorded by agencies was
up 5% for the first seven months of the year, at 94.3 million.
Ticket transactions for July were up 5.7%, to 13.1 million.