The average commission split between independent contractors and host agencies is 74/26, according to the 2008 Nacta Independent Agents Report.
The contractor's portion of the commission split has been inching upward since the 2006 and 2007 surveys, from 70% and 72%, respectively.
The Nacta report tracks sales, revenue, demographics and other data from 2007, and its findings are based on 449 responses to an email survey distributed in June to Nacta members by ASTA Research.
In other survey results:
• The GDSs continue to lose business from independent agents. The percentage of agents who have their own GDS contracts is 7.3%, down from 12% in the 2007 report. Of those who have their own contracts, 3.6% said they use Sabre, 2.3% use Amadeus and 1.4% use Travelport (Worldspan/Galileo/Apollo).
However, 65% of Nacta agents said they didn't need a GDS with their business model.
• The highest percentage of respondents, 37.9%, said they were "fully independent," meaning they were not affiliated with a host agency and that they dealt directly with suppliers. Hosted agents followed at 29%, and 20% said they were a "combination independent and hosted agent."
• When asked which host or franchise they used, 20% of agents said they were affiliated with Nexion. Travel Planners had the second-highest percentage, 7.8%, in the list of hosts. Also on the list of 14 hosts, Joystar claimed 3.4%, America's Vacation Center 3.7% and YTB 1.5%.