In 1999, the big got bigger, some of the middle-sized got swallowed up and almost everybody sought to make up for losses -- sometimes substantial -- resulting from caps on international commissions that had their first full year of impact.
The Internet continued to change the industry, with on-line travel companies continuing to grow, while consolidating themselves -- as well as "traditional" agencies seeking to find their place on line.
One of the most startling numbers in this year's Top 50 Travel Agencies is the rocketing of Expedia into the upper ranks of listed companies with gross revenues soaring from $250 million to $832 million in a single year.
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The List: The Top 50 Agencies
Methodology
Another on-line company, Travelocity, more than doubled its revenues, partly by acquiring the Web-based agency Preview Travel.
Although the Travelocity-Preview merger did not close until earlier this year, we calculated Travelocity's position in this publication by combining the 1999 sales of both operations to provide a current list of businesses in the market.
So-called brick-and-mortar companies were not sitting idly by while Expedia and Travelocity sales shot upward.
Navigant, which has made acquisition its byword, continued to be the Pac-man of the industry, gobbling up a number of agencies, including Oaks Travel Corp., itself a Top 50 agency in 1999.
Other 1999 Top 50 agencies were also acquired, including Direct Travel, which was bought by VTS.
Some agencies grew rapidly by adding large accounts. Fugazy Travel, for example, added a whopping $100 million in new air sales for the year.
Aside from consolidation, there was a move toward alliances among agencies as they sought to gain advantage from size and resources.
American Express joined with Maritz to form a marketing alliance dedicated to group travel services; Altour formed partnerships with several companies including Classic Cruise & Travel and Villas and Apartments Abroad, and Tzell formed a strategic alliance with Advanced Travel Management.
Also, McCord Travel Management and Protravel, both Top 50 agencies in 1999, formed a joint venture called Protravel -- the Zenith Group, which will focus on premium clients.
The new organization rekindled the name of Zenith, a name long associated with high-end travel in New York before Zenith Travel was acquired by McCord in 1995.
And some travel agencies sought to diversify into areas only related to travel or even outside of travel.
Valerie Wilson Travel joined with Vacation Network to form a Web site called Luxury4less.com, which sells travel and other products -- not at a discount but with value-added extras.
While on-line bookings continue to be low, most agencies expect substantial bookings via the Internet in the next few years; for the most part, however, they will remain a relatively small part of all bookings.
Of course, on-line bookings represent 100% of the bookings for Expedia and Travelocity.
Adelman Travel reported that, with a renewed focus on on-line bookings, it expects many more customers to use Sabre BTS (a self-booking tool) while the agency continues to provide quality control, support and consulting services.
Many agencies sought to get into the on-line game, creating products of their own or buying into others.
A major example was the purchase of Biztravel.com by Rosenbluth. Rosenbluth also formed Rosenbluth Interactive to focus on Web-based initiatives.
Omega Travel started Top9.com, a rating service of on-line travel sites.
Navigant formed NavigantVacations.com to operate two leisure-oriented Web sites: NavigantVacations.com and CruiseCenter.com.
World Wide Travel Services developed its own self-booking tool and charges no fees to clients who use it.
Casto Travel is beta-testing an on-line auction system and a leisure self-booking system. And Journeycorp created a program called Maestro -- an on-line incentive site for clients.
There surely will be more.
Most agencies on the list saw a large percentage of their revenues derived from business travel although a few went counter to that grain -- like Liberty, with 98% leisure; and the AAA agencies, with leisure bookings of 50% and more.
Many agencies took pains to discuss the impact of international commission caps on their businesses.
For example, Corporate Travel Management officials reported that it lost a full 50% to 60% of commissions and 30% of income; it had to restructure existing fees and institute new ones for international bookings.
These and other trends have steamrolled into 2000 -along with new challenges.
For instance, several hotel chains have begun to limit commissions on line, and others may follow.
Those agencies that have survived the last few years of turmoil to remain in the top echelon may or not have already faced the most dramatic of the changes.
But those that hope to remain in the Top 50 in 2001 will not be able to let up on their efforts to stay ahead of the curve.