Travel Agencies & Services Industry Profile

The US travel services industry includes about 17,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $35 billion. Major companies include Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Expedia, Sabre Holdings (which owns Travelocity), and the travel agency operations of American Express. The industry is concentrated: the 50 largest companies account for about 60 percent of revenue.

Worldwide tourism revenue, which includes travel agency services, is about $920 billion, according to the World Tourism Organization. Major international travel agency services are TUI Travel and Thomas Cook Group, both headquartered in the UK. Travel agency services are most prevalent in the countries with the highest tourism rates, such as the US, Spain, France, and China.

Travel agencies frequently mention their sales volume or "bookings," the value of the tickets they purchase for customers, a figure much higher than the revenue they receive in commissions.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by business and leisure travel, which depends on the economy. The profitability of individual companies depends on marketing. Large companies have an advantage in being able to provide a wider range of services, especially to corporate customers, and to afford sophisticated websites. Small companies can compete effectively by providing service to a few large customers or by serving a local market.

Two major factors have shaped the industry in recent years: sophisticated pricing schemes developed by the airlines to maximize profitability, and the emergence of the Internet as a widely ...