According to the Airline Reporting Corporation, 52% of all international airline ticket sales ($3.9b) is done by the “other travel agent” category. This is down from 57% the beginning of the year.
Mega agencies come in 2nd with 30% ($2.2b) of all agency sales. This is up from 25% in the 1st quarter.
The Online Travel Agency (OTA) category comes in last on international sales with just 18% of total, at $1.3b in sales in the 3rd quarter. They had a momentary lift in the 2nd quarter to 20%, but dropped back down in the 3rd quarter. This is down from 35% in 1Q2012. This is a powerful category, since it includes just four agencies — Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity and Orbitz (and its sub-brands).
The international transaction numbers follow a similar pattern, with the Mega Agencies picking up volume at the expense of both the other brick and mortar agencies and the OTAs.
