Independent Agents Set to Top Profitability in 2014: NACTA
Independent travel consultants in North America expect to increase their profits by 13% in 2014 over last year, beating forecasts for both retail leisure and corporate agencies.
This finding in a recent survey is great news for these entrepreneurs of travel, according to the president of the National Association of Career Travel Agents (NACTA).
Ann van Leeuwen (pictured) was commenting on the latest survey by NACTA’s parent association, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) which takes a look at revenue and profit numbers for all ASTA agency members for 2013, and the 2012-2011 period. Independent travel consultants will see the largest increase in profitability up from 8% in 2011 and 2012 and 10% last year to an industry leading 13% this year. Retail leisure agencies are looking at 11% more profit in 2014 while corporate agencies can expect 10% more in profits, according to the ASTA survey.
Van Leeuwen said most of the ASTA agency members surveyed in January and February this year are based in the US, but the encouraging numbers should apply to Canadian independent consultants as well.
“Estimates for Canadian agents are not as well defined,” said the NACTA president, “but they should compare well with those in the ASTA survey because US and Canadian travel is so similar.”
NACTA and ASTA have Canadian members and NACTA is expanding its presence in Canada.
The ASTA member survey has good news for the whole travel industry with more than half of ASTA member agencies reporting stronger revenue, greater transaction volume and more clients in 2013.
In 2013, 57% of independents realized profits while another 17% broke even. There were 22% of these agents who operated at a loss for 2013 and 5% who hadn’t worked the numbers when the survey was taken.
Van Leeuwen said, “Independent travel consultants are increasing their numbers of clients and those clients are travelling more. Also, these consultants and their host agencies are controlling their businesses better, producing better profits.”
She added the survey results are extremely positive for the entire industry because “they show the power of innovation and hard work of the men and women who sell travel and related products throughout North America.”
