Average Travel Agency Revenue (2026 Data)

The average U.S. travel agency with employees took in $4.76 million¹ in revenue in 2022: $35.6 billion² of receipts shared by 7,476² firms. Yet almost no agency looks like that average. Two in three firms, 65.2%¹, took in less than $500,000, while 49² firms, each with $100 million or more, held 77.0%¹ of all receipts between them. The average is a giants' number, and the median agency earns a small fraction of it.

The sections below separate the two worlds: what agencies earn by size and by state, how the wider travel booking industry grew to a record $93.1 billion³ in 2025, why hotel commissions now pay more of the bills than airline tickets, how much of each dollar is left as profit, what agency staff earn, and what it costs an agency to win a customer online.

What the average travel agency earns

Travel agencies with at least one employee reported $35.6 billion² in receipts in 2022, the latest year with firm-level receipts. Divided among 7,476² firms, that is $4.76 million¹ per firm; counted by location, the 9,382² offices averaged $3.79 million¹ each, and each of the 77,632² employees stood for about $458,100¹ of receipts. Receipts here are what the agency itself books: its commissions and fees, and the full price of trips it sells as a principal. They are not the value of all the travel an agency sells on behalf of airlines and hotels.²

Most agencies are small

The mean hides a very uneven spread: grouped by the receipts of the whole company, the median agency falls into the $100,000 to $499,999 group, which holds 39.7%² of firms and averaged $243,800¹ per firm. A quarter of agencies, 1,905² firms, took in under $100,000 and averaged $48,700¹. At the top, 49² firms, just 0.66%¹ of the total, took in $27.4 billion², so without them the average for everyone else would be far lower.²

Fewer offices, bigger firms

The industry got leaner and larger between 2017 and 2022. The number of firms fell from 9,228⁴ to 7,476², and the number of offices dropped 40.3%¹, from 15,726⁴ to 9,382². Receipts rose from $21.8 billion⁴ to $35.6 billion² over the same years, so the average firm went from $2.36 million¹ to $4.76 million¹, about 2.02¹ times as much. Employment fell from 96,008⁴ to 77,632², yet payroll grew to $7.15 billion², or 20.1%¹ of receipts in 2022.

One-person travel businesses

Behind the agencies with staff stands a much larger crowd of self-employed travel sellers: home-based travel advisors and other one-person booking businesses. In the wider travel arrangement and reservation group, which also covers tour operators and booking services, there were 87,716⁵ businesses without employees in 2023. They took in $42,815¹ each on average, up from $37,212¹ in 2018, after a dip to $23,826⁶ in 2020. Their number grew by more than a third over five years, from 63,391⁷ in 2018.⁵

So where do those dollars land on the map?

Travel agency revenue by state

Receipts per office vary more than a hundredfold between states. Arizona's 145¹¹ travel agency offices averaged $55.8 million¹ each in 2022, and Washington's 185¹¹ averaged $29.2 million¹; South Dakota's averaged $296,000¹. Those two peaks do not mean that the typical agency in Arizona or Washington is a giant: the receipts of a large company are counted where its offices report them, so they are concentrated in a few establishments.¹¹ On the map, the two outliers stretch the color scale so far that almost every other state lands in the lowest band; hover a state for its value.

Measured as total receipts, the ranking changes. Florida, with 1,143¹¹ offices, and California, with the most at 1,354¹¹, rank third and fourth, behind Arizona and Washington. Texas and New York follow. The top five states held well over half of all travel agency receipts in the country.

How industry revenue has grown since 2004

For a yearly view that runs to 2025, the wider group of travel arrangement and reservation services, which includes travel agencies, tour operators and other booking services, is the measure to use. It earned $93.1 billion³ in 2025, a record, 5.4%¹ more than the $88.4 billion¹² of 2024 and 41.6%¹ more than in 2019. In 2004 it earned $27.8 billion¹², so revenue is now 3.35¹ times as large in current dollars. The one break in the climb was 2020, when revenue fell 47.9%¹ in a single year to $34.2 billion¹².^{12 3}

Growth has continued into 2026. Revenue for the first half of the year reached $46.8 billion³, 6.5%¹ above the first half of 2025, and the seasonally adjusted second quarter came to $24.7 billion³, 7.5%³ above a year earlier. The second-quarter figure is preliminary and has a coefficient of variation of 8.0%³, so it may still change.³

Our straight line through 2004-2025 adds about $2.8 billion¹ a year and reaches roughly $146.6 billion¹ by 2050. It is our calculation, not a forecast: the line ignores the size of the 2020 shock and the fast rebound since, and no official outlook for the industry's revenue exists.

The summer quarter

Revenue follows the travel calendar. In 2025 the July-September quarter brought $27.2 billion³, or 29.3%¹ of the year, while the January-March quarter brought $20.0 billion³, 21.4%¹.

Travel agencies inside the industry

Travel agencies alone earned $44.4 billion¹³ in 2024, 11.8%¹ more than the $39.8 billion¹⁴ of 2023. That was 48.4%¹ of the $91.7 billion¹³ earned by all travel arrangement and reservation services in that count. Other booking services, a group that covers timeshare exchanges, ticket offices and similar businesses, earned 32.8%¹, tour operators 15.4%¹ and convention and visitors bureaus 3.4%¹. Each agency employee stood for $490,400¹ of revenue in 2024, and payroll took 21.5%¹ of it.¹³

Agencies are the largest of the four parts of the travel booking business, but not a majority: tour operators, visitors bureaus and other booking services together earned $47.3 billion¹ in 2024, a little more than the agencies themselves.¹³

The Pacific states lead by far. Travel arrangement businesses there earned $24.4 billion¹³ in 2024. The Mountain states' own figure was withheld for 2024, but the West region total of $40.4 billion¹³ less the Pacific leaves about $16.0 billion¹ for them, our calculation, which puts them second, just ahead of the South Atlantic states at $15.6 billion¹³.¹³

A large part of the money now arrives online. Across travel arrangement and reservation services, $29.5 billion¹⁵ of revenue came from electronic sources in 2022, 42.7%¹ of the total, a share a little below the 44.9%¹ of 2017.¹⁵

Where travel agency revenue comes from

Hotels, not airlines, now pay the largest share of an agency's revenue.¹⁵ In 2022, commissions and fees from lodging brought travel agencies $12.3 billion¹⁵, 38.1%¹ of their $32.3 billion¹⁵ in revenue. In 2013 the same line was $2.7 billion¹⁵, 17.9%¹ of revenue, so it grew 4.61¹ times in nine years. Airline seats, domestic and international together, brought 12.8%¹, and cruises 4.8%¹.¹⁵

Trip planning fell behind

Fees for planning trips were the second-largest line before the pandemic, at $5.1 billion¹⁵ in 2019. By 2022 they had fallen to $2.5 billion¹⁵, 49.2%¹ of the 2019 amount, while lodging commissions were already above their 2019 level. Cruise commissions were still well short of 2019 as well.

Business and leisure customers

Leisure travelers bring most of the money. In 2022 they accounted for $22.8 billion¹⁵ of agency revenue against $9.5 billion¹⁵ from business customers, whose share slipped to 29.5%¹ from 31.6%¹ in 2019. The newest count, for 2024, puts leisure at 73.1%¹ of agency revenue and business at 26.9%¹, down from 32.9%¹ in 2023.^{13 14} The two counts come from different samples and are not joined in one line.

Tickets that pass through agencies are a far bigger sum than the agencies' own revenue. Accredited U.S. agencies sold $100.4 billion¹⁶ of airline tickets in 2025, the most on record, covering 292.9 million¹⁶ passenger trips, 3.1%¹ more in value than in 2019.¹⁶ That is the value of the tickets, most of which goes to the airlines; the agency keeps only its commission or fee.

The average profit margin for a travel agency

The clearest profit measure covers corporations in travel arrangement and reservation services, the group that includes agencies. In tax year 2022 they kept 13.5%¹ of total receipts as net income before income tax, after losses at unprofitable firms are subtracted. That was above the 12.1%¹ of 2019 and far from 2020, when losses exceeded profits by 12.3%¹ of receipts. Only 53.5%¹ of corporations reported a profit in 2022, against 61.3%¹ in 2013.²⁰

Margins were thin before 2019: 3.0%¹ in 2013, 2.0%¹ in 2016 and 1.5%¹ in 2017.^{21 22 23} The jump after 2019 is the big change, and it came as the count of returns fell from 18,688²¹ in 2013 to 14,003²⁰ in 2022.

Revenue left after operating costs

A second measure, for travel agencies alone, compares revenue with operating expenses. It is not net profit, but it shows the same direction. In 2022, 23.2%¹ of agency revenue was left after operating expenses, up from 15.5%¹ in 2019 and 2.3%¹ in 2020. For 2024, the newest count gives 29.0%¹.^{15 13}

The two largest online agencies

The two largest online agencies show how far margins can spread.^{30 31} Booking Holdings earned an operating margin of 32.8%¹ on $26.9 billion³⁰ of revenue in 2025; Expedia Group earned 12.7%¹ on $14.7 billion³¹. Both had operating losses in 2020, Booking 9.3%¹ of revenue and Expedia 52.3%³¹.^{30 31} Expedia's 2008, a year of large write-downs, is left out of the chart.

What travel agency workers earn

Pay at travel agencies has risen fast. The average worker earned $105,212³² in 2025, 1.86¹ times the $56,568³² of 2014. The average covers every job at an agency, managers and head-office staff included, so it is not the pay of a typical agent. Employment tells the other side: 74,912³² jobs in 2025, only 81.9%¹ of the 91,440³² of 2019.³²

A straight line through 2004-2025 reaches about $170,400¹ by 2050 in current dollars, with no adjustment for inflation; it is our calculation, not a forecast.

Pay varies about fourfold by state. Washington paid the highest average in 2025, $215,718³², ahead of Connecticut at $193,920³²; South Dakota was lowest at $52,119³². The most agency jobs were in Florida, 9,216³², then California and Texas.³²

What it costs to win a travel customer

Online advertising is cheap per click for travel and poor per dollar of return. In 2026 benchmark data from advertisers' search campaigns, a click on a travel ad cost $2.14³³ on average, 39.5%¹ of the $5.42³³ average across all industries. Travel ads were clicked more often, at 9.32%³³ of views against 6.64%³³, but converted less often: 5.83%³³ of clicks became a lead, 2.35¹ percentage points below the all-industry 8.18%³³.³³

Travel ads are among the most clicked. Only arts and entertainment and finance ads drew a higher share of clicks per view in the benchmark.³³

More clicks do not mean more customers. Of every hundred people who click a travel ad, fewer than six leave an inquiry, a rate that puts travel in the lower half of the table below.³³

The average cost per lead in the travel industry

In the same benchmark, a lead cost travel advertisers $44.70³³ in 2026. That is mid-table: legal services paid $131.63³³ per lead and arts and entertainment $26.84³³. A lead is an inquiry, a form or a call, not a booking, so the cost of a paying customer is higher.³³

The average ROAS for Google Ads in the travel industry

Return on ad spend is where travel lags. Across more than 5,000 advertiser accounts from March 2025 to April 2026, travel and tourism campaigns earned 2.12³⁴ dollars of revenue per dollar of ad spend, the lowest of the seven industries reported and 1.40¹ below the median of 3.52³⁴ for all campaigns.³⁴ Clicks in that sample cost $1.60³⁴ to $2.75³⁴, and 3.5%³⁴ of them converted.

Email reaches fewer travel readers too. Travel and transportation emails were opened by 30.10%³⁵ of recipients, a median across campaigns from December 2024 to November 2025, 13.36¹ points below the all-industry 43.46%³⁵ and the lowest of 46 industries. Opens are overstated by mail apps that load images automatically, so clicks are the firmer figure.³⁵

What the giants spend

The two largest online agencies spend on a scale no small agency can match.^{31 30} Expedia Group spent $3.9 billion³¹ on advertising in 2025, 26.5%¹ of its revenue, down from a peak of 33.4%¹ in 2022. The share has moved up and down since 2009 without a steady trend, so no line is drawn through it.³¹ Booking Holdings spent $8.2 billion³⁰ on marketing, 30.4%¹ of revenue, down from 34.1%¹ in 2018.³⁰ The two companies report different expense lines, so their shares are shown in separate tables.

Booking Holdings reports marketing rather than advertising. Its share peaked at 35.1%¹ in 2022 and has eased each year since.³⁰

What the numbers mean for an agency

For a small agency, the headline average is the wrong yardstick. The median agency sits in the class that averaged $243,800¹ in 2022, so an owner comparing against $4.76 million¹ is comparing against the largest firms. A better check is the share of revenue that is left: 23.2%¹ after operating costs across all agencies in 2022, with payroll alone taking 20.1%¹ of receipts.^{15 2}

The product mix matters as much as the size. Lodging commissions grew into the largest source of revenue while airline seats brought about one dollar in eight, so an agency that sells mainly flights competes for the smallest slice.¹⁵ Trip-planning fees, which once earned more than airline seats, were at half their 2019 level in 2022.

Marketing costs need the same care. A click on a travel ad costs little, but a lead costs $44.70³³, and each ad dollar brings back about two dollars of revenue, the weakest return of the seven industries measured. For an agency that keeps only a commission on that revenue, the gap between a cheap click and a paying customer decides whether advertising pays.^{33 34}

Conclusions

1. The average agency is a statistical fiction. The $4.76 million mean is carried by 49 firms that hold 77.0% of receipts, while the median agency sits in the class averaging $243,800.²
2. Hotels, not airlines, now pay the agencies. Lodging commissions grew 4.61 times from 2013 to 2022 and made up 38.1% of revenue, while the $100.4 billion of air tickets that agencies sold in 2025 mostly belongs to the airlines.^{15 16}
3. Fewer firms, higher margins. The count of travel agency offices fell 40.3% from 2017 to 2022, yet margins for corporations in travel arrangement and reservation services rose from 1.5% in 2017 to 13.5% in 2022 and pay per worker reached $105,212 in 2025.^{2 20 32}
4. The industry is bigger than ever, and still growing. Revenue reached $93.1 billion in 2025 and grew 6.5% in the first half of 2026.³
5. Winning customers online is cheap per click and weak per dollar. Travel clicks cost $2.14, yet each ad dollar brought back 2.12 dollars of revenue, the lowest return of seven industries measured.^{33 34}