German tourism sales soar in August ahead of commissions cut

Sep 18, 04 | 1:07 am

Leisure travel sales in German travel agencies grew strongly last month with a 13.1% year-on-year rise, according to the latest monthly sales survey by the TATS organisation.

Together with a 22.6% increase in airline ticket sales, overall agency revenues rose 15.1%. The sharp increases are partly due to a large number of German agents deliberately bringing forward bookings involving airline tickets into August in order to still earn commissions. From September 1 onwards, Lufthansa and other airlines stopped paying agents sales commissions.

This factor may well lead to lower airline sales in September despite the overall market growth, according to observers. Over the first eight months, agents’ revenues rose 13.2%, with tourism sales up 8.7% and airline sales up 18.5%. Leisure travel bookings for the year ending October 2004, including advance holiday bookings, now show a 7.8% plus. The TATS survey covers 2,050 German travel agencies.