Travel agency industry - statistics & facts
Are brick-and-mortar travel agencies really a thing of the past? The concept of purchasing travel services via an agency has stayed roughly the same since the mid-1800s, when the first travel agent opened in the United Kingdom. However, the advent of the internet has dramatically impacted this market, with online travel agencies (OTAs) quickly gaining an edge over brick-and-mortar shops. In 2025, online sales accounted for over 70 percent of the global travel and tourism market’s revenue.
The biggest players in the online travel agency market
Owner of Booking.com, the most visited travel website worldwide, Booking Holdings is one of the undisputed leaders of the online travel market. In 2025, Booking Holdings’ revenue peaked at almost 27 billion U.S. dollars, surpassing one of the firm’s biggest competitors, Expedia Group, by over 12 billion U.S. dollars.
While Expedia Group ranks just behind Booking Holdings in a list of the biggest online travel agencies worldwide based on revenue, it was Airbnb that reported the second-highest market cap of leading online travel companies in 2025, ahead of Trip.com Group. Meanwhile, Airbnb also has one of the lowest marketing-to-revenue ratios in the OTA market, showing that it is less reliant on marketing than its competitors to generate sales.
What is the current state of the travel agency and tour operator market?
Despite having lost ground to OTAs, brick-and-mortar shops are still relevant in the market, with consumers often preferring to rely on travel agents when in need of an expert’s opinion. This is particularly true for the cruise industry, where bookings can be more complex. When looking at the sales channels of the global cruise industry, offline channels generated over three-quarters of that market’s revenue in 2025.
Although the combined market cap of leading travel agencies and tour operators worldwide is a fraction of the aggregated market cap of the largest OTAs, there is no lack of big companies in this market, including the likes of travel giant TUI AG and Flight Centre. In 2025, TUI AG’s revenue exceeded 24 billion U.S. dollars – not far behind Booking Holdings’ figure that year and the highest result reported by the company to date.
What does the future of the travel agency market look like?
Just like the introduction of the internet launched the online travel market, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the travel and tourism sector could revolutionize the travel agency industry once again. For example, OTAs have access to a huge amount of data that can be used to better train AI agents to produce more personalized content for travelers. Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar agencies could use AI to automate daily processes and instead focus on what sets them apart in the market: expertise and customer service. At the same time, AI could also pose a threat to both OTAs and traditional agents, as travelers might decide to bypass these intermediaries entirely if viable alternatives to plan and book their trips are offered directly within an AI chatbot conversation. In any case, the industry’s priority will remain allowing travelers to book trips as smoothly as possible – one of the few things that has stayed the same in the ever-changing world of travel.
