Travel agencies sit between travelers and a wide network of transportation, lodging, tours, and destination services. The latest figures show a U.S. industry with rising quarterly revenue through early 2025, 12,519 travel-arrangement firms in the 2022 Economic Census, and 61,500 travel-agent jobs in the 2025 baseline used for federal projections. European data adds a broader view: related travel agencies and tour operators generated €159 billion in turnover in 2023.
Table of contents
- U.S. travel-arrangement revenue
- Revenue growth over time
- U.S. business scale
- Jobs, wages, and regional concentration
- Travel-agent outlook
- European travel-agency footprint
- Hawaii travel-agency measures
U.S. travel-arrangement revenue
The U.S. Census Bureau’s quarterly series measures employer-firm revenue for travel arrangement and reservation services. The figures are seasonally adjusted, so they are intended to make quarter-to-quarter comparisons more useful. The series uses a broad services category rather than only traditional storefront travel agencies.
Reported revenue moved from ,375 million in Q4 2020 to ,318 million in Q1 2021, then to ,459 million in Q2 and ,125 million in Q3. It reached ,472 million in Q4 2021 and ,961 million in Q1 2022. These early observations cover the period when the category was rebuilding from its 2020 level.
The later Census releases report the following quarterly values:
| Period | Seasonally adjusted revenue |
|---|---|
| Q1 2023 | ,633 million |
| Q2 2023 | ,261 million |
| Q3 2023 | ,016 million |
| Q4 2023 | ,583 million |
| Q1 2024 | ,786 million |
| Q2 2024 | ,955 million |
| Q3 2024 | ,541 million |
| Q4 2024 | ,650 million |
| Q1 2025 | ,801 million |
The 2023 and 2024 estimates come from successive releases of the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Selected Services Estimates. The Q1 2025 estimate is the latest period in the supplied series. See Q4 2023 estimates, Q2 2024 estimates, Q3 2024 estimates, Q4 2024 estimates, and Q1 2025 estimates.
Revenue growth over time
The year-over-year growth pattern shows a sharp recovery followed by slower increases. Revenue rose 93.5% in Q1 2022, 49.8% in Q2, 30.2% in Q3, and 29.5% in Q4, according to the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Selected Services Estimates, First Quarter 2022.
Growth remained positive in the later series but moderated:
- Q3 2023: 10.9% year over year
- Q4 2023: 9.9%
- Q1 2024: 9.3%
- Q2 2024: 7.9%
- Q3 2024: 2.7%
- Q4 2024: 1.7%
- Q1 2025: 1.0%
These percentages describe changes in the travel-arrangement and reservation-services category, not the performance of every individual agency. They also should not be read as a forecast. The source labels the quarterly revenue measures as seasonally adjusted estimates, while the year-over-year changes are reported for the relevant comparison periods. The series is best used as an industry-level direction-of-travel indicator.
There are several useful distinctions when reading this sequence. A year-over-year percentage compares a quarter with the same quarter one year earlier; it does not measure the change from the immediately preceding quarter. Seasonally adjusted revenue is designed to reduce recurring calendar effects, but it remains an estimate for the period reported. The Q1 2025 growth rate of 1.0% therefore indicates that the category’s reported revenue was higher than in Q1 2024 by that stated rate, not that every agency grew by 1.0%. Company-level results can differ because agencies serve different destinations, customer segments, and booking channels.
U.S. business scale
The 2022 U.S. Economic Census counted 12,519 firms and 15,966 establishments in travel arrangement and reservation services under NAICS 5615. In the same category, the Census recorded ,017,444 thousand in U.S. revenue and ,814,476 thousand in annual payroll. These measures describe the 2022 Economic Census reference year and are not the same series as the quarterly estimates. The figures are published in the Census Bureau’s 2022 summary statistics for NAICS 5615.
The narrower NAICS 561510 profile lists 9,308 total employer establishments for U.S. travel agencies in 2022. Because NAICS 5615 covers travel arrangement and reservation services broadly, while NAICS 561510 identifies travel agencies, the two establishment counts should not be combined. The Census Bureau’s National Industry 561510 profile provides the narrower industry measure.
Together, these counts show why “travel agencies” and “travel arrangement services” are related but not interchangeable statistical labels. A business-count comparison must use the same NAICS definition, geography, and reference year.
Jobs, wages, and regional concentration
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated 58,250 U.S. travel-agent jobs in May 2023. The occupation had a $25.06 mean hourly wage and a ,040 mean annual wage. The median annual wage was ,410. These occupation-wide figures include travel agents across industries, not only workers employed by travel agencies. The source is the BLS May 2023 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics profile for travel agents.
Employment is geographically uneven. Florida had 9,350 travel-agent jobs in May 2023, while Washington had 4,940. Washington’s location quotient was 3.68, indicating that travel-agent employment was more concentrated there relative to the national occupational employment pattern. California travel agents had a ,720 mean annual wage in the same BLS release. Job counts, wages, and location quotient are separate measures: a large job total does not automatically mean the highest concentration or highest pay.
The available state figures also illustrate why regional context matters for international travel guides. Florida’s job count reflects scale, Washington’s location quotient reflects concentration, and California’s wage figure reflects compensation. They answer different questions and should not be ranked as though they measured the same outcome.
Travel-agent outlook
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook reports a median annual wage of ,160 for U.S. travel agents in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than ,610, while the highest-paid 10% earned more than ,660. Travel agents working in travel arrangement and reservation services had a ,650 median annual wage in May 2025. These are May 2025 wage measures, not projections.
For employment, BLS recorded 61,500 travel-agent jobs as the 2025 base for its projections. It projects 61,700 jobs in 2035, which is a 0% change from 2025 to 2035, and about 5,900 openings per year on average over that decade. The projection describes total employment change, while annual openings can include positions created by workers leaving the occupation or moving to another occupation. The source is the BLS Travel Agents Occupational Outlook Handbook.
The 2025 wage and outlook figures should not be directly substituted for the May 2023 estimates above. They come from a later BLS publication and use the measurement period stated by that source. Likewise, the 2035 employment number is a forecast, not an observed count.
European travel-agency footprint
Eurostat’s Tourism industries - economic analysis takes a broader industry view of EU travel agencies, tour operators, and other related activities. The group recorded €159 billion in turnover in 2023. Its turnover increased by €55 billion from 2021 to 2023, equivalent to a 53% increase over that period.
In 2023, these activities represented 12% of EU tourism-industry net turnover, 4% of tourism-industry enterprises, 6% of tourism-industry value added, and 3% of persons employed. The figures show a sector with a larger share of tourism turnover than of tourism enterprises or employment, but they do not establish profitability or productivity for individual agencies.
For context, the EU had 2.7 million enterprises across its tourism industries in 2023. That total is the denominator context for the wider tourism sector, not a count of travel agencies or tour operators. The detailed source is Eurostat’s Tourism industries - economic analysis.
Hawaii travel-agency measures
The 2022 Economic Census provides a smaller regional example for Hawaii. It counted 125 travel-agency establishments and 135 employees. Hawaii travel agencies reported ,787 thousand in revenue and ,192 thousand in annual payroll in 2022.
These Hawaii figures describe NAICS 561510 travel agencies and should be kept separate from the national NAICS 5615 travel-arrangement and reservation-services totals. They also represent a single state and a single Economic Census year, so they are not a current quarterly indicator or a forecast. The source is the Census Bureau’s Hawaii: Travel Agencies, 2022 Economic Census Summary Statistics.