GTMC member BSP figures reveal quieter post-Olympic August

Industry body, the Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC), has said sales figures from its member’s August 2012 Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) systems reveal that air sales are down 4.7 per cent against the same month last year.
 
GTMC chairman, Key Travel’s Ajaya Sodha, said the figures were to be expected. “The drop in air sales by GTMC members was probably due to the Olympics’ effect combined with the traditional holiday season,” he said. “August is always traditionally slow and now UK PLC is back at work full on we await the September figures to get a truer picture.”
 
BSP is a system designed to facilitate and simplify the selling, reporting and remitting procedures of IATA Accredited Passenger Sales Agents, as well as improve financial control and cash flow for BSP Airlines.
 
Air sales by all BSP agents were down by 3.24 per cent in August when compared to last year. Year-on-year sales by all BSP agents decreased 1.88 per cent and, with GTMC members singled out, the stats are slightly better and down just 0.88 per cent. Average transaction value for GTMC members showed a decrease of 2.39 per cent in August but are slightly up year on year by 1.12 per cent.
 
The average transaction value for all BSP agents was down 3.56 per cent for August and also down for year on year by 1.49 per cent.
 
Founded in 1967, the GTMC is made up of a range of travel management companies. Of the top 50 UK TMCs, 36 are GTMC members. GTMC members have a total UK turnover of £7bn, they account for some 80 per cent of business travel spend in the UK and facilitate more than 11 million transactions, including the sale of over six million airline tickets each year and employ 10,000 staff in the UK.
 
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