The Final Numbers Are In

Well, we have all been waiting with baited breath for the results of the one day sale held nearly a month ago. Apparently the numbers are in and there were 12,000 passengers sold. This equates to about 6,000 cruises. What the press release does not state, is that this was a Carnival promotion and was heavily focused on selling cruise certificates valued at approximately $400.

These certificates are for two people, so the dollar value to this promotion (to the supplier) is in the range of $2.4 million dollars. At a 16% commission, this effort likely earned YTB less than $384,000. Based on the 130,000 Referring Travel Agents that participated, all things being equal, each would have earned 60% of the YTB commission or about $1.77 per Referring Travel Agent.

Here are the first two paragraphs from the release:

YTB International, Inc. , a provider of Internet- based travel booking services for travel agencies and home-based independent representatives in the United States, announced today that it held a successful one-day cruise sales event in November.

During the event, YTB's network of Referring Travel Agents (RTAs) booked more than 12,000 cruise passengers through gift certificates, individual, and group cruises. YTB's efforts marked one of the best single sales days for cruises in the history of the industry.

While this may be an admirable day for YTB and Carnival, I am not so sure it is worthy of all the accolades. Look at the recent WLCN:

A travel agent survey conducted by CLIA reveals that WLCN events, held throughout North America on October 17, are expected to generate a total of 17,852 bookings - which translates into an estimated $22.3 million in sales that will yield more than $3 million in travel agency commissions.

This was produced by 900 agencies at events in their stores on one night. There was a virtual component to this as well and according to CLIA:

Combined, CLIA's 2007 WLCN events and online Virtual WLCN option are estimated by the nearly 4,000 participating agents and agencies to generate a total of as many as 34,654 bookings, $43.3 million in sales and over $5.8 million in travel agency commissions.

So, 4,000 traditional agents produce 34,654 bookings (probably 70,000 passengers) resulting in sales of $43 million and commissions of $5.8million. This seems a bit more successful than 130,000 agents producing 6,000 bookings, resulting in sales of $2.4 million and commissions of $384,000.

Look at it another way, 130,000 Referring Travel Agents had the potential to each earn $1.77 for their efforts. 4,000 Travel Agents had the potential to each earn $1,450. As was mentioned before, this was a Carnival/YTB promotion in response to the RCI announcement to terminate the YTB contract. It is a safe assumption that the YTB average sale was considerably lower than the WLCN average sale--the WLCN focused on all cruise products and not just one product with an entry level price point.

Once again, the numbers are what the numbers are!

YTB Release

CLIA Release