December air transactions by members of the
United Kingdom's Guild of Travel Management Companies for
the third consecutive month fell sharply year over year, but the fourth-quarter
decline did not prevent full-year 2011 sales from finishing marginally higher
than in 2010. The GTMC's 35 members, which according to the organization handle
80 percent of U.K. business travel bookings, last month transacted 346,000 air
reservations through the International Air Transport Association's Billing and
Settlement Plan. That figure was down 13 percent from the same month in the
previous year, even though December 2010 was disrupted by severe winter
weather.
The total value of BSP sales declined by a much
more modest 2.5 percent, to £417 million, as the average per-ticket transaction
value leapt to £424 from £378. GTMC chief executive Anne Godfrey said an
accelerating shift by clients to long-haul destinations, especially Brazil,
Russia, India and China, helped drive fares higher.
For the whole of 2011, transactions climbed
0.36 percent to 6.37 million, while the average ticket price rose 5.15 percent
to £452 and total sales increased 5.53 percent to £2.9 billion.
"Those of our members who had a good year
had a really good year, but the Q4 slowdown is very worrying," said
Godfrey. "At this stage, we don't know how 2012 is going to be. The
overall mood is cautious but those members with a high proportion of financial
services clients fear it will be a tough year."