The Airlines Reporting Corp. reported that travel agency airline sales were up 2.65 percent in July to $6,701,192,169. That good news was tempered by the fact that domestic fares were down 0.21 percent to $3,016,981,719 and international fares were down 4.4 percent to $2,432,968,448.

The difference was a whopping increase in total taxes and fees, which increased 32.3 percent in July to $1,161,772,732. These are included in the total sales figures. Total transactions were up 2.04 percent in July to 11,827,721, and the number of travel agency retail locations stood at 13,781 in July with average daily sales of $13,656.

ARC, the financial settlement link between airlines and travel sellers, also reported that the consolidated dollar value of airline tickets sold by U.S.-based travel agencies increased 5.11 percent year-over-year in the first seven months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, and 11.8 percent over the same period in 2010. From January through July 2012, ticket sales totaled $53.1 billion, compared to $50.5 billion in 2011, and $47.5 billion in 2010.

Year-to-date passenger segments for the first seven months of 2012 increased slightly by 0.16 percent,  at 219.9 million segments, compared to 219.5 million in 2011, while reflecting a 2.33 percent decrease from the same period in 2010. Ticket transactions between January and July 2012 were flat at 0.27 percent over the same period in 2011, while down by 1.8 percent compared to the same period in 2010.