Whoever questioned the need and relevance of travel agents needs to check the numbers.

Because as we all know, numbers don’t lie.

The Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) reported this morning the consolidated dollar value of airline tickets sold in July 2019 by U.S.-based travel agencies increased 4%.

Based on the average U.S. round-trip ticket price of $498, that translates to $8 billion in sales compared to $7.7 billion in July of 2018.

There are more than 12,000 travel agencies in the U.S.

The total number of passenger trips settled by ARC for U.S. travel agencies increased 3.5% to 25,058,697 compared to 24,202,549 in July 2018. U.S. domestic trips increased 3.2% while international passenger trips grew 4.1%.

Results do not include sales of tickets purchased directly from airlines.

Passenger trips include the total number of passengers taking a trip from one airport to another using either direct or connecting flights. Newly issued trips are added, and refunded trips are deducted to provide a net view of traveling passengers.

Total sales are equal to the total amount paid for a ticket, which includes taxes and fees.

In 2018, ARC settled $94.8 billion in transactions between airlines and travel agencies, representing more than 295 million passenger trips.