Skift Take

Since these ad sales reports don't take into account the magazines' growing revenues from their digital editions or websites, they're a strong reminder -- especially among the top three -- of the power of print.

The drop in guidebook sales and collapse of magazines such as Budget Travel may paint a picture of doom and gloom in print travel media, but the first quarter this year was good for the top three travel magazines in the U.S. Revenue at Conde Nast Traveler and American Express’ Travel + Leisure and Departures was up, even though the magazine industry average was down 4.9% overall during this period. One notable exception was National Geographic Traveler, which posted poor year-over-year numbers despite having a solid subscriber base.

Note: The numbers below are from members reporting to the Publishers Information Bureau, which not all magazines are members of (like United’s Hemispheres or AirTran’s Go).

Publication Q1 2013 Dollars Q1 2012 Dollars %CHG Q1 2013 Pages Q1 2012 Pages %CHG Circulation
Conde Nast Traveler 28,249,551 27,402,244 3.1 207.42 213.03 -2.6 809,604
Travel + Leisure 25,647,598 23,397,570 9.6 191.92 188.2 2 988,648
Departures 20,346,302 17,885,026 13.8 203.45 190.95 6.5 1,156,394*
Southwest Airlines Spirit 10,825,231 11,506,157 -5.9 246.76 263.21 -6.2 3,013,000*
Cruising World 5,663,624 6,231,017 -9.1 162.32 184.66 -12.1 121,160
US Airways Magazine 3,549,974 3,241,232 9.5 157.59 141.4 11.4 3,202,111
National Geographic Traveler 2,774,213 6,620,618 -58.1 32.99 76.6 -56.9 727,523
Islands 2,597,924 2,336,105 11.2 65.31 63.83 2.3 200,276
AFAR 1,900,875 1,354,245 40.4 70 71 -1.4 180,797
Destination Weddings & Honeymoons 1,593,629 1,711,325 -6.9 85.16 93.98 -9.4 100,000
Executive Travel Magazine* 772,725 0 n/a 30.33 0 n/a 135,000
Caribbean Travel & Life 472,265 1,028,313 -54.1 19.16 40.82 -53.1 152,031
Budget Travel 0 2,156,178 n/a 0 33.55 n/a n/a
Endless Vacation 0 2,518,400 n/a 0 29 n/a n/a
Executive Travel Skyguide 0 1,394,800 n/a 0 47.92 n/a n/a
Sources: Ad pages detail from Association of Magazine Media; Circulation from Alliance for Audited Media Snapshot Report, 12/31/2012
Note: Departures has a controlled circulation based on membership status at American Express; in-flight magazine numbers are based on estimates by airlines.
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