First things first, tell me, did you ever love traveling as a child? Did you ever dream of working in the travel industry as an adult? If so, becoming a travel agent might be the perfect career.
But what exactly are travel agents? How do they work? How to be a travel agent? In this article, we will answer all your questions and doubts regarding how to be a travel agent.
Who are Travel Agents?
Travel agents are professionals who specialize in booking and organizing trips for people or groups. To be a travel agent isn’t an easy career option, but with dedication and persistence, anyone can succeed as one. The career has a lot to offer, including exposure, command of languages, and financial success.
How to Be a Travel Agent: The Complete Guide
Becoming a travel agent is one of the most rewarding career opportunities for those who love to fly. The demand for qualified travel advisors continues to grow as more people book their vacations, and working from home becomes an increasingly popular option. There’s never been a better time to begin the travel agent career.
If you have an eye for detail, like to plan, and to even guide others through the process of planning a trip, being a travel advisor might be right for you. It’s unusual for someone to become an agent without working in another department within the agency.
Being a travel advisor requires education and training, but with the right qualifications and experience, it can be an incredibly lucrative job opportunity.
Responsibilities of a Travel Agent
When people book travel to a foreign country, they will often call on a travel advisor to help them find the best deal. Travel advisors have access to a wide variety of travel options and can help clients find the best price and fit for the trip they want to take.
The travel agent is responsible for planning your trips and putting together an itinerary, including flights, hotels, and activities. They are also responsible for helping clients with questions about the trip, including what to pack, how to get around, and any health or safety considerations.
Travel agent work with clients on their every step of the way, from booking the trip to helping them track their return flight and get home safely. Travel agents help their clients gain new insights into the best travel destinations and find the trips that align with their needs, budget, and interests.
A good travel agent listens to a client’s needs and uses their expertise to find a trip that meets those expectations. This can be a complex process. In addition to finding good flights and hotels, travel agents also have to navigate the rules and regulations of multiple travel agencies.
Once the client has booked their trip, travel agents help them through the entire process of booking related services and arrange itineraries that fit their travel needs. A responsible travel agent will have an in-depth knowledge of their destinations and the ability to remain flexible in meeting the needs of their clients.
Let us see in the next section the criteria you need to work on and fulfill as an answer to how to be a travel agent.
Tips on How to Be a Travel Agent
Becoming a travel agent is a great way to combine your passion for travel with your career. There is no standard path to becoming a travel agent. Many travel agents enter the industry after working in a different travel agency department. Others find employment at a business specializing in travel, like a cruise line or airline, and move into the travel agency side.
Most travel agencies and any successful travel agency require candidates to have at least two years of experience in the industry before hiring them as agents.
To start being a travel agent, you must build a strong resume and visit multiple agencies to find the best fit for you.
Here are some tips for becoming a travel agent: –
1. Explore the Travel Industry
The first step to becoming a travel agent is to familiarize yourself with the industry. Read travel magazines, attend industry events and conferences, and network with as many people in the industry as you can.
2. Get to Know Your Industry Connections
Once you know more about the travel industry, your next step is to get your foot in the door. You can contact your network and ask for introductions or recommendations to agencies or companies.
3. Build a Strong Resume
Whether you want to work for a traditional travel agency or be self-employed, you must build a strong resume showcasing your experience and education.
4. To Start With, You Can Commence Preparing for Different Exams Related to The Field
You can prepare for two recognized exams that can help you enhance your skills and help you answer the question of how to be a travel agent.
The first one on the list is CTA (Certified Travel Associate), and the second one is CTC (Certified Travel Counsellor).
i. CTA (Certified Travel Associate)
To apply for this CTA post, you need a minimum of 1 year (12 months) of industry expertise in retail travel.
A CTA test is also required for applying for a CTA exam.
ii. CTC (Certified Travel Counselor)
You are eligible to apply for the post of CTC after 5 years of industry expertise in retail travel. You are needed to complete 10 education units for the CTC certification.
There are no general requirements to become a travel agent, but to be hired by most successful agencies will have certain minimum requirements. Here are some tips for making sure your application is successful: –
5. Experience
Most agencies will require that you have at least two years of experience in the travel industry. This experience can come from any travel agency department or from a job where you dealt with customers.
6. Relevant education
If you want to pursue a career as a travel agent, then you should plan to have an associate degree in travel and tourism. Some of the hiring agencies require a relevant four-year degree in the field.
7. Strong Computer Skill
Travel agents spend most of their time using computer systems to book flights and hotels and manage clients’ itineraries. Make sure your computer skills are up to the grade and level.
8. English Language Proficiency
Most travel agencies require their agents to be proficient in English. Make sure you take language proficiency tests like IELTS and TOEFL if English is not your first language.
Step-By-Step Guide on How to Be a Travel Agent
A small road map discussing step by step guide which can answer the question of how to be a travel agent is given below:
1. Research the Travel Industry
The first step to answering the question of how to be a travel agent is to learn everything you can about the industry. Read travel magazines, attend industry events and conferences, and network with as many people in the industry as you can.
2. Get Your Foot in The Door
Once you know more about the travel industry, your next step towards your dream to become a travel agent is to get your foot in the door. You can contact your network and ask for introductions or recommendations to agencies or companies.
3. Build a Strong Resume
Whether you want to work for a traditional travel agency or be self-employed, you must build a strong resume showcasing your experience and education.
4. Training
The applicants might even attend several training programs since formal training before applying to a successful agency would improve the work.
5. Becoming an IATA Agent
If you want to pursue a career in becoming a Travel Agent, then another step you can move forward is working for IATA. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is an association of trade representing more than 84% of the total air traffic (implying more than 240 airlines).
To become an IATA member, you would be needed to crack the IATA exam. The Eligibility for the IATA exam is listed below.
Eligibility
- The candidates must have completed their 10+2 from a stream of their choice.
The IATA course and Exam are structured for individuals aiming for the listed points.
- Agency Administration
- Mid-level managers and supervisors
- Agency Back office personnel
- Travel Management
Works and Types of a Travel Agent
The next section of the article how to be a travel agent would include types of travel agents and their works.
Majorly four types of travel agents are recognized and acknowledged. You can choose your aim and working niche according to the following information.
The four classes of Travel agents are:
- High Street Travel agents
- Business Travel Agents
- Call centers Travel Agents
- Internet Travel Agents
The description of the job of all the above four is given below:
High-Street Travel Agents
First on the list are the High Street Travel Agents. The working places of such agents are the major shopping areas, like the high streets, local areas, or even the shopping malls. Until a few years, High Street Travel Agents were most in demand and common agents to approach globally.
The working niche of the High Street Travel agents is for holiday planning purposes, and the active area is where the holiday-related brochures are displayed. The consumer/customer usually has in-person meetings with the agents of the host agency regarding the plans.
The High Street Travel agents were usually most preferred because of this face-to-face interaction since the industry news has been different. Due to the increase in virtual interactions and global pandemic reasons, people have been avoiding the in face meetings and preferring the job done with the help of virtual meetings.
This travel business practices have been facing downfall recently for the same reason.
Business Travel Agents
Business Travel Agents’ work revolves around the business model, planning, and booking for business purposes. It is the biggest tourism acknowledged across the globe. The travel agent working in the business travel institute must be versatile enough to carry out the necessary procedures and work with various business models.
They need not be always present in the street areas like the shopping complexes like the High Street Travel agents; instead, they are usually in the office blocks or the locations that are not exactly buzzing but quiet.
The business travel agents work with or within several companies to organize required business travel. They are quite fast and spontaneous with planning the itineraries, and traveling conditions and hence are famous among various entrepreneurs and people who own businesses since they save a lot of time for the customer and that too by charging nominal service fees.
Call Center Travel Agents
Call Center Travel advisors work in a call center-based location. They provide information regarding holiday booking via telephone meetings and conversations. Many successful travel agents work as both, Call center travel Agents as well as High street travel agents as well.
They plan and book your hotel for vacations by contacting the hotel companies. They do not work as an independent agent since call center companies mostly hire them.
These companies transfer their employees to developing countries for a more profitable business. However, this sometimes leads to negative impacts due to different cultural practices and certain language barriers.
Internet Travel Agents
Last on the list; we have Internet Travel Agents. These travel advisors work in the virtual world, i.e., the internet. Their work is on the internet. This area includes big travel companies and offers a choice to the agents to conduct independent business and work as independent travel agents.
In the present world, internet travel agents are most popular globally and in demand. These companies and independent contractors earn quite better than the first two travel agents.
Like High Street Travel Agents, internet travel agents earn commissions from the booking process. The Internet Travel Agency can also be a home-based travel agency, where the home-based travel agents can work like independent travel agents within a comfortable area.
This type of agency might be more beneficial for the consumers since the internet is crowded, offering high competition among different companies. This might lead to affordable travel plans for consumers in one company.
Estimated Earning of a Travel agent
If you are going to choose and want to know how to be a travel agent, you must be wondering how much a travel agent earns. Well, according to stats, say, in India, the earnings of a travel agent vary from ₹ 0.2 Lakhs to ₹ 5.0 Lakhs per year, and commonly it is ₹ 450,000 per year, and if you become an experienced travel agent, then your earning can be very high as well, more than ₹3600000 annually.
Globally, a travel advisor’s salary can range between USD 24,000 to USD 60,000 per year, excluding bonuses and additional commissions.
Here, we tried answering the question of how to be a travel agent and some additional information related to the field. The last section of today’s blog will be a bonus section talking about 5 of the most successful travel agencies globally.
Most Successful Travel Industries Across the Globe
1. Expedia Group
- The Expedia group, founded in 1996, is a travel industry in Bellevue, Washington, USA. In terms of sales, the Expedia Group is considered the best. The Expedia Group sales range to approx. USD 99 billion.
- The company is mostly regarded for its travel price aggregation sites, from which you can book your flights, cars, hotels, etc. The company also owns several websites like Travelocity and Trivago.
2. Booking Holdings
- Booking Holdings was founded in the year 1996, and the headquarters of Booking Holdings is situated in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. The annual sales of Booking Holdings are as high as 92.7 billion USD.
3. American Express Global Business Travel
- American Express Global Business Travel was founded in the year 2016, and the headquarters of American Express Global Business Travel is again situated in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. The annual sales of Booking Holdings are as high as 33.7 billion USD. American Express Global Business Travel, the total number of employees in the industry is about 17400.
4. BCD Travel
- The fourth one in the list of top 5 travel industries across the globe is BCD Travel.
- The BCD Travel industry was founded in the year 2006. The annual Booking Holdings sales are approximately equal to about 27.1 billion USD. The total number of employees in the sector, BCD Travel, is about 14000.
- For a change, the headquarters of BCD Travel is situated in Utrecht, Netherlands.
5. CWT
- The last one in the list of top 5 travel industries across the globe is the CWT Industry.
- The CWT Industry was founded in the year 1994. The headquarters of 1994 is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The annual sales of Booking Holdings are approximately equal to about 25 billion USD. The total number of employees in the industry, BCD Travel, is about 18,000.
Now, we come to the end of the article. Hopefully, this article clears all your doubts regarding how to be a travel agent.
