How to Become a Travel Agent

There’s soooooo much to think about if you’re considering becoming a travel agent. The thing is, becoming a travel agent doesn’t have a single route or even a direct route. Depending on what type of travel advisor you want to become, the process will be different.  

It’s kind of like a choose-your-own adventure! 

This resource will offer a big-picture of some of the different pathways you can take to become a travel agent. We’ll offer a look at:

1. the different travel agent options,
2. requirements to sell travel, and
3. what it takes to become a travel agent (depending on which route you decide to go!)

Here’s a look.

⭐️ HAR Article Highlights: ⭐️

1. Becoming a Travel Agent: What are Your Options?
2. How to Become a Self-Employed Travel Agent
3. How to Become a Travel Agent Employee
4. What are The Legal Requirements to Become a Travel Agent?
5. What are the Education or Certification Requirements to Become a Travel Agent?

Becoming a Travel Agent: What are Your Options?

When you walk down the path to becoming a travel agent, there are going to be a few forks in the road. Without a roadmap, it can be easy to get lost but we'll help you:

1. chart the path,
2. let you know when paths split and
3. tell you the pros and cons of each route.

As you begin to consider becoming a travel agent, here are a few questions to ask yourself before you set off on your journey:

1. Do you want to be an entrepreneurial travel agent, work for yourself and set your own hours?
2. Do you want to be a travel agency employee who works at a storefront agency?
3. Do you want to book leisure vacations? Business/corporate travel?
4. Do you want to book meetings and incentive trips for corporations?
5. Do you want to be a home-based advisor, or do you want to work at a storefront location?

Now that you've got your wheels turning on that, we're going to reach our first fork in the road. There are two primary categories of travel agents:

1. Independent travel agents (or travel agent entrepreneurs/self-employed travel agents)
2. Travel agent employees

Becoming a travel agent looks very different for those two types of travel agent categories! Below is a brief explanation of what it means to be a travel agent employee versus an independent travel agent. 

What Is a Self-Employed Travel Agent?

Let's start with the basics and make sure you understand what a self-employed travel advisor is. From there, we'll go into the pros and cons, and wrap things up by letting you know how to become a travel agent entrepreneur!

A self-employed travel advisor is the most common way to join the travel industry nowadays. According to Phocuswright's US Travel Agency Landscape, "Home-based independent advisors continue to dominate the travel agency landscape, accounting for 72% of travel advisors." That's a LOT!

Within the ranks of people the become self-employed travel agents, there is a lot of diversity:

1. These can be one-person agencies or an agency that has employees or independent contractors (ICs) working under their umbrella.
2. They can be home based or storefront (also called brick and mortar).
3. They can be experienced or brand new to the industry.

There are three main pathways to become a self-employed travel agent.

There are a few different ways you can become a self-employed travel agent. Here’s a look at three main types of self-employed travel agents and what makes them distinct from one another:

1. Hosted Travel Agent: An independent contractor (IC) agent who uses a host agency’s accreditation number in order to book travel for their clients. This is similar to how IC real estate agencies align with a larger agency like Coldwell Banker or Keller Williams.
2. Independently–Accredited Travel Agent: A travel advisor who has their own accreditation number to book travel.
3. Travel Agency Franchise Owner: Someone who purchases the rights to use and sell under a travel agency brand. (A franchise owner may be independently accredited or hosted.)

This is just the brass tacks of defining and categorizing self-employed advisors. If you’re new to this lingo and it sounds like gibberish, don’t worry. You'll run across a lot of industry lingo as you learn about becoming a travel agent and we'll link to explainer articles for you. :)

Another great resource for you is our abbreviated travel term glossary below.

Pros & Cons of Becoming a Self-Employed Travel Agent

With that (relatively) settled, here are the pros and cons of becoming a self-employed travel agent:

Pros: 

1. Be your own boss
2. Flexible schedule 
3. Work from anywhere
4. No income caps
5. Creative license to run your business how you want including: 
6. Choosing what to book
7. Choosing your clients
8. Working and growing your agency at your own pace
9. Few/no barriers to entry

Cons:

1. Income is more variable rather than a predictable paycheck (more on how much travel agents make)
2. No commissions until after the final deposit or after the client travels
3. The responsibility of running your own business
4. Requires capital to get started
5. Many more costs than going the employee route
6. No employer benefits
7. Paying estimated taxes
8. Finding your own clients
9. Higher risk
10. Takes time to start earning a nice income (more info on income over time in our travel advisor research reports)

How to Become a Self-Employed Travel Agent

If you want to start your own travel agency, then there’s extra legwork you’ll need to do in order to become a travel agent. You're not just becoming a travel agent after all, you're also starting a business!

Whether you want to dabble in selling on travel on the side a few hours a week for extra income or open your own storefront business with your own employees, there’s a lot to think about.

We've got a great article on starting a travel agency that will walk you through becoming a travel agent through the entrepreneur route. For a complete guide with every detail you need to get started, check out our 7 Day Setup Accelerator course. :)

Consider Travel Agent Training, Education, or Certification

One of the the challenges of being self-employed, especially if you have no experience, is you're building your business from the ground up so there is no specific training program for your agency!

Your host agency, consortium, and preferred suppliers will have plenty of trainings available to you but in the end, it's important to remember that your agency is unique to you. And because of that, you'll need to be very proactive in your learning to piece together your own training program.

HAR has created an in-depth resource on many of the different travel agent training and education opportunities that are available to you. Whether you do FAM trips, cruise ship inspections or site inspections, take advantage of all the opportunities you can!

. . . .

Alright kiddos, you took a right at the first fork in the road of becoming a travel agent and decided you wanted to become a self-employed travel advisor.

What happens if you take a left and head down the path to becoming a travel advisor employee? What do you need to know about becoming a travel agent employee?

Let's walk you through it!

What Is a Travel Agent Employee?

When we say travel agent employee, we’re referring to travel agents who work for an agency. Someone who fills out a W-2 and clocks in and out.

A travel agent employee stereotype that may pop into your mind is someone sitting at a storefront agency sitting by a globe and wall of brochures waiting for their next walk-in appointment to come in off the street and book a trip to Whereverville.

This is a VERY outdated depiction of what it’s like to become a travel agent employee! While travel agent employees may not be in charge of setting their hours, it’s much different than a typical 9-5 grind.

Nora Blum, VP of Travel Leaders 365, clarified the role of the modern-day travel agent employee, “Understand that a career selling travel is not a 9-5 desk job. To be successful you will need to attend training and seminars, networking events, trade shows, and conferences, often in the evenings and weekends. You have to build your confidence because you are selling yourself to potential customers before you sell them a trip.”

Additionally, many travel agencies offer flexible location models. Our latest Employee Travel Advisor Research Report (2023) has nearly half of travel agent employees (48%) worked entirely remotely!

Pros & Cons of Becoming a Travel Agent Employee

Thinking about becoming a travel agent employee? Here are some pros and cons of becoming a travel agent employee: 

Pros:

1. Steady/predictable income
2. Onboarding and mentoring support
3. The agency brings you, clients, you don’t need to find them
4. Employee benefits (see employee travel advisor research report for more details on benefits offered)
5. Built-in cohort/ community
6. Access to on-site training
7. Agencies typically pay for FAM (familiarization) trips
8. High producers may receive commission incentives after reaching certain sales thresholds

Cons:

1. An agency may have income caps/ limitations
2. Less flexibility with/control over your schedule
3. Many agencies prefer an advisor with experience
4. Can’t choose what type of travel to sell or focus on
5. Not involved in decisions regarding business operations
6. If you decide to go on your own, the clients belong to the agency

How to Become a Travel Agent Employee

The long and short of it? It can be difficult to get hired as a travel advisor without prior experience selling travel. 

So how do you get your foot in the door at a travel agency? Here are a few ideas:

1. Larger, corporate travel agencies are more likely to have training programs for new advisors. Even if you’d eventually like to sell leisure travel, working as a corporate advisor can help you get your foot in the door. HAR’s Travel Jobs Board often has posts for these positions.
2. Take the initiative and purchase ASTA’s (American Society of Travel Advisors) Roadmap to Becoming a Travel Advisor course to show your future employer you’re serious and have invested in your new career. (If you like HAR's content, we wrote the course!)
3. If you have a book of business or a trip ready to be booked, let the agency know. They may be more likely to invest the time and expense it takes to train a new employee if they know you will be bringing in new clients.
4. Ask/offer to shadow, assisting advisors with daily tasks like sending out documents and quotes, answering phones, or organizing files.
5. Offer to work for minimum wage doing basic tasks on weekends or off hours (with an understanding you’d like to work toward a permanent position).

If you’re going in with no experience, focus on the crossover qualifications you may have, just not in the travel industry specifically. You can consider things like:

1. Sales
2. Customer service
3. Detail-Oriented/ Planning & Organizational abilities
4. Resourcefulness
5. Problem-solving
6. Passion for and knowledge of traveling
7. Communication 
8. Professionalism & relationship building

Those are just a few examples of some of the soft skills you may excel at even if you haven’t applied them directly to selling travel, they are qualities that will translate to becoming a successful travel agent employee. 

Want to see more of what travel industry employers are looking for? See our full Travel Jobs Board and sign up for weekly travel job alerts!

Will Going to a Travel School Help Me Get Hired?

Attending a travel agent school is one of several inroads to learning how to become a travel agent, whether you want to become an self-employed travel agent or a travel agent employee. 

Attending a travel school is not a prerequisite to becoming a travel agent employee.

While there are boundless education opportunities for those who want to become self-employed travel agents, there are more limited options that are geared toward (but not exclusive to!) becoming a travel agent employee. 

However, it’s important to note that attending a travel school is not a prerequisite to becoming a travel agent employee, so it’s important to gauge whether a travel school program offers you value in and of itself and/or opens doors to opportunities for becoming an employee. 

While there are tons of hospitality and tourism college programs out there, there are not that many travel schools that are specifically focused on becoming a travel advisor.

We've got an in-depth travel school article with a list of schools and tips on how to evaluate and choose the best one for you.

. . . . .

Congrats! You've made it past our first fork in the road. :)

Guess what? We've got another one just ahead.

So let’s look at the next fork in the road you’ll run across when looking into becoming a travel agent. The first was whether you want to be self-employed or an employee, now you need to consider location.  

Becoming a Travel Agent from Home or Working at a Storefront Agency? 

Regardless of what type of travel agent you want to become—whether it be a travel agent employee or self-employed travel agent—there are (often) options to work from home. (The rare exception to this is for franchise owners if they go with a franchisor who requires a storefront operation.)

Self-EMployed TRAVEL AGENTS

For self-employed agents, it's unusual to come right out of the gate with a storefront agency. For reference, only 2% of new, self-employed travel agents operated a storefront agent in our 2023 Travel Advisor Employee Report. The other 98% were home-based travel agents. 

But the choice is yours if you go the self-employed route. Want to work from your home office or kitchen table? Great.

Want to open a storefront agency? Great. You can do that too!

EMPLOYEE TRAVEL AGENTS

For a travel agent employee, location requirements will depend on the hiring agency.

Some agencies are office-only, some are fully remote, and some offer a hybrid option (part work from, part office). Our 2023 Employee Travel Advisor Report found only 20% of travel agent employees worked 100% in the office. That's down from 44% before the pandemic.

Curious to see what travel agencies' employee positions currently require?

Take a look at HAR's full list of travel agent jobs! The wifi icon next to a job means there’s an opportunity to work remotely. As you can see, there are lots of opportunities to work remotely!

What are the Legal Requirements to Become a Travel Agent?

You now know the different routes you can take to become a travel agent, but what requirements?

Now it’s time to take a look at what you need to do to become a travel agent.

We’ve got good news for you! In the United States, there are no federal regulations required to become a travel agent.

The downside to no agreed upon requirements? There's not an clear path on how to become a travel agent.

Now, while there aren’t legal requirements to become a travel agent, there is something you need to have to be recognized as a travel advisor. That one thing is a travel accreditation number, which allows you to earn commissions and special support teams for the travel trade (as opposed to consumer support teams). 

With low to no barriers to entry, the good news is that it makes the travel industry inclusive and more accessible to those who want to build a career.

The bad news is, there isn’t a perfectly laid out path to becoming a travel agent. We wish it was as simple as taking a course and you’d be on your way!

Do States Have Regulations to Become a Travel Agent?

While there are no federal regulations to become a travel agent, there are four states that do have regulations around selling travel.

If you’re an employee, your agency will take care of this. If you’re looking to start your own agency, it’s important to be aware of these regulations.

The regulations are referred to as “Seller of Travel” (SOT) laws, which are intended to provide some consumer protections.

And Canadians, you've also got some regulations to follow! You can find more info on Canadian travel advisor regulations here.

What are the Education Requirements to Become a Travel Agent?

Just like our legal requirements, there are no educational standards or certifications required to become a travel agent. In other words, there are no tests you need to pass or classes you need to take in order to start selling travel.

If you become an employee, your agency owner should help you navigate education options.

One of the the challenges of being self-employed—especially if you have no experience—is you're building your business from the ground up so there is no specific training program for your agency!

Your host agency, consortium, and preferred suppliers will have plenty of trainings available to you but in the end, it's important to remember that your agency is unique to you. And because of that, you'll need to be very proactive in your learning to piece together your own training program.

HAR has created an in-depth resource on many of the different travel agent training and education opportunities that are available to you. Whether you do FAM trips, cruise ship inspections or site inspections, take advantage of all the opportunities you can!

Hot Dang, You Know What it Takes to Become a Travel Agent

You made it!

You started on this path to explore how to become a travel agent, we hit a few forks in the road, and now you're at the final signpost letting you know you've reached your destination. :)

This is not to say you won't have to go back and read the article again because there is A LOT of information. But hopefully you have a better understanding of the routes you can take to become a travel agent, along with the pros and cons of each.

If you're leaning towards starting your own agency, but are feeling a little/lot overwhelmed, make sure to check out our 7 Day Setup Accelerator course to get you setup faster with the support you need!

It's the equivalent of hiring on a fun and knowledgeable (check out our backstory) guide to lead you safely and quickly through that intense path we just followed. :)

And this, my friend, completes your choose-your-own-adventure! Lost in travel industry wilderness? Have questions on starting up? Want to share heart-wrenchingly adorable pictures of your pet mini pig? Hit me up at Hello@HostAgency Reviews.com