How to Become a Travel Agent
If you love to travel, and you’re looking for the perfect career that lets you work from home on your own time, becoming a travel agent could be the perfect fit. Being a travel agent gives you the chance to follow your dream of working in the exciting travel industry while also giving you the freedom to explore and enjoy the world.
Travel agents can work full time, or it can be a side hustle to help you earn a little bit extra each month. No matter what you plan to get out of your job as a travel agent, you can be part of a booming travel and vacation industry, all from your dining room table. Keep reading to find out how to become a travel agent and the benefits and perks to expect from your new job.
How to Be a Travel Agent
For some, being a travel agent has been in your blood since you were a kid. When your family went on road trips, you loved looking at brochures, maps, or websites to find fun and interesting activities or locations to visit. For others, the travel bug didn’t bite until you had the freedom to plan your own trips and you fell in love with exploring new corners of the world. Some didn’t even know being a travel agent was an option until recently, and now you’re hooked.
No matter how you started, there are a few important steps that you need to go through to transform a passing interest into a profitable career.
Become a Cruise Travel Agent
There are five simple steps for you to become a travel agent.
- Find Your Passion: Like most things, the more invested you are in being a travel agent, the more success you will see. You need to remember why you wanted to become a travel agent. Without motivation, you will have a hard time avoiding procrastination, getting distracted, or even letting your business fall by the wayside.
- Research: There is a long list of companies you can work with. Each specializes in different fields and markets, catering to a wide variety of customers. Do your research and find out which one is best for you. Pay attention to how agents are paid within the company, how agents are supported, and any other travel perks you can expect from them.
- Talk with Existing Agents: The best way to make sure you know what you’re getting into before you start is to talk to people who are already living it. They can better let you know the pros and cons and give you a personal insight into what the job is like. Make sure that you talk to a wide variety of agents. Just like you wouldn’t take the word of one person if a store or restaurant was good, you shouldn’t take the opinion of only one agent.
- Get Trained: The travel agency that you decide to work with should provide you with in-depth training. This might be at a conference or large group meeting, but there should also be ongoing in-person and on-demand training in place throughout your career as an agent.
Travel Agent at Home
Following these steps, you can start your career of being a travel agent. The best part about this job? You can do it all from the comfort of your home. As long as you have an internet connection, you can make money selling dream vacations. Becoming a travel agent gives you the flexibility that you need from a job. Rather than being forced to come into work every day, you work when you’re able.
Why Be a Travel Agent?
But is it even possible to make booking travel into a career? While the market may fluctuate, one fact remains the same: People travel. Travel spending has been on the rise for the past decade. And with so much confusion on travel, there’s a need for more travel agents to provide customers with the guidance and support they need. Some people might risk booking a trip without a travel agent, but there is still a need for an experienced and well-versed travel agent to help customers plan the trip that is perfect for them, and the demand for travel agents will be stronger now, more than ever.
You wouldn’t buy a car without test driving it, or a home without walking through it, and the same should be true about travel experiences. While it isn’t possible to test drive a vacation, a travel agent is a needed and experienced voice who can help their customers by providing first-hand knowledge. Being a travel agent is more than just knowing about available products, it’s about being able to share insider tips and tricks to help others have the vacation of their dreams.
Travel Agent Job
With the travel industry booming and more options and packages opening nearly every week, the opportunities for vacations can be endless. A good travel agent is able to sort through the noise and find their customers a trip that fits them and helps them make memories.
Start Your Business
Your business as a travel agent starts in your home. While the hours are flexible as you’re able to work whenever and wherever you want, we suggest planning some time every week to put into building your business. If you say you’ll work when you have the energy, time, or desire, you’ll find that after a few weeks, there might be more excuses than incentives to get to work. Even if you only set aside one or two hours a week as your travel agent time, that’s better than nothing.
Requirements
Before you get started, it’s important to know if you meet the requirements to become a travel agent. You need to be at least 18 years old, pass a background check, and U.S resident. Other than that, there are no other requirements to be a travel agent, that’s why full training is provided.
Training & Education
Our team provides full training and sets you up for selling vacations.
Once you become a travel agent, the Dream Vacations advisor opportunity continually provides you with training and education about the trips and destinations that your clients are interested in. Having up-to-date information about deals and packages is just as important as making sure you know the best practices in the industry that will help you find success.
Host Agency
You then have the opportunity to go at it alone or join a host agency. A host agency is one of the best options because they provide services to help you become successful at your new job. Not only that but being hosted by Dream Vacations means less risk for you. If you want to get started quickly with a good support team behind you, joining Dream Vacations and having the support of a proven business model might be the best choice for you.
How to Make Money
When it comes to making money, you earn a commission off each sale you make. Anything you sell, from something large like a seven-day cruise, an all-inclusive resort, theme park vacations, or excursions and tours, and a portion of those sales comes back to you in the form of commission earned. The more you sell, the more commission you will earn.
How Much Money Can You Make?
But how much can you make? On average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a travel agent makes roughly $38,700 a year. While this is the average, a lot of your income from working as a travel agent depends on the amount of time and effort you put in. The more time you put in, and the more sales you make, the more money you can expect to earn. There are no caps or limitations put in place that limit how much money you can earn as a travel agent.
How Much Does it Cost to Become a Travel Agent?
You will have to invest some money to get started as a travel agent. If you choose to join Dream Vacations as an independent advisor, it will only cost you $39 to get your business started.
Benefits and Perks
The best part about becoming a travel agent is the flexibility of when and where you get to work. That means that you can work from the safety and comfort of your home.
As a travel agent, it can help to have first-hand knowledge of vacation destinations and packages that you are selling. You’ll be able to score free and discounted travel rates so you can better do your job. You even get discounted rates on cruises, resorts, and hotels.
If you want to know how to become an online travel agent, choose to become one with Dream Vacations as an independent advisor.