Work from Home: Becoming a Home-Based Travel Agent

If you’ve got the hunger for travel and want to parlay that into a paying job, becoming a home-based travel agent can be the answer. With perks like free trips and travel discounts, such job benefits are just kind of hard to beat. It’s actually a lot easier than most people think, as outlined in these steps:

Three Best Qualities of a Good Travel Agent

You’ve been thinking of starting your own travel agency business for some time now, and the time finally feels right. However, before you take the plunge, know that it takes a lot more than travel knowledge to get your business started and keep it going. Whether you’re going to be a franchisee or a completely independent travel agent, you need to have certain personal traits in order to succeed.

Travel Agents Need Training to Succeed

It’s easy enough to become a travel agent. This is because the position is not regulated by government or industry standards, making it a wide open field for anyone who is interested. However, a lot of travel organizations and agencies themselves provide special training courses to those who want to become travel agents. Why is this necessary?

The Undeniable Importance of a Host Agency

Most travel agencies in the past operated in an office, where travelers needed to go to properly book their trips, and iron out travel arrangements. While some bookings could be done by phone, the entire process proved too inconvenient for travelers.

Travel Trends Shape Current Online Travel Services

More and more millennials—a term used to collectively describe 18 to 30-year-olds today—are opting to travel to urban destinations, travel in groups and with friends, and choose spots abroad that cater to their interests and favorite activities. Trends are pointing to the growth of “creative tourism,” or what is popularly referred to as backpacking, while industry staples such as luxury travel are still an option.

These travel and tourism trends are consequently changing the way the industry works, providing both opportunities and challenges to travel agents. The changes also affect the way agents tailor jobs and services to their target clients, as most of them are now looking for online services that fulfill their needs.

Thus, more and more independent travel agents are honing their skills for their online market. They are also expanding their home-based businesses to be able to cater to people searching for travel opportunities online any time of day, or those who are always too busy to make even the simplest tasks.

Online travel agents do more than just book flights or reserve accommodations. They can plan interesting itineraries for their customers, and offer advice on requirements like passports and visas. With the help of travel schools and training facilities, online travel agents today can possibly excel in many niche markets and offer custom packages for the current generation of jetsetters.

Living it up as a Travel Agent

Your job isn’t what it used to be. The excitement and the challenges are gone. Still, it’s never too late to switch careers as long as you’ve got the patience and determination. If you’re well-traveled and possess above-average people skills, you could become a travel agent and put all that experience to good use.

Work from home

Forget about the daily grind when you set up shop at home. All you need is a decent internet connection and telephone (both landline and mobile). Find some good travel consultant online courses and complete them. Sign up with a travel publication to get updates about the travel industry.

Get a host with the most

Enlist the services of a credible online host agency to get your career off to a flying start. For a fee, they will provide all the online tools you need, from a booking engine to free web design. Their affiliations will be helpful in finding great deals for your customers. Just make sure they have accreditation from established organizations.

Enjoy the perks

Now the good stuff: travel agents enjoy free travel or reduced rates for business or pleasure. In addition, airlines and cruise lines will often sponsor what they call familiarization trips for travel agents to know what they are selling. Lastly, working for yourself will allow you to relocate anywhere you please. This mobility will open opportunities to expand your client base. Feels great to fly high in a career that loves you back, doesn’t it?

Familiarization Trips for Travel Agents

No other person can better help a tourist find the best travel options than the travel agent himself/herself. Travel agents receive the latest updates in the travel industry, from flight promos and low-priced lodgings to the newest attractions that opened. Not only are they aware of the best travel deals, but they also have the opportunity to experience first-hand what they know.

Carving Niche Tour Operations

In learning how to become a travel agent, certain factors may drive you to concentrate your marketing and booking efforts on select places. Doing so can turn your travel agent business into a niche/specialty service. There are some workable methods to help your business attract sufficient traffic.

Custom Packages

Some travelers may prefer a tour package or itinerary that’s different from other travel packages in your area. In many occasions, this would involve establishing partnerships with as many client attractions in the area as possible, and pitching your services to help them land a stream of customers. The bevy of connections you create may help you design the tour packages around certain themes while accounting for the various vendors.

How the Travel Industry Is Evolving

The services offered by travel agencies are undeniably critical to travelers, who wish to do away with the stress of planning and booking for their trips. As more and more people seek the services of travel agents, the travel industry has responded by continually improving on these services.

The Right Destination for the Right Niche

Niches allow travel agents to focus their services on specific market segments. Due to the broad spectrum of niches in travel—families, PWDs, businessmen, and so on—it’s nearly impossible for one agent to cover all of them. As a travel agent for a niche, you can help your clients decide on travel destinations that would match their specific needs and preferences.

Honeymoons

If you choose to help newlyweds find their honeymoon retreats, a 2013 Google Trends report stated that New Zealand tops the list based on search data. You can offer clients a trip to the lake town of Taupo in North Island where there are many opportunities for outdoor adventures, as well as for quality privacy. Other destinations which ranked high in the report included Cancun, Mexico, and the Maldives.