Introduction
The travel and tourism industry is formed by a variety of organizations and business that come together to provide a complete experience for consumers of travel products and services. These consumers range from leisure travel to business or personal travel. The travel industry is one of the biggest and the most dynamic industries in the world and travel Agents play a significant role in the promotion and selling of travel products. If you are looking to become a travel agent or start a travel agency, it is a requirement that you learn the industry and understand, the different types of travel agents there are and the roles that you will be required to fulfill.
The Role Of Travel Agents And Agencies
The number of people consuming travel products and services is growing at a rate that is extremely higher than the overall growth of our population. Due to this, there has been an increase in the number of accommodation types available to consumers, along with the number of ways in which a consumer can book travel. Even with the increasing popularity of customers booking travel themselves online or with the vendor direct, more than 50% of people booking travel still seek the assistance of a certified travel agent.
Customers look to travel agents to provide, insight, knowledge, advocacy and booking services for them in the travel booking process. A travel agent is a source of insurance, convenience, and peace-of-mind for nervous travelers, looking for a smooth and hassle-free experience from booking to traveling. Due to customers have these expectations, travel agents are required to be experts in the area of travel they specialize in, and that can only be obtained through product experience, product training and time spent in the industry.
Different Types Of Travel Products
There are several different travel product categories made up of a wide variety of product types.
Accommodations: Hotels, Resorts, Hostels, Villas, Shared Space, Bed & Breakfast, Inns, Chalets.
Cruises: Luxury Cruise, River Cruise, Family Cruise, Event Cruises
Flights: Commercial, Chartered, Private
Tours: Adventure Tours, Eco Tours, Special Interest
Other products include; travel insurance, local attractions, airport lounges, ferry tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, car rental services, hotel transfer services.
How A Does A Travel Agent Work
Travel agents are middlemen between the product owner or supplier and the consumer. When customers are interested in booking any travel product, they can contact a travel agent, and that agent will conduct the booking purpose on their behalf. Travel agents have access to special tools, relationships, and product knowledge that allows them to be more flexible in creating a vacation package. Consumers with complicated travel itineraries, special interest, lack of destination knowledge or those who are too busy to plan their own vacation, seek the services of a travel agent. Travel agents get paid when they sell travel packages. Some agents charge a service fee to the client, but most travel agents work on commissions paid to them by the product supplier for bringing them the customer. Travel agents can earn anywhere from 7% - 25% on a sale.
How Do You Become A Travel Agent
The trading of travel products and services is regulated by the International Association of Travel Agents (IATA). For anyone to trade in the travel industry, including travel agents, they must be associated with an IATA certified entity. To become a travel agent, you can get your IATA certification, or you can join a Host Agency and sell through their license. If you are new to the business, getting your IATA certification will almost be impossible as you will need to have years of experience plus referral letters from vendors and suppliers. Also, the fees and bonds are very substantial. The best approach for new travel agents is to align with a host agency, who already has the infrastructure in place for you to start selling right away and earn commissions. Your host agency will provide you with the vendor relationships, training, and tools you need to become a fully equipped travel professional. Joining a host agency will require a registration fee that ranges from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand. There are no set fees to join a host agency. Each agency set their own prices.
Depending on your current place of residence or the jurisdiction in which you decide to conduct business, you may be required to pass a certification exam before you can start selling travel. Your host agency will advise you on the necessary steps and procedures you need to take for you to start selling travel as quickly as possible.
Different Types Of Travel Agencies
Wholesale Travel Agencies
A wholesale travel agency works directly with vendors to put together packages, itineraries, and product pricing at reduced rates. Wholesalers negotiate bulk pricing from the suppliers and resell to retail travel agencies. Wholesalers do not make their wholesale prices available to the consumer. They exclusively work with travel agents. There are travel agents that work with Wholesale Travel Agencies. These travel agents are known as inside sales agents, who work on salary, not commissions.
Retail Travel Agencies
Retail travel agencies deal directly with the end user or consumer. A retail travel agency can either be your traditional storefront agency that operates out of a physical location or host agencies that support travel agents working remote, normally from home offices. Travel agents that work with retail travel agencies work on commission only or commission and small services fees. These travel agents spend their time creating packages and building itineraries for clients.
Online Travel Agencies
Online travel agencies, also known as OTA’s offer retail travel booking through a website. These sites aggregate a variety of travel products and services such as flights, accommodations, and tour packages, to make them available for access to customers via an Internet Booking Engine (IBE). Bookings made on these websites are managed by a reservation management software. Most travel agents today have some online presence, as it is an excellent way to promote their services, build their brand and generate consumer leads.
The Right Timing
In the early 2000’s when online travel agencies started to emerge, retail travel agencies struggled to keep up with this new phenomenon, which lead to the closure of almost half of the traditional storefront travel agencies. Becoming a travel agent no longer seemed a viable career option. The travel agent profession, once very fruitful for many and filled with a lot of amazing travel perks, no longer seemed like that. However, the roles of a travel agent are once again on the rise. Many consumers find the many options online to be overwhelming and time-consuming, and would now prefer to go to a travel expert to handle their travel plans for them. This is especially true for business professionals with busy lives and millennials with shorter attention span and less interest in shopping around online for deals and reading reviews. Ironically, the very same reason many left using a travel agent to book online, is the very same reason they are going back to travel agents. Using an agent now seems faster and more reliable as they have the resources and expertise to quickly build any itinerary. This is why if you are considering becoming a travel agent, the timing could not be more perfect, as the travel industry for travel agents is once again on the rise.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW YOU GET STARTED AS A TRAVEL AGENT WITH A HOST AGENCY.
