How to Become a Successful Travel Agent from Home

If you’ve ever wondered how to become a travel agent from home, chances are you have a passion for travel and enjoy helping people experience the vacation of a lifetime. And while travelers have increasingly relied on the Internet to research and book their own travel, there has been a resurgence of people who desire a personal touch that can save both time and money. Consider the following statistics from Dream Vacations:

• The average time it takes to book a vacation is five hours, not including research.
• On average, travel agents save clients $452.
• Baby Boomers love to travel–and, in the U.S., more than 10,000 people retire every day.
• 67 new cruise ships will debut between 2019 and 2025.

In today’s economy, becoming a home-based travel agent requires you to start your own business, join a host agency, or invest in a franchise. There are pluses and minuses to each of these.

• If you do choose to run your own independent travel agency business, you will be responsible for developing your own website, marketing and advertising, travel booking systems, and business insurance costs—to name a few. You will also be responsible for generating all of your own leads and managing all of the business aspects of your business.
• Franchising provides yet another pathway to becoming a successful travel agent from home. Although joining a franchise does require an initial investment that includes a franchise fee, as well as other up-front costs, it also provides you with brand recognition, built-in lead generation programs, and proven systems that process both travel bookings and payments. But who you are anchored to can either float your home-based business or sink it. It’s important to talk to agents from travel franchises you might be interested in joining to better learn how commissions are paid out, how much support you receive from the corporate office, and what types of perks you will be able to offer your customers as a result of being part of a larger franchise.
  

        
  What skills does a travel agent typically need   

                            Travel Agent Qualifications/Skills:

2)     Strong sales and interpersonal skills.

3)     Excellent verbal and written communications skills.

4)     Ability to negotiate effectively.

5)     Excellent knowledge of computer reservation computer programs.

6)     Strong problem-solving skills.

How do I get a travel agent ID number

The digital ID Card is accessible to all cardholders on the Agent Experience app. Agents based in the US, please visit the IATAN site. ID Card Online Platform is available for IATA travel agents to submit their ID Card application, supporting documents, and make payment.

IATA membership benefits for airlines

Airlines benefit of IATA membership in several ways. Most importantly, IATA provides a powerful, unified and experienced voice that supports and promotes the interests of its members through:

• International recognition and lobbying
• Targeting key industry priorities
• Driving industry change
• Reducing costs
• Communication campaigns
• Training and other services
  
  
  

Are travel agencies a thing of the past

If you're like many budget travelers, you probably started booking your own trips yourself online in the early 2000s and thought travel agents went extinct. That's actually the farthest thing from the truth. Sure, travel agents and agencies are not as common as they once were, but they are still in demand.