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How Much Do Travel Agents Make?

If you’re someone who loves to travel, has thousands of travel rewards points, and knows an impressive amount of travel lingo, then a career in the travel industry might be perfect for you!
Of course, none of these things are required to be a travel agent — except a love for travel. To be a successful travel advisor, though, you must manage you’re your hearts desire with a business mindset.

Sure, as a travel agent, you will spend your days helping clients book flights, dreaming up exotic and unique itineraries, and finding fun activities for travelers. A career as a travel agent is perfect for any self-motivated person who craves flexibility. You can easily do this job from anywhere in the world. Travel offers a flexible schedule, exceptional earning potential, and the option to spend your days working from your favorite locales around the world. As a matter of fact, I’m working on this article from my balcony overlooking the Caribbean right now.

So, what’s the career outlook for travel agents? The truth is that now’s the perfect time to be a travel agent. Travel is a pretty resilient industry. After 30 years in the industry, we’ve been through it all. We know downturns in the economy don’t keep the industry down for long. In fact, according to the New York Times, travel agents have recently seen a surge in business because travelers are ready to see the world again. OutsideAgents.com’s, a leading national host agency, reports transaction values (the amount clients are paying for a vacation) has jumped 38% than in 2019. This trend suggests consumers are “getting even” for the vacation they lost by spending more. Further evidence supporting the opportunity for agents to grow and earn more include:
• Less competition and reduced marketing costs
• FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is fueling market demand
• Higher prices due to reduced inventory
• Vendors need the personal connections agents have
Agents are extremely valuable as they help provide a stress-free vacation by helping travelers navigate the constantly changing travel restrictions and rules. Most importantly, they can do it on a highly personal, granular way that no supplier or online agency ever could.
How Much Money Can I Make as a Travel Agent?

The big question that most people who are thinking about starting a home-based travel business have is, “How much money does a travel agent make?” Before delving into that, it’s essential to understand how travel agents get paid.

Most travel agents are independent contractors, meaning that they own their own travel business. Travel agents make most of their money from commission, which is money earned on clients’ bookings. Agents may make anywhere from 5 to 30 percent commission splits on bookings. It’s in your best interest to find a good host agency that pays the most. Outside Agents offers some of the highest commission splits (as much as 38 percent). Your host agency will get a take of the commission. What’s left is your commission payout. Your commission payout varies from agency to agency. Outside Agents offers commission payouts at up to 95 percent.

Example: Here’s an example of how much a travel agent might make per booking. If you book a vacation package for a client that totals $5,000, your commission split would be $1,500 (based on a 30 percent split). If you were with Outside Agents, and your commission payout is 95 percent, you would receive $1425 on that one booking.

New agents typically make approximately $350 per booking, while experienced agents net around $870 per transaction. How does this translate into per-year earnings? A 2016 survey by luxury network Virtuoso found that more than half of its top luxury travel advisors earn $75,000 a year. A 2020 survey produced by HostAgencyReviews.com show similar earning potential and emphasizes the dramatic jump in earning from your first to 3rd year. Neither report quantifies the additional benefits such as discounted travel, free FAM trips, being your own boss, and loving what you do. That’s priceless.

As a new agent, most of your bookings will come from co-workers, friends and family. As you grow, you will gain more repeat clients. Initially, your advertising costs will likely be very low, since you can easily advertise your services via social media to friends, family, and neighbors. As a new business, though, marketing costs quickly escalate as you begin advertising to people you don’t know. Luckily, though, with help from a good host or consortium, you can make this costly start-up period relatively brief as you use their tools and experience to build effective campaigns, retain clients, and build referral business. The “gravy,” as they say, comes in your second year, and a great partner can help shorten that time even further.

How much you earn depends on a variety of factors.

It’s essential to keep in mind that how much you earn as a travel agent depends on several things.

Your Niche

The most successful travel agents choose a niche. There are a variety of niches that travel agents can specialize in, including:

● Corporate travel
● Group travel
● Cruises
● Luxury travel

When choosing a niche, the most important thing to make sure is that it is an area that you are genuinely passionate about. That is because you will need to have in-depth knowledge of your particular niche. So, if you focus on honeymoon travel, you will want to know hotels, restaurants, and excursions related to romantic vacations. Providing in-depth information to your clients on their particular destination or activity will help ensure that you make your clients’ vacations the trip of their lifetime. This will gain repeat customers for you — leading to greater earnings.

Sales & Customer Service Skills

Travel agents are first and foremost sales agents, so customer satisfaction is critical. You are responsible for making sure that your clients’ dream vacations are perfect.

Little things, such as having a bottle of champagne delivered to your honeymooners’ rooms, can go a long way towards gaining a loyal customer. When your clients’ have beautiful memories, you are more likely to be more successful as an agent.

Training and Education

One of the great things about being a travel agent is that no special skills or education are required. Agents come from a variety of backgrounds. However, that doesn’t mean that education and training don’t impact travel agent salary — because it does. A bachelor’s degree or travel-related certifications will make you more marketable as an agent. According to The Travel Institute, agents with advanced training have double the sales of agents with no advanced certifications.

Experience

It’s important to understand that you won’t make bank your first year as an agent. You have to build up a client base. Your salary will most likely be lower that first year as you build up your customer roster. As you gain more experience, your earnings will increase. In fact, according to a Virtuoso survey, 38 percent of respondents said that it takes anywhere from two to three years for a new travel advisor to get to the earnings potential of an experienced advisor. That’s why some hosts and consortia invest so heavily in giving agents what they need to get a jump start on their earnings. At OutsideAgents.com, for example, we have a one-on-one mentoring program that, historically gets agents producing in 6 weeks compared to the 6 months it takes for agents that don’t participate. You want to hit the ground running in every way possible.

Many agents choose to continue working in their full-time jobs when first starting a travel agency business. That is easy to do, thanks to the flexibility of starting a travel agency business. You can work from home. You can even work with multiple hosts as you decide which path is best for you.

Your Personality

Yes, your personality definitely influences how much you will make as a travel agent! Certain personality traits make some agents more successful than others.

● Empathy. You must understand your clients’ needs and be able to put yourself in their shoes.
● Confidence. Having a good confidence level and showcasing your expertise in planning once-in-a-lifetime vacations is one of the keys to being successful as a travel agent.
● Comfort with self-promotion. To get clients, marketing is essential. As a travel agent, you have to be comfortable marketing your services and communicating your value to your customers.
● Tenacity. If starting a business was easy, everyone would do it. Successful agents know there is no failure, only varying degrees of success and opportunities to improve.

To see how much you might make as a travel agent working on your own or with different plans for different hosts, check out this calculator from Host Agency Reviews. As you can see from their calculators, there are a number of cost centered considerations that will influence your earnings.

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This table will show you how to work backwards from your investment to your earnings and prove that your 2nd year is when the gold starts to glitter.

Tips To Earn More Money as a Travel Agent

Here are some of our best tips to earn more.
Find the Right Agency

Host agencies are designed to help travel agent businesses grow in scope and size. There is a growing trend for successful agents to sign up with hosts to grow their business. That is because host agencies offer so many benefits to both new and established agents.

There are many benefits of signing up with a host agency. They can quickly train you and bring you up to speed on the latest trends and regulations in travel. Also, since they handle marketing, you won’t have to worry about that cost. This allows you to run your business with a very low overhead, which means more money in your pocket at the end of the day.

Host agencies vary significantly in what they offer. It’s important to know what your host agency brings to the table. Here are some factors to consider when choosing an agency.

Training & Education

The best agencies provide training and education to agents. Look for an agency that offers opportunities for training from seasoned agents. Also, access to training opportunities from IATA, CLIA, and similar organizations is important. This is why Outside Agents offers half off CLIA and IATA cards for qualified agents.

Fees

Do they charge fees upfront? How much are the fees to get started? Is errors & omissions (E&O) insurance protection available? If so, how much coverage is included?

Agency Support

What kind of support do agents receive? Does the agency assist with marketing? Social media marketing is crucial for agents. What about technology? Will you receive access to booking engines? Will you be able to talk directly to the owners of the company?

Being a travel agent is a dream job for many people. The travel industry is a resilient one that offers many growth opportunities. Experienced, top agents can easily earn six figures with the proper support and training. Finding a travel host agency with the right support is vital.

Are you ready to embark on a new career? We’re excited about your interest in becoming a travel agent. We’d love to help you make that happen. Reach out today to learn how we can help.

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