There are different routes you can take in the line of travel agent careers you can work for a corporate company or you can carry out you work at home independently. It can be one of the best travel agent career opportunities if you are suited to the lifestyle that the job entails. Here are some of the requirements you will need and the things you will have to contemplate regarding the lifestyle you would be entering into:

What you need to be a travel agent – each travel company will have different requirements for their staff as any company differ from the other. Most travel providers will start travel agents training in a customer based travel role helping customers choose their holiday in store, if they do well then there may be the chance to transfer to a foreign post. Some of the basic requirements that are common through out many companies include high GCSE grades usually asked for are English and sometimes Business or Travel and Tourism qualification, in some cases though the employer will ask that you have a degree. Once employed you will be expected to continually keep up to date with the different factors changing in the travel world to be able to give the customers accurate advice and information on how these changes could affect their travel. With many posts you will be required to work on computers so some basic computer knowledge is advantageous. As well as having the basic educational level the employer requires the travel companies also like their staff to have some personal knowledge on some of the more popular resorts. So as one of the benefits of being a travel agent the companies tend to either send staff to the resorts for free or at a highly discounted rate so they can gain background knowledge on the places they are sending customers to.

What do travel agents do?

A general travel agent will help people organise holidays book their flights, hotel, cars and any pre-book equipment or activities they may require (for example if someone was going skiing and needed to rent skis whilst there they could book them prior to getting there) so a lot of their time is spent in an office style environment dealing with phone calls and paper work. In some cases you will be required to work long hours and sometimes travel long distances even to other countries so you have to be flexible in the way you can work.