What is a Travel Agent?
Example of Travel Agent Job Plan and sell transportation and accommodations for travel agency customers. Determine destination, modes of transportation, travel dates, costs, and accommodations required. May also describe, plan, and arrange itineraries and sell tour packages. May assist in resolving clients’ travel problems.
What Do Travel Agents Do On a Daily Basis?
- Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers.
- Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations.
- Collect payment for transportation and accommodations from customer.
- Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required.
- Book transportation and hotel reservations, using computer terminal or telephone.
- Print or request transportation carrier tickets, using computer printer system or system link to travel carrier.
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What Every Travel Agent Should Know
Travel Agents state the following job skills are important in their day-to-day work.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Types of Travel Agent
- Travel Coordinator
- International Travel Consultant
- Corporate Travel Consultant
- Travel Professional
- Tour Coordinator
Job Outlook for Travel Agents
In 2016, there was an estimated number of 81,700 jobs in the United States for Travel Agent. There is little to no growth in job opportunities for Travel Agent. There will be an estimated 7,800 positions for Travel Agent per year.

The states with the most job growth for Travel Agent are Washington, Alaska, and Maryland. Watch out if you plan on working in Wisconsin, Ohio, or North Dakota. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
Do Travel Agents Make A Lot Of Money?
The typical yearly salary for Travel Agents is somewhere between $22,370 and $66,080.

Travel Agents who work in District of Columbia, Washington, or Arizona, make the highest salaries.
How much do Travel Agents make in different U.S. states?
State | Annual Mean Salary |
---|---|
Alabama | $45,070 |
Alaska | $42,060 |
Arizona | $48,980 |
Arkansas | $37,580 |
California | $47,460 |
Colorado | $44,750 |
Connecticut | $48,780 |
Delaware | $41,800 |
District of Columbia | $56,790 |
Florida | $41,630 |
Georgia | $35,190 |
Hawaii | $42,170 |
Idaho | $38,280 |
Illinois | $41,100 |
Indiana | $40,640 |
Iowa | $41,330 |
Kansas | $45,940 |
Kentucky | $41,470 |
Louisiana | $38,060 |
Maine | $34,510 |
Maryland | $36,300 |
Massachusetts | $49,920 |
Michigan | $42,530 |
Minnesota | $45,530 |
Mississippi | $34,120 |
Missouri | $40,100 |
Montana | $45,810 |
Nebraska | $41,650 |
Nevada | $56,590 |
New Hampshire | $44,420 |
New Jersey | $49,330 |
New Mexico | $40,970 |
New York | $40,000 |
North Carolina | $40,690 |
North Dakota | $33,600 |
Ohio | $36,250 |
Oklahoma | $36,940 |
Oregon | $38,520 |
Pennsylvania | $42,700 |
Rhode Island | $37,280 |
South Carolina | $33,150 |
South Dakota | $36,140 |
Tennessee | $42,600 |
Texas | $39,670 |
Utah | $43,590 |
Vermont | $44,000 |
Virginia | $44,970 |
Washington | $52,790 |
West Virginia | $35,420 |
Wisconsin | $37,350 |
Wyoming | $47,440 |
What Tools & Technology do Travel Agents Use?
Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Travel Agents:
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Access
- Data entry software
- Intuit QuickBooks
- Travel Agent CMS
How to Become a Travel Agent
Education needed to be a Travel Agent:

How many years of work experience do I need?

Where Travel Agents Are Employed

The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.

Other Jobs You May be Interested In
Those interested in being a Travel Agent may also be interested in:
References:
Image Credit: Nick Nijhuis via Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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