Career: Travel Agents
The world’s busiest airport is in Atlanta: an average of 2,400 flights come and go each day. England is packed with more than 1,400 castles. And you can sail across the Atlantic Ocean in only six days.
These are the kind of facts that travel agents are paid to know. Whether they’re finding a fancy hotel or a cheap flight, booking an African safari or a Swedish massage, travel agents are travel gurus. They get paid to guide clients through the maze of the travel industry.
Travel agents help people plan trips all over the world.
Did You Know?
- Thirteen percent of travel agents are self-employed.
Are You Ready To...?
- Develop a specialty in, for example, adventure travel
- Offer clients the benefit of your firsthand travel experience
- Contact airlines and hotels
- Promote group tours
- Use a computer
- Spend hours on the phone
It Helps to Be...
A people person who loves to travel and experience new things. It also helps to be a good problem solver and someone who enjoys helping others.
Make High School Count
- Master the computer. Get to know word processing and spreadsheet software.
- Take advantage of speech and drama classes to polish your communication skills. As a travel agent, you’ll be talking to customers daily.
- Gain a global perspective in geography, history, literature, and foreign language classes.
Did You Know?
- Many agents specialize -- in Central Asia or ecotourism, for example.
Outlook
Government economists expect little change in the number of jobs for travel agents through 2016.
Today, more people are using the Internet to plan their own vacations. That means job loss for travel agents. However, another recent trend is creating jobs in this field: more people want exotic, luxury, or custom-designed vacations. Planning these trips can be complicated, and people often turn to professionals for help. That means more work for travel agents. These two trends should balance each other out and keep employment for travel agents about the same.
Compensation
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average yearly earnings of travel agents in 2008 were $32,470.
