Internet access has changed the travel industry. Prior to Internet access, travel agents arranged tours and scheduled trips for individuals and families. Today, with shrinking opportunities for travel agents, you need to be creative. Develop, market and manage a specialized niche, such as educational or thematic tours. Travel managers today have more opportunities working with businesses rather than individuals. Become diverse in your capabilities because creative marketing and savvy business sense are marketable in an industry that is expected to maintain its status in our economy.
Choose a program that will enable you to be flexible in your employment opportunities. Programs that offer courses in financial management, accounting, hotel and lodging management, principles of marketing, in addition to introduction to tourism and on-line booking courses, will enable you to adjust to a market that now gives individuals direct access to making electronic travel arrangements. More individuals are making their own travel arrangements, so the focus of the travel industry is changing. Hospitality and hotel management may also be valuable tools in helping you to secure a job.
Columbia Southern University located in Orange Beach, Alabama offers various degrees on-line. University of Phoenix, Penn Foster Career School, Everest College Canada and Stratford Career Institute also offer programs specializing primarily in travel and tourism. Although a formal educational is not required to become a travel agent, your chances of obtaining employment may increase with a degree.
In the United States you do not need a formal license in order to act as a travel agent, but various states require registration in a professional group such as ICTA, ASTA, ARC and CLIA. In addition, consider registration with the International Airline Travel Agent Network (IATAN). Although not required, this organization lists travel agents. Many reputable businesses recognize the IATAN as a reputable professional organization. Check the United States government site, which publishes the Employment Outlook Handbook for 2010-2011 for further detailed information.
The Department of Labor expects little change, an approximate 1 percent decrease, in the number of employed travel agents through the year 2018. As of May 2008, the last date of published data, only 17 percent of travel agents worked independently. The medium salary of travel agents in 2008 was $30,470. Little change is projected in these statistics for the near future.