The American Society of Travel Agents is the world's largest association of travel professionals. It is also a recognized source for online education in the industry. It offers a free travel agency consultancy course simply for becoming a member. The association also offers specialized courses that cover such niche industries as family travel, mature-adult travel and country-specific travel.
Gatlin Education Services is one of the world's largest providers of web-based training to colleges, universities and other education providers. Its travel-agent training program is a 200-hour course that provides instruction in both general career development and learning the major airline reservation systems such as Sabre, Worldspan, Apollo and Galileo.
Established in 1976 and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), University of Phoenix is the nation's largest private university, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs online in most countries around the world. If you seek more comprehensive instruction to prepare you to become a travel agent, the school offers a program that leads to an Associate of Arts with a concentration in hospitality, travel and tourism. Coursework includes travel and tourism, program design and proposal writing, and lodging and resort operation.
Although anyone can become a travel agent without being officially accredited, many hotels, car-rental companies and other travel companies require you to have official accreditation to sign up for their discount programs. One of the most recognized agencies is the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The IATA Training and Development Institute offers online courses with 30 diploma programs and more than 225 certificate courses. Each course leads to an IATA qualification, which is recognized internationally by the travel industry.
If you seek an established university with an online extension program, consider the travel agent certificate program at California State University East Bay. The online extension course prepares students for the Travel Institute's national Travel Agent Proficiency test (or TAP test), a widely recognized certification in the travel industry. The program includes lessons on the computer reservation systems as well as instruction on travel geography and travel-industry history and trends.