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What is a travel consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted Expert
Diane Petras

All about planning travels and trips: before visiting a holiday location, consider consulting some exceptional travel consultants. They guarantee that you receive the best possible tourism experience of your life. As a travel consultant, you can get a salary of $19.03 per hour. We are talking about a classical nine to five job that makes around forty hours every week.

They meet various clients to inform and discuss their travel destination and needs. They also advise them to select an ideal travel option that suits their capabilities, budget, and requirements. Furthermore, they assist their clients in planning trips to international or local destinations, fares, insurances, tours, and arranging accommodations.

Before you can start helping people assess their traveling needs, you need a bachelor's degree in tourism, hospitality, or travel. You must also possess a customer-oriented mindset with good communication skills to analyze and fulfill their demands. This fascinating job is great for people who are passionate about traveling and tourism, either working alone as a freelancer or for a renowned traveling agency.

What general advice would you give to a Travel Consultant?

Diane PetrasDiane Petras LinkedIn Profile

CTIE, president, The Travel Institute

Agents should expect business to return when the pandemic passes. In fact, there is already significant, pent-up demand with consumers who want to travel. Short-term, this demand has translated into 1) greater interest in domestic travel as a more comfortable, familiar option for now, and 2) bookings for travel itineraries a year or more out. Longer-term and post-pandemic, the travel industry is expected to fully recover for both national and international travel bookings. Both short- and long-term, agents need to understand and communicate with travelers on new health-related travel protocols and, possibly, emerging health-related ratings for suppliers and destinations. In the meantime, given the fluidity of changes in travel restrictions and destinations, agents can also expect great professional camaraderie as agents are sharing dynamically-changing travel and destination details so that the industry can best serve all travelers.
ScoreTravel ConsultantUS Average
Salary
3.6

Avg. Salary $46,705

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level
7.0

Growth Rate 20%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity
2.0
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 9.47%

Black or African American 7.07%

Hispanic or Latino 13.01%

Unknown 4.43%

White 65.91%

Gender

female 77.56%

male 22.44%

Age - 52
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 52
Stress Level
7.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level
6.6

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance
7.4

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Travel Consultant career paths

Key steps to become a travel consultant

  1. Explore travel consultant education requirements

    Most common travel consultant degrees

    Bachelor's

    49.7 %

    Associate

    22.0 %

    High School Diploma

    9.7 %
  2. Start to develop specific travel consultant skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Reservations32.78%
    Booking12.19%
    Car Rentals5.60%
    Hotel Reservations4.28%
    Corporate Travel4.18%
  3. Complete relevant travel consultant training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New travel consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a travel consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real travel consultant resumes.
  4. Gain additional travel consultant certifications

    Travel consultant certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific travel consultant certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

    The most common certifications for travel consultants include Travel and Tourism Professional (TTP) and Certified Travel Associate (CTA).

    More About Certifications
  5. Research travel consultant duties and responsibilities

    • Manage small scale projects to ensure profile databases and scripts properly transfer information in GDS.
    • Negotiate contracts, book event/meeting space; manage corporate housing for independent contractors, including RFP's and ROI's.
    • Collaborate with other offices on VIP and unusual international reservations for better quality of reservations.
    • Provide customer service by providing administrative support to associates using the online reservation booking tool Apollo.
  6. Prepare your travel consultant resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your travel consultant resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a travel consultant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose From 10+ Customizable Travel Consultant Resume templates

    Build a professional Travel Consultant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Travel Consultant resume.
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  7. Apply for travel consultant jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a travel consultant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How Did You Land Your First Travel Consultant Job

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Average travel consultant salary

The average Travel Consultant salary in the United States is $46,705 per year or $22 per hour. Travel consultant salaries range between $29,000 and $73,000 per year.

Average Travel Consultant Salary
$46,705 Yearly
$22.45 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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How do travel consultants rate their job?

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Travel Consultant reviews

profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2020
Cons

It needs more patience to apply the true solution and satisfy your client


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019
Pros

challenges in flight bookings; hotels; schedules; tours

Cons

last minute decisions


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.