How To Become A Travel Service Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a travel service consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Travel consultants seem to have a dream job. They design vacations, plan getaways and organize information on destinations. They work with trip takers and help them identify their ideal places to vacation and then arrange everything. You may work with an agency or be self-employed, but travel service consultants often specialize in adventure vacations or group travel.

You will need to have excellent communication skills, be organized, and have patience, and also be able to network with hotels, resorts, airlines, and other travel agencies. You may need to take basic travel arrangements and turn them into real plans. You should also give your clients the lists of costs, times, and modes of travel, length of stay, and activities. Also, you have to be creative and help your clients realize how lucky they are to travel. Most travel consultants need no more than a high school diploma, although you will need a background in the travel industry.

To qualify, you have to take travel planning courses, earn a bachelor's degree in travel and tourism, and study to pass the Travel Agent Proficiency Test. For all this, your average salary is around $36,000 per year.

ScoreTravel Service ConsultantUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $55,934

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 7.91%

Black or African American 6.67%

Hispanic or Latino 13.78%

Unknown 4.52%

White 67.01%

Gender

female 67.31%

male 32.69%

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

Key steps to become a travel service consultant

Explore travel service consultant education requirements

Most common travel service consultant degrees

Bachelor's

36.5 %

Associate

27.0 %

High School Diploma

20.6 %

Start to develop specific travel service consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	26.68%
Booking	24.83%
Reservations	23.59%
Travel Arrangements	15.57%
Travel Industry	9.06%

Complete relevant travel service consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New travel service 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 service consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real travel service consultant resumes.

Research travel service consultant duties and responsibilities

Demonstrate expert knowledge of Apollo GDS booking system and manage GetThere/Concur queues and ticketing.
Manage special projects including off-site meeting support for VIP meeting attendees requiring last minute travel changes.
Manage corporate travel arrangements for business accounts, including passport and visa documents.
Serve as a travel agent, booking domestic travel services, airline reservations, car rentals, domestic and international vacations.

Prepare your travel service consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your travel service 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 service 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 Service Consultant Resume templates

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