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What is a travel specialist and how to become one

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

Travel miles in someone else's shoes by helping people plan seamless and stress-free holidays. If you know tips and tricks to easily travel abroad or even within your home country, then you should consider working as a travel specialist.

As a travel specialist, you will help people and groups arrange holidays, selling special holiday packages to different destinations. You will organize and manage tours and travel itineraries. You will advise your clients on travel requirements, like applying for their passports, visas, and other necessary travel documents, and you will help them navigate travel insurance policies to protect their trip.

You will also offer travelers advice on dos and don'ts at their destinations, and you will field customer queries and complaints as they arise before and during their trip. You will have strong customer service skills and clear, organized communication.

No formal education is required for the job; however having a high school diploma or a GED is preferable. More importantly, you should demonstrate proven work experience in a related hospitality field. Some personal travel experience will be considered an advantage, and you need sound knowledge of local and international travel trends.

The average hourly salary for a travel specialist is $22, which amounts to more than $46,000 annually.

What general advice would you give to a Travel Specialist?

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 SpecialistUS Average
Salary
4.3

Avg. Salary $54,498

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 8.43%

Black or African American 7.59%

Hispanic or Latino 13.57%

Unknown 4.49%

White 65.81%

Gender

female 74.72%

male 25.28%

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

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Travel Specialist career paths

Key steps to become a travel specialist

  1. Explore travel specialist education requirements

    Most common travel specialist degrees

    Bachelor's

    56.6 %

    Associate

    20.4 %

    High School Diploma

    8.5 %
  2. Start to develop specific travel specialist skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Reservations23.15%
    Booking13.54%
    Hotel Reservations5.10%
    Customer Issues4.45%
    Travel Authorizations3.12%
  3. Complete relevant travel specialist training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New travel specialists 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 specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real travel specialist resumes.
  4. Research travel specialist duties and responsibilities

    • Negotiate contracts, book event/meeting space; manage corporate housing for independent contractors, including RFP's and ROI's.
    • Audit travel reservations and expense reports identifying policy violations and /or potential fraudulent activity, and escalate as necessary.
    • Perform every role from booking hotel/transportation/dining/convention/translation services for a primarily Japanese clientele.
    • Service diverse facets of corporate domestic and international travel for multiple Apollo accounts.
  5. Prepare your travel specialist resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your travel specialist 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 specialist 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 Specialist Resume templates

    Build a professional Travel Specialist 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 Specialist resume.
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    Travel Specialist Resume
    Travel Specialist Resume
    Travel Specialist Resume
    Travel Specialist Resume
    Travel Specialist Resume
    Travel Specialist Resume
  6. Apply for travel specialist jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a travel specialist 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 Specialist Job

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Average travel specialist salary

The average Travel Specialist salary in the United States is $54,498 per year or $26 per hour. Travel specialist salaries range between $35,000 and $83,000 per year.

Average Travel Specialist Salary
$54,498 Yearly
$26.20 hourly

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Travel Specialist reviews

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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.