Most of those who dream of a travel agency job are those interested in traveling. A travel agency job will open up opportunities for you to travel to the Caribbean, Venice, Egypt, Tuscany, Malaysia, Morocco and anywhere else in the globe, but not always. But in most cases, holding a travel agent job makes it easy for you to visit the famous narrow alleys of Baghdad, bargain with carpet sellers of Turkey and gesture with the man-eating lions of Kenya. That is an exciting prospect for many, especially those who do not fancy a desk job in an 8-5 office.
Holding a travel agency job requires that you be passionately in love with traveling and also be able to convince as many people as possible to accompany you to holiday packages in unknown destinations. It is this infectious travel passion that makes your agencys clients want to see what the world has to offer and in doing so provide you with the income. A career in travel agencies means you can motivate other to love what you have loved during you expeditious travels. Traveling for you becomes business when it is fun for others.
Basically, a travel agency job involves helping other people plan, arrange and prepare for their vacations. Your job is to reserve and book their tickets and hotel packages for as many holiday goers as you can convince. The education qualification necessary for you to join a travel agent career is not as high as in many other career paths. You need at least a high school diploma and then professional training as a travel agent and the necessary certification. Major travel companies require that their travel agents hold a relevant college degree. You can therefore seek such a degree or opt for the vocational schools offering specialized in travel.
Besides the college background and or professional training, your chances of securing a travel agency job will also rely on considerable business experience. It will help if you can prove to be an avid traveler or to have enough knowledge as regards tourist destinations. Such experience and knowledge adds volumes to your resume. The best avenue towards such a resume is first to seek formal education on travel so as to gain insight on how the business operates. Seek for professional courses in such areas as sales and marketing, travel destinations, vacation package salesmanship and such relevant fields in the travel industry.
The best vocational colleges diplomas or university degrees usually expose you to the geography, history, languages, and communication skills vital while traveling to different nations of the world. A good strategy here would be to accompany the training with self initiative to learn about the tourism, about the world and about online businesses. Today, the internet is the best reservoir of information that you must continually exploit as a hopeful or practicing travel agent.
It will also do you a lot of good to keep abreast with current practices. In this regard, apply for ongoing courses in the travel industry such as the CTA certification (Certified Travel Associate) and the CTC certification (Certified Travel Councilor). All the while, remember that your success in a travel agency job will depend on how trustworthy you are to clients, how reliable, how efficient, how organized and how creative you are while organizing the itineraries of your clients.
You must learn how to effectively communicate while selling certain destinations and packages to travelers while also being able to organize a creative traveling schedule, reliable in rent cars or cabs for travelers, booking hotel rooms, facilitating precise travel budgets etc, for these are the basic traits of a successful travel agent. When the art is learnt, having a travel agency job is among the most delightful experiences an outdoor person can ever ask for.