How To Become A Licensed Travel Agent Business From Home

Many adventurous entrepreneurs are interested in becoming licensed travel agents. Travel agents recommend destinations, offer travel advice, and prepare travel packages for clients. Being a licensed travel agent additionally entails a number of transportation, lodging, and frequent free travel points or perks. While specific requirements vary state to state there are still several steps you must follow to become a licensed agent from home. Continue reading this post to learn how to become a licensed travel agent from home.

Plan Your Specialty

Plan your travel specialty. If you are originally from or well-traveled in a specific part of the world, consider making this your specialty. Customers are looking for agents who are experts in specific destinations, cultures, or parts of the world. To effectively meet their needs, make yourself one. Another major distinction is specializing in luxury or budget travel. Budget travel often attracts younger, more enthusiastic clients. Whereas luxury travel clients are limited, however, they are consistently willing to pay more. Plan your travel specialty as you plan to launch your business from home.

Develop Your Portfolio

Develop your travel portfolio. As a travel agent, you need to be able to readily dispense firsthand accounts, stories, and recommendations for specific destinations. Clients are extremely interested and open to travel suggestions from experienced individuals. If you have a well-developed travel portfolio, document it to show your clients where you have been. If you know foreign languages, make sure to include that. When you do not have a well-documented travel experience, go out and get some. Spend time travelling to gain experience on the locations you plan to recommend. Develop and document your portfolio to become a licensed agent from home.

Acquire Your Licenses

Questionably the most important step is to receive your business licenses and certifications. Luckily, only six US States currently require you to obtain a travel agent license. Although, if you plan to sell to residents of those states it is probably worth considering. In addition to this, you should obtain a degree or certification in travel and tourism. While it is not required of travel agents, it is still beneficial to demonstrate your experience and stand out to clients. Most universities offer classes online, allowing you to obtain your degree entirely from home. You must receive the necessary licenses before you can become a travel agent.

Determine Your Structure

Determine the structure of your business. Even if you wish to operate entirely from home, you still have multiple structural options. First, you can partner with an existing online travel agency. Doing so reduces your liability and increases your marketing potential. You can also start an online service entirely from scratch. However, you should also consider meeting clients in-person. Doing so requires you to designate a portion of your house as a home office in order to meet clients. When your clients are able to speak directly with you they often feel a more personable touch, bringing you more clients in the long-run. Before you launch your travel agency, you must decide the structure of your business.

Advertise Your Services

After you obtain the proper licensing and experience, you must advertise your services. Being a home business, it is often more difficult to effectively market your services. Therefore, you should utilize multiple channels to ensure you gain customer attention. Create social media accounts and consider purchasing paid promotions. In addition, consider taking out an advertisement in your municipality’s local paper. Doing so immediately draws attention and increase word of mouth marketing around your business. After you develop your business, you must advertise your travel agency services.

Becoming a travel agent is a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs. Even with the availability of booking and vacation apps, travel business trends have been up in recent years. Often, travel agencies can even be started from home. In order to do so, you must first plan your specialty. Develop your travel portfolio. Then, obtain the proper degrees and licenses. Determine the structure your agency will follow. Finally, advertise your services to the pubic. If you are interested in how to become a licensed travel agent from home, follow the steps mentioned above.