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What are the Different Travel Consultant Jobs?
Business and leisure are the two main areas of travel consultant jobs. Within these two basic types, many subtype specialty areas exist, such as corporate, family, educational and adventure travel consulting. Travel agents or consultants may work in an agency or own their own traditional or home-based travel business. All travel consultant jobs involve interviewing clients and planning transportation and accommodation that meet each client’s vacation desires or work needs.
A business travel consultant or agent may be a convention and employment travel specialist. Corporate travel consultant jobs many involve handling several accounts, such as large law firms or technology corporations. Corporate travel consultants or agents must understand the travel needs of each corporation and provide excellent customer service. Business travel consultant jobs often require keeping up to date with visa and passport requirements as well as experience with both international and domestic ticketing and booking.
Travel agents or consultants may work in large or small travel agencies or have their own businesses. The options include buying an existing business, partnering with another travel consultant or opening a new travel business. Today, many travel consulting jobs include having a home-based business, since bookings and other tasks can be done completely through the Internet in most cases. Travel consultants with home businesses must be able to market their services effectively to get enough clientele. Home-based travel consultants or agents may be able to make more than they did at a traditional agency, but they must have enough clients and the right industry connections, as the work is commission-based.
Travel consultant job openings are most successfully completed by consultants who travel themselves, as they are usually better able to give advice to clients on different cultures and climates. Many destinations feature travel opportunities designed only for travel agents or consultants in the hope that each consultant will recommend their product or service such as a hotel, cruise or tourist attraction. A leisure travel consultant often creates package deals that save customers money. A package vacation deal usually includes airfare and accommodation and may include tickets to attractions or events.
The designation of Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) or Certified Travel Associate (CTA) may be required for some travel consultant jobs in either leisure or business. These credentials are offered by the professional travel association, the Institute for Certified Travel Agents (ICTA). The CTA qualification requires 18 months of travel agency experience, while the CTC credential takes five years of experience in travel agencies.
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![A leisure travel consultant might be able to get a tourist a good package deal to visit places like the Forbidden City in China.]()
By: Ilia TorlinA leisure travel consultant might be able to get a tourist a good package deal to visit places like the Forbidden City in China. -
![A travel consultant is reponsible for booking flights.]()
By: BriYYZA travel consultant is reponsible for booking flights. -
![Corporate travel consultants book business trips for employees.]()
By: peshkovaCorporate travel consultants book business trips for employees. -
![Travel consultants may be able to recommend hotels to stay at.]()
By: OffscreenTravel consultants may be able to recommend hotels to stay at. -
![Travel consultants can sometimes represent several clients at once, including law firms and technology companies.]()
By: DragonImagesTravel consultants can sometimes represent several clients at once, including law firms and technology companies. -
![A corporate travel agent might arrange for automobile transportation.]()
By: witthayaA corporate travel agent might arrange for automobile transportation. -
![Travel consultants can recommend different resources to help professionals stay connect with their employer while traveling.]()
By: imageegamiTravel consultants can recommend different resources to help professionals stay connect with their employer while traveling.
Discussion Comments
@pleonasm - I think if you work for a good agency you can probably mitigate your worries about the economy, because generally they survive. If they have survived the internet in general they are probably a pretty savvy group and there are plenty of cases where someone has found a good niche travel consultant position and has managed to use the internet to their advantage.
A good example is all those agencies that work with the cruise lines and resorts to fill up empty berths with last minute discounts.
@Iluviaporos - It wouldn't be a bad job, but you'd be very vulnerable to the whims of the economy. People just don't want to travel during bad economic times and a lot of these kinds of jobs end up disappearing when the money does.
Even if you are a business travel consultant you might end up in trouble. I know that all my uncles work in business jobs that require a lot of travel and they were all told during the recent recession that they were basically going to be grounded for the time being, because the company was trying to cut back expenses and that means no travel.
Yes, it's one of those jobs with overseas travel built into the job description, but honestly I'd rather have a higher paying job and be able to make my own decisions about when and where to travel.
This must be one of the best jobs ever. I mean they basically get to travel as part of their job and their agencies probably at least subsidize their traveling, if not outright paying for it each time.
Plus they would be aware of all the great deals and would be able to take advantage of those as well. I guess a travel agency job is pretty much my dream job.
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