Become a travel agent in 2020? Salary, Jobs, Forecast

Charts and Graphs Available HERE ➡️ https://www.careerwatch.co/blog/travel-agent 🛍️ Amazon Recommendations (Books, Gear, Etc.): https://www.amazon.com/shop/careerwatch 📒 Free RIASEC Assessment: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RIASEC/ Travel agents sell flights, cruises, transportation, tours, insurance products, and other travel arrangements. They offer advice on destinations, itineraries, and products. Since 1999, the internet has clearly disrupted the travel industry. Most consumers book their own travel accommodations and choose not to use travel agents. Companies with resorts such as Disney and Marriot hire travel agents to sell their products and services. What kind of person becomes a travel agent? According to the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), travel agents score high in both Enterprising (100) and Conventional (78) themes. Commissions are a big part of the compensation of travel agents. According to hostagencyreviews.com, every sale nets a travel agent usually a minimum of 10% of the sale price. Selling cruises can boost that rate to 17%. Some agents report getting 37% of the sales price of insurance products. At a 10% commission rate, $100,000 in sales would net a travel agent $10,000. $1,000,000 in sales would net a travel agent $100,000 at that rate. This is in addition to a travel agent's base salary. Next, let's take a look at the base salaries of travel agents. This data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The salaries do not include overtime, bonuses, benefits, signing bonuses, or commissions. The data does not include travel agents that own their own companies. 11% of travel agents own a business. It is too difficult for governments and organizations to survey the incomes of business owners. Only the IRS and accountants really know the incomes of business owners. They don't make that information public. In 1999, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded the average base salary at $24,660. By 2019, the average base salary increased to $44,690. This is a wage growth of $20,030 (or $1,002 yearly) from 1999-2019. The estimated 2020 base salary would be $45,692. Average base salaries by state range from $34,360 t0 $55,420. The highest paying state is the state of Washington with an average base salary of $55,420. Other high paying states include New Hampshire ($52,980), Arizona ($52,010), and Maryland ($51,620). Here is how the 2019 salary breaks down by percentile. Here is how the 2019 salary breaks down by percentile. The starting base salary would be around $23,660 (10th percentile) and up to $30,400 (25th) percentile. The base salaries of the top 10% of travel agents start at $69,420 and go up from there. This is a declining occupation. The government is predicting a 6% decrease in the number of jobs over the next 10 years. Unfortunately, this was a pre-pandemic forecast. Travel agents were deeply affected by the pandemic. The World Travel and Tourism Council is predicting 197 million travel industry jobs could be lost due to the pandemic. Travel agents face a lot of challenges going forward. Since the late 90s, consumers have been using the internet to research vacations and book their own trips. This trend is not going away. The chart below shows the number of employed travel agents over time. The number of employed travel agents peaked in the year 2000 at 124,030 jobs. Every year from 2000-2013, travel agents lost jobs. The number of jobs bottomed out at 64,250 jobs in 2013. Interestingly, the number of jobs plateaued from 2013 to 2019. There was some job growth, but very slight considering how many jobs there were in 2000. Certain states have far more jobs than others. California and Florida are the hot spots for this occupation. Where do travel agents tend to work? Travel agents work in two different work environments • 79% work in Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services • 11% are self-employed People that take a RIASEC assessment and score high on the Enterprising theme tend to find entrepreneurship invigorating. What is the education of the average travel agent? You don’t need a bachelor’s degree to become a travel agent. Many aspiring travel agents take the Travel Agent Proficiency (TAP) test. The Travel Institute provides many different certifications. There is a Certified Travel Associate (CTA) and the Certified Travel Counselor (CTC). These certifications would help someone get into the industry. Just keep in mind getting a job will be very challenging, because of the lack of jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics surveyed the education travel agent in 2017. This is what they found: • 2% had less than a high school diploma • 16% had a high school diploma or equivalent • 28% had some college, but no degree. • 15% had an associate's degree. • 31% had a bachelor's degree. • 7% had a master's degree. • 1% had a doctoral or professional degree.