How to Be a Successful Travel Agent

Travelling is a favorite pastime across countries and continents. Given the opportunity most persons would prefer to travel than engage in any other leisure. Travelling is invigorating, educative, and could be enjoyed with family and friends. With destinations in multiples and several travelling options, selecting a vacation destination could be a daunting task for a willing traveler. To make matters convenient it is always possible to take professional assistance which in the case of vacationing should be left to reliable and experienced travel agencies or agents.

Travel agents not only guide vacationers but also business travelers. For a business traveler it is important to stay in a hotel close to work area. Further, hotels should have facilities for meetings, presentations, business centre, foreign exchange, travel assistance, and banquets. A travel agent should have all this information in his fingertips so that prospective buyers get converted to customers. The job of a travel agent is not learnt overnight or within weeks. Plenty of reading of books, magazines, journals and newspaper is mandatory for gaining knowledge about a place and its people. For a traveler going on business it is essential to have complete information about market and economy of a city or country. Unlike a leisure tourist whose primary concern is vacationing and sight-seeing, a business traveler would be only interested in market extent and potential. He spends money for business generation and not for pleasure. For a travel agent it is thus important to have a thorough knowledge not only about the historic or cultural significance of a place, but also its commercial and economic importance. In recent years this has become more pertinent as business has reached global scale.

In order to stay informed about business environment and market trends, a travel agent must attend company meetings whenever possible. Company meetings and events are vital sources of information about a region’s or nation’s economy. Reading together with attending company meetings contribute handsomely to the business prospects of a travel agent.

Staying updated – In today’s world of market fluctuations staying updated is compulsory. Exchange rates of different currencies, fares, hotel booking charges, and insurance rates constantly change and it is difficult for any average person to keep a track of those. However, a professional travel agent is expected to be prompt with these. Staying updated with these figures help in building confidence, which is indispensable for this profession.

Access to information – A travel agent must have access to relevant information like flight timings and fares, hotel accommodation and availability, visa fees if any, and exchange rate at any point of time. This is where his professionalism lies. A potential customer would only be interested in prompt replies. This access to information could be in the form of books, other printed materials and World Wide Web. The WWW is a treasure chest of information and should be used and referred to generously. No amount of lacuna is acceptable from a reliable travel agent in these matters.

Maintenance of records – A travel agent is required to maintain unambiguous records of hotel bookings, tickets sold, visa validity period and processing fees if any, travel insurance, and holiday reservations. A customer must be informed about these whenever requested or demanded.

Creation of a customer list – In fact, every travel agent needs to keep two lists: i) list of existing clients, and ii) list of potential buyers. Both these lists are important as they are a source of business for a travel agent. Existing clients should be sent greetings on relevant occasions. The same holds true for noteworthy probable buyers.