/ How to Become a Travel Agent - Career Salaries, Job Stats & Education

** Open Colleges does not currently offer any Travel Courses**

Thinking of a Travel Agent Career?

If travelling is your life’s desire, then there are careers that offer you the opportunity to assist other travellers to make the most of their holidays. Get to know new and exciting places, help find accommodation and flights and advise people on their sightseeing opportunities.

Tourism and Travel Agents Job Outlook

The graph shows historical and projected (to 2023) employment levels (thousands) for this occupation.

Source: *Job Outlook Government website. ABS Labour Force Survey, Department of jobs and Small Business trend data to May 2018 and Department of Jobs and Small Business projections to 2023

Employment for Tourism and Travel Agents to 2023 is expected to grow strongly. Employment in this medium sized occupation (23800 in 2018) has been quite stable for the past five years.

Tourism and Travel Advisers Salaries

Source: *Job Outlook Government website. Estimates have been rounded and consequently some discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

Note: These figures are indicative and cannot be used to determine a particular wage rate.

There are likely to be around 12,000 job openings over 5 years in this industry. 

Tourism and Travel Weekly Work Hours

Full time workers spend around 43 hours per week at work (as compared to the average of 44 hours) 

Pay may be similar to the national average but the workplace culture and total number of hours worked per week encourage a healthier work/life balance.

Source: *Job Outlook Government website. 

Tourism and Travel Agents Age Profile

As expected, the Tourism industry has a strong appeal amongst young people, making it a vibrant and dynamic work environment.

 Source: ABS Census 2016. Customised report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average. 

Employment prospects in Tourism Careers

More growth is on the horizon. The number of people working as Tourism and Travel Advisers is expected to grow over the next 5 years from 23,800 in 2018 to 25,000 by 2023. 

Tourism Workers Education Levels

Source: *Job Outlook Government website. ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job. 

Tourism Skills Trends

Tourism Research Australia latest employment research suggest that growth in tourism employment is more likely due to growth in education tourism than in leisure travel, the segment that we might normally look to as an indicator of tourism performance. 
As a result, tourism employment moves toward highly qualified professionals and, to some extent, away from low skill positions more commonly associated with leisure tourism. 

Interview with a professional from the Tourism Industry

Lori Robinson Medlin
President/CEO, Halifax County Convention & Visitors Bureau

In two sentences, tell us what a bit about your role in the Travel industry.

My goal has always been to use the power of tourism to uplift impoverished areas and the people. I’m proud of the tourism industry because it is a clean industry where visitors come to explore the best of what your area has to offer and in turn help the economies of many low-wealth nations.

What does a Travel professional do on a day to day basis?

A travel professional showcases an area that you would like people to explore. They do everything from writing a hand-written thank you note to tweeting about an event, from greeting visitors at the door and helping them get from place to place to designing a mobile app. You have to have your feet in both worlds, offering old-fashioned, personalised customer service and high-tech marketing and information.

At the core, we work with people on a daily basis, whether helping an individual decide to relocate to our area, giving information on attraction and hotels, working with politicians and community leaders to construct new facilities like meeting space and athletic complexes to attract more visitors to the area.

What are the best parts of the job?

The best part of tourism is essentially connection with people on a positive level. Everything we do is designed to make the places that we market to visitors better for both visitors and the residents who live there.

We share positive, uplifting stories and constantly rediscover and promote what is unique about our area.

What skills/attributes do potential Travel industry employees need to have?

You really have to enjoy interaction with people. You have to be able to change gears quickly and be flexible, never knowing what the day is going to bring. You have to be able to take criticism. You are going to get complaints from visitors, and you need to make them feel better about their experience and solve their problems or make the situation better if you can.

What're your favourite things about working in the Travel Industry?

My favourite things about working in the travel industry are the opportunities to travel and to put the best face forward of the area that I promote. I also find that my colleagues in the industry are a fun-loving, gregarious, hard-working group that I enjoy spending time with.

The creativity that is involved in promoting an area means that you are constantly learning and thinking of new things to offer and new ways to share information. There is never a dull moment, and you never have the same day twice.

Thanks Lori, for sharing your story with Open Colleges.

** Open Colleges does not currently offer any Travel Courses**