Career
Travel agents
Plan trips and book travel for clients.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Collect payment for transportation and accommodations from customer.
- Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers.
- Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required.
- Compute cost of travel and accommodations, using calculator, computer, carrier tariff books, and hotel rate books, or quote package tour's costs.
- Record and maintain information on clients, vendors, and travel packages.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
AI
BLS now cites artificial intelligence in this occupation's outlook: “share decreases as consumer use of online booking services reduces the need for travel agents. The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools will also allow travel agents to perform administrative and marketing tasks more efficiently.”
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on persuasion & leadership, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Collect payment for transportation and accommodations from customer.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Service Orientation, Reading Comprehension, Speaking.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $50,160 a year and 5,900 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Selling Skills and Sales OperationsCIP 52.1804
- Tourism and Travel Services Marketing OperationsCIP 52.1905
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks$44,390 · +2.5%
- Travel Guides
- Counter and Rental Clerks$41,300 · +3.0%
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel$69,990 · +2.7%
- Customer Service Representatives$44,770 · -5.3%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.