The travel industry is exploding with opportunity. Airlines, cruise lines, hotels, resorts and other travel infrastructure are growing at an unprecedented rate and the common thread between all of the growth is distribution. Suppliers are looking toward the retail travel agent community to create the future demand necessary to continue the growth and prosperity. Even with the current set backs caused by the attack on the World Trade Center, travel is expected to rebound with much gusto after the war in Iraq. Now is the time to get involved.
Trends within the travel industry are evolving a network of home-based travel agents and with the Internet, came the opportunity for niche specialization for thousands of travel agents and their host agency partners. Today, a home-based travel professional can expect to make an excellent living. In fact, in a White Paper written by Credit-Suisse in January, home-based travel agents were identified as the highest yielding distribution channel in the travel industry. It went on to outline home-based travel agents as the growth opportunity of the 21st century and urged yield sensitive suppliers (cruise lines, resorts, tour companies and such) to pursue this market segment as the most desirable distribution channel. However, the White Paper was quick to point out the difference between “card mill” agents and real home-based travel agents.
The domestic and international airlines have capped commissions and then cut commission rates paid to travel agents to boot. The U.S. airlines completely stopped paying commissions to travel agents in 2002 altogether. Many travel professionals have chosen not to offer the service of issuing airline tickets to anyone but their established clients and then, only by charging a service fee for the service. The result has been the evolution of leisure specialists that focus on a very narrow market niche.
15 Areas of Great Opportunity
All of the changes in the travel industry have created unbelievable opportunities for agents that can focus their efforts in niche areas exploiting the new economic reality of the travel industry. This has created 15 areas of huge opportunity for home-based travel agents to earn extraordinary incomes. These opportunities are fully discussed and outlined in the current edition of “How to Start a Home Based Travel Agency” and are “must” reading for any new entrepreneur starting a home-based travel business. Find out exactly where the opportunities exist and how to exploit them.
A Whole New Acceptance of Home-Based Travel Agents
Not too many years ago home-based travel agents were thought to be somehow less professional than their storefront counterparts. Today, they are the most sought after segment of the travel industry by suppliers that recognize the dramatic change that has occurred over the past decade. Suppliers welcome new home-based travel agents with open arms and are anxious to help you get going. This new found status is a wonderful entree into a new career and you will find the travel industry an excellent place to pursue your career opportunity either full time or part time.
What Direction Should I go in?
As you pursue information on the web you will find lots of sites offering you opportunities for a fee. Many “card mills” will make excellent presentations to try and get your money. People will try to sell you training and courses to become a home-based travel agent, associations and industry groups will try to separate you from your money and unfortunately, there a quite a few scammers involved in the Internet that simply want your money without even giving you anything of value back. Travel attracts scammers from all over the world. Everything from Nigeria airline ticket scams using stolen credit cards to people selling phoney travel agent ID cards promising that they will allow you to travel for free.
The travel industry is just like every other business. Once you understand the basics of how the industry works, you are then in a position to make decisions about what you need for your business idea. You will be able to discern a scam from a real opportunity, to evaluate a host agency’s value proposition as it relates to you and most importantly, avoid getting scammed. “How to Start a Home Based Travel Agency” was written so that you can achieve these objectives and is the very best way to invest in your future in the travel industry. Tens of thousands of travel agents have used this book to launch their careers.