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[Disneyfan62]

I really want and plan to become a Travel Agent. But I am not sure where to begin. Do I need to take classes? A little background info about me- I am a teacher and will be able to retire in 8 years. I also have experrience in retail, and currently also work as a shft leader in a bigname video store. I love all things Disney. I have been to DL (back in 1979) and on a cruise (2002) and to WDW 22 times in the last 16 years. I have basically planned all of these trips, with the exception of a few. I love to travel and recently purchased DVC property.

So any suggestions on what I should do? I love the planning process, and researching online to find the best deals etc. I have planned a trip to WDW for a couple of other people, and if someone I know is going they alwyas ask me for advice.

I tried an online class a few years ago, but was unable to finish it in time due to some other obligations. The local colleges here do not offer classes in the travel industry.

So what would be the best course of action? Should I try taking the online classes again to get certification?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.
Beverly Wylie

[pntsmom99]

Hi,
Definatly take classes, which you can usually find at you local community college.

People often think that all TA's do is look for, find and book travel but that's the easy part. Over my years, and I'm still only in the 'Infancy' stage of my career (8 years!), I have found that loving a destination and "Selling" a destination can be two different things.

There are so many different aspects to being a TA..marketing, selling, networking. Are you going to be home based? Store front? Selling Disney is great, but are you going to sell people the airfare too? If so then you'll need to know ticketing and tarrifs. You'll need to be able to read all the rules and fine print and not only be able to understand it yourself, but you need to be able to turn around an explain that to a traveler. Are you going to sell just Disney, or other destinations? If your going to do other destinations too, then you need "Destination Geography". What is it that makes people travel to certain places? What's of interest there, where is there to stay, what is the crime rate like ect.

I work in a storefront agency now. I had originally had my background in retail, and then in hotels (I was an desk clerk and an assistant general manager). I am able to use my background in what I do now, but the majority of it I learned when I took classes, or on the job training. Whenever you want to change your career, I would always suggest you prepare for the new direction you want to move into. What market opportunities are there for you? Have you checked with local agencies to see if they are hiring? If you go to 8/10 of your towns agencies, and no one is hiring, its a good indicator that the market is in a stall right now, and you may want to wait until it perks up a bit before jumping in.

My college, dropped the program while I was taking tourism classes, I had to independent study them. I would look into online classes. This is really not something you want to do without being prepared for it. When all goes well with a booking it's alot of fun, but when something goes wrong it can get very, very nasty, and as the booking agent you are responsible for fixing the problems so that the clients don't have to worry. Examples..the flight got delayed, so they missed their connection flight, which put them into Orlando a day later than they planned. The hotel cancelled the booking as a no show, and is now sold out. Your clients are on the airplane and you have three hours to make it all right....fun times let me tell you! I once had a cruise line that cancelled my clients booking three times!! It was awful...I went home almost in tears for a week. The clients never knew, I never got a thank you, but I was sure glad when their cruise was over.

Hope this helps...

[Disneyfan62]

Thanks for the info. I live in a small rural area, so no Travel Agencies around, and classes are not offered anywhere near here. So I am looking into online. Any suggestions on that?

[mickey0823]

there! I did an online course with Penn Foster and it was a terrific program! I learned about everything from planes, trains and automobiles, as well as hotels, crusies, tours, geography and business in gerneral. Needless to say in was a very informative program!
When I was close to finishing the course, I started calling local agencies to find out what type of computer reservation system they used, as I was approaching that lesson and had to choose one to learn. Anywho, one of the agencies that I called asked me what my plans were and I told him that I hoped to get a job. He then asked if I wanted to do an internship there.... Of course I wanted to do an internship! So, I took him up on that and I worked there on my days off from my other job. He then offered me a full-time position and the rest is history