Travel Agents
Plan and sell transportation and accommodations for customers. Determine destination, modes of transportation, travel dates, costs, and accommodations required. May also describe, plan, and arrange itineraries and sell tour packages. May assist in resolving clients' travel problems.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Persuasion
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Writing
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Sales and Marketing
- Geography
- Computers and Electronics
- Administrative
- Telecommunications
- Transportation
What the work involves
- Collect payment for transportation and accommodations from customer.
- 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.
- Book transportation and hotel reservations, using computer or telephone.
- Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers.
- Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations.
- Print or request transportation carrier tickets, using computer printer system or system link to travel carrier.
- Record and maintain information on clients, vendors, and travel packages.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (37.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (46.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (31.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Travel Agents is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Higher on contact with others than 55% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 88% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 92% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 61% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 61% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 66% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 61% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 67% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Contact with others most of the time: 27.58%
- Constant contact with others: 58.63%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 1.69%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 13.79%
- Very important: 22.37%
- Extremely important: 62.15%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.2%
- Fairly important: 30.58%
- Important: 10.93%
- Very important: 34.47%
- Extremely important: 21.82%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 1.02%
- Very little freedom: 13.86%
- Limited freedom: 18.07%
- Some freedom: 15.69%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Time pressure
- Never: 21.76%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.74%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.34%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2016
Conflict situations
- Never: 4.58%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.48%
- Every day: 16.33%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 47.82%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 45.79%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 4.67%
- Every day: 1.72%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2016
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 3.22%
- Fairly serious: 20.78%
- Serious: 24.84%
- Very serious: 37.12%
- Extremely serious: 14.04%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2016
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O*NET-SOC 41-3041.00 · SOC 41-3041 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8