What does a Travel Agent do?

Plan and sell transportation and accommodations for customers. Day to day that includes work like collect payment for transportation and accommodations from customer and Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers.

What skills should a Travel Agent put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Social Perceptiveness among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Travel Agent list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Apollo Reservation System, Colibripms Software Colibri, DataSwell, Galor Travel Booster, and Global distribution system GDS software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Travel Agent work?

O*NET records 25 titles for this occupation, including Destination Specialist, Travel Consultant, Travel Counselor, and Auto Travel Counselor. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Travel Agent need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 37% reported their level of education as "Associate's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Travel Agent role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Travel Agent resume example

A resume for a Travel Agent needs to show the work itself: plan and sell transportation and accommodations for customers. Day to day that means work like this: 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. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Destination Specialist
Travel Consultant
Travel Counselor
Auto Travel Counselor
Beach Expert
Corporate Travel Consultant
International Travel Consultant
Tour Coordinator
Tour Counselor
VIP Travel Consultant
Business Travel Consultant
Certified Travel Counselor
Corporate Travel Agent
Corporate Travel Counselor
Corporate Travel Expert
Entertainment Travel Consultant
Leisure Travel Agent
Tour Agent

O*NET records 25 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

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.
Book transportation and hotel reservations, using computer or telephone.
Print or request transportation carrier tickets, using computer printer system or system link to travel carrier.
Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Collect payment for transportation and accommodations from customer, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Compute cost of travel and accommodations, using calculator, computer, carrier tariff books, and hotel rate books, or quote package tour's costs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Apollo Reservation System
Colibripms Software Colibri
DataSwell
Galor Travel Booster
Global distribution system GDS software
Globekey Agentkey
Illusions Online Illusions OnDemand
IMS Travel Agent Reservation Software System
Intuit QuickBooks
MGHworld Travel Agents
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook

29 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Card readers
Computer inkjet printers
Computer laser printers
Copy machines
Laser facsimile machines
Multiline telephone systems
Personal computers
Printing calculators
Public address systems
Ticket printing machines

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

Sabre Central Command
Zoom

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Service Orientation
03Reading Comprehension
04Speaking
05Social Perceptiveness
06Persuasion
07Judgment and Decision Making
08Active Learning
09Coordination
10Critical Thinking

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
English Language
Sales and Marketing
Geography
Computers and Electronics
Administrative
Telecommunications
Transportation

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

37%Associate's Degree
31%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
14%Bachelor's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Travel Agent do?: Plan and sell transportation and accommodations for customers. Day to day that includes work like collect payment for transportation and accommodations from customer and Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers.
What skills should a Travel Agent put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Social Perceptiveness among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Travel Agent list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Apollo Reservation System, Colibripms Software Colibri, DataSwell, Galor Travel Booster, and Global distribution system GDS software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Travel Agent work?: O*NET records 25 titles for this occupation, including Destination Specialist, Travel Consultant, Travel Counselor, and Auto Travel Counselor. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Travel Agent need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 37% reported their level of education as "Associate's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Travel Agent role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.