Become a
Travel Agent
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Travel
Agents
The world’s busiest
airport is in Atlanta: more than 77 billion people make connections there
every year. England is packed with more than 1,400 castles. And you can sail
across the Atlantic Ocean in only six days.
These are the kind of
facts that travel agents are paid to know. Whether they’re finding a fancy
hotel or a cheap flight, booking an African safari or a Swedish massage,
travel agents are travel gurus. They get paid to guide clients through the
maze of the travel industry.
Travel
agents help people plan vacations and trips all over the world.
Did You Know?
Are You Ready To...?
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Offer clients the
benefit of your firsthand travel experience
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Contact airlines and
hotels
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Promote group tours
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Use a computer
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Spend hours on the
phone
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Develop a specialty
in, for example, adventure travel
It Helps to Be...
A people person who
loves to travel and experience new things. It also helps to be a good problem
solver and someone who enjoys helping others.
Make High School Count
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Gain a global
perspective in geography, history, literature, and foreign language classes.
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Master the computer.
Get to know word processing and spreadsheet software.
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Take advantage of
speech and drama classes to polish your communication skills. As a travel
agent, you’ll be talking to customers daily.
Did You Know?
Outlook
Government economists
expect there to be fewer jobs for travel agents in 2012 than there were in
2002. One reason for this decline is that more people are planning their own
vacations on the Internet.
Compensation
According to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average yearly earnings of travel agents in
2003 were $29,430.
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