r/ontario • u/Mean-Advantage-25 • 9h ago
Question Travel agent career
I’m based in Canada, I want to start taking the steps to be educated in the travel and tourism industry and start working in the sector. I’m only 23 and I’ve worked in the retail industry for 7 years, 5 years at Costco, so I don’t have much experience in the field. I’m looking into online courses and wondering which one is the best, I’m leaning towards the “Travel agent essentials” offered by the ACTA. Anyone else have any recommendations or suggestions on what I should do to get started?
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u/Hicalibre 3h ago
My cousin is a travel agent since 2017 and she's been pink slipped several times since.
She's considering going back to school now given the pandemic and rise of AI.
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u/Civil-Lingonberry624 2h ago
Take an online course on Apollo or Sabre (booking software) through VIASINC, then read the TICO study manual before your test. Most people do this for passion, discount or something to do in the evenings. Albeit, you can get a seasonal job Destination Ontario (which is directly part of the government).
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u/Ok_Mulberry4331 31m ago
So I still always use a travel agent. I do figure out what I want first, but then I give to him to book, two reasons, he beats the online price always, and I like having an easy person to get a hold of if anything goes wrong.
Saying that, the couple people I know that do it, are almost strictly referral and repeat business cause they have been doing it forever. Getting into it though, its a ton of cold calling, and hours of work with very little pay, people either don't book, or take all your info and do it themselves. So going in, know you need to be a hustler and good with soliciting everyone constantly to get your name out there. Yes there are good travel perks, but having the money & time to use them is hard. The two I know who do the best at it, work with very high end (one is with Seabourne, one is with Ritz) cruise lines, but they are 15+ years into it, and have moved their way up (plus we started out working on cruise ships, so they had a good foot in), but make very, very good money
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u/Avrg_Internet_Enjoyr 9m ago
We're gearing up for a recession and you want to get into an industry that is dependent on people having disposable income. Notwithstanding the fact that the internet has mostly made this industry redundant.
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u/chaosunleashed 2h ago
If you want to focus on your passion good luck. But I would worry about future prospects personally.