Suppose you were to visit a certain place, and you had no idea as to what that place is like and you were too lazy to do all the research for your visit, you would require a certain 3rd party which could do all that on your behalf, at a certain price, of course. We would call that agency or that 3rd party as a travel agency. Similarly, you can open up your own travel agency, if you think that you have the required resources and the knowledge to fulfill the requirements of the people.

You can find various kinds of travel agencies, depending on the basis of the services they are providing you.
The largest ones, which are often supported by the local governments, are the tourism agencies, or tourism development corporations, which not only have local guides and transportation for guided tours, but also provide you with accommodation and meals. The mode of transportation can range from bicycles to luxury airplanes.

Another kind is the one which arranges business trips for you. You want to go to a certain place, yet you don’t know what the requirements to visit that place are, you contact a travelling agency. The agency will require your social security number, your dates for travelling, and they will arrange all the rest for you, from arranging the passport to the airplane ticket and the booking in a certain hotel of your liking and budget capacity. There are various packages available for you, if you just want them to arrange just a portion of the trip, like just arrange you the passport or just the booking of a hotel, so to speak.

Yet other well-known kind of travelling agencies are those which arrange your pilgrimages to the holy places, Saudi Arabia and the Vatican City; which are the most popular pilgrim places where millions of pilgrims visit every year.

And yet another kind of travelling agency is one which is affiliated with certain air lines and facilitates the people into arranging their trips through these airlines. These agencies get a cut from both the parties, where both the airline and the individual is a client to the agency.

Some years ago, another side business these travel agencies started was filming their trips to various places and broadcasting them on television. This had a wonderful twofold benefit. Firstly, it boomed their business, as many people became aware of the existence of places where they could spend their leisure time on, and secondly it brought their company publicity. Some travel agencies also hire tourists to help them compile a travelling guide book as another sort of business, which carries all sort of information about the places which are included in their trips, the various attractions for tourists, the cultural and historical heritage of a place, and the basic profiles of the locality, etc. These travel guide books are commercially available too at various local booksellers.

Travel agency is basically a service provider that sells products and services that are related to travelling purposes. These are provided on behalf of airliners, car rentals, and cruise liners for some sightseeing tours along with some package of holidays. They not only deal with ordinary tourists but they also provide their services for arranging and providing package deals for all the international customers. These types of services include the ticketing, providing accommodation services at the required destination along with all the help in obtaining a visa. Some of the agencies in the world specialize in commercial travel only while others deal with business travel. Many of the agencies around the world have their representatives in all major countries of the world to help customers in the best possible manner and to have a better coordination in respect of issuance of visas and other pertinent issues.

The oldest travel agency in the world is known as ‘Cox and Kings’. One of the modern travel agency was ‘Thomas Cook’ that appeared in the second half of the 19th century. It was one of the first travel agencies of the world that created one of the first holiday packages along with a chain of agencies in the last quarter of the 19th century. They not only offered tours to the general public but also offered tours in support with four other tour companies. The response was well received with travel industry growing fast with the introduction of modern airlines, low costs and maximum benefits of traveling around the world in economical costs.

Other pioneering British travel agencies of the world were ‘Dean and Dawson’. Another of the most prominent travel agencies of the world was ‘Polytechnic Touring Association’ and the ‘Co-operative Wholesale Society’. North America also hosts one of the oldest travel agencies of the world with the name ‘Brownwell Travel’. Walter T.Brownwell set a sail from New York on a European tour on July 4th 1887 on the ship SS Devonia.

With the advancement of commercial aviation in the early 20th century, travelling became more and more convenient and more economical. Initially the travel agencies used to serve only the middle and the upper class customers but with the boom in the industry and introduction of economical packaged holidays, travel agencies have also gained momentum. One of the most popular places of the customers of that time was travelling to the beaches, a newfound attraction for the people of that time.

Most of the travel agents collect some commission in order to keep their business running. In most of the countries, the travel agents are required to be licensed in order to offer services to customers. Travel agencies basically sell products and services on behalf of the supplier. The suppliers in that case are mostly the airliners who provide hefty discounts on their travelling packages. Along with them are the leading hotels of the world such as ‘Marriot’ and ‘Serena’ that offer customer friendly packages for staying in their hotels and enjoying many luxuries that they offer.

If you are a person who loves to travel plan out travel trips for your family and friends, then turning your hobby into a career is a dream come true, For this career will not only pay but you will also fulfill all your aspirations. A travel agency is supposed to provide a customer with a variety of services. You will be offering the customers services as simple as buying their airline tickets or as complex as Helping them plan each and every minute of their vacation.

As the number of people who want to travel increases day by day, the need of experienced and Expert Travel agents is also Increasing. Most people prefer traveling with travel agents and let them organize their Trip rather than doing it themselves. Setting up a travel agency is certainly a high paying business and with it customers can even get good travel Discounts.

Many Renowned Travel Agencies require their agents to have degree in either Business or Liberal Arts. The agents that these travel agencies hire usually know how to speak a second language since the agencies focus on International travel more than anything else. Before opening up a travel agency, it is always a good idea to take up a 6-12 Week Travel course first and be Computer Literate also because some of the travel Agencies conduct most of their businesses on the Internet. Working with a renowned Traveling agency in the beginning to learn the ins and outs of the traveling agency business is a good idea because having hands-on experience works out really well for you in future when you plan you set up a traveling agency of your own.

Once you have laid the foundation of your travel agency, you should check with your state if any sort of registration or certification is needed before you can start doing business with your clients. Even while conducting business, one should be in touch with latest traveling services, Companies and other sources that can broaden a travel agent’s exposure into the domestic or international market.

Once you have the required Experience, start a business plan. Keeping a thorough analysis of the local and International competitors, the prevalent marketing strategies and other details like Budgets Constraints etc. The Travel Agency Corporations Offer better Stipends and Benefits than many other businesses throughout the globe.

To be successful in your career as a travel agent, one should posses the ability to plan with great precision and accuracy in accordance of what the customer wants you to plan for them. A small Mistake in this planning can greatly affect your Career and Customer Turn-out subsequently.

Most of the travel agents in the States have a travel counseling certificate that goes by the name Certified Travel Counselor (CTC).The “Institute of Certified Travel Agents” awards you with this certificate after you have gained a certain amount of experience. For more details, you can Log on to www.icta.com. It‘s always good to work to get this certificate as it gives you international recognition and Accreditation as a travel agent. This greatly Increase your customer turn-out as well. It’s always best to Focus on international Customers because that pays you much more than local ones.