For the last eight years since leaving school I have been working in retail fashion. I even before the pandemic I could see that the industry was in long-term decline primarily because of the growing number of online clothes retailers that will be coming ever more popular with consumers. COVID-19 accelerated this long-term decline as more and more people became accustomed to shopping online. As a result of the change in consumer behaviour, it was apparent to my employers that they simply would not be able to sustain the level of expenses they had prior to the pandemic. The consequence of this was that I lost my job the end of September this year when furlough came to an end.

I was one of the lucky ones. Throughout the Covid lockdown period I was still earning a wage and did not suffer financially like so many other people. Because I knew there was a real risk of me losing my job when furlough came to an end I started exploring other career options towards the end of 2020. It’s funny how as soon as you start looking for something, Facebook seems to know exactly what you’re doing. My newsfeed was flooded with sponsored posts on a daily basis telling me to set up an Amazon shop, a Drop shipping website, Spreadbetting foreign exchange, becoming a counsellor, and even becoming a business coach. 

I went down the YouTube rabbit hole watching hours an hours of videos from people who said they have done it all made millions and we are now offering courses (which of course I would have to pay for) teaching others how to do it. What just didn’t make sense to me was if these people were making so much money in their respective sectors that they now had enough time to spend half of the year on holiday sipping champagne then why did they need to earn more money by teaching others how to do what they did. These were clearly not altruistic people trying to do their bit for humanity by uplifting the lives of others.

Discovering travel agents still existed

One promotion did however intrigue me. Travel partner group was encouraging people to become travel agents. My first shock was that somebody was actually encouraging people to become travel agents. I thought the travel agents were nearing extinction and very soon would be a distant memory like the dinosaurs. Of course I knew the travel agents still existed, I just didn’t think it was worth going into a career that wouldn’t exist in five years time. The second shock was the fact that the company was suggesting that’s a career as a travel agent was a viable proposition at a time when travel had come to a virtual standstill.

But something about this promotion intrigued me and drove me to investigate further. Travel partner group we’re not trying to sign me up to an expensive course that cost between a few hundred and a few thousand pounds to learn about how to be a travel agent. The pitch was very simple – become a travel agent, sell holidays and keep 70% of the commission I earn with the remaining 30% going to the travel partner group.  The travel partner group would only make money if I made money and the fact that they were spending money promoting this opportunity and clearly meant they believed people like me could make money selling travel. They would have a vested interest in my success. The fact that they were promoting the model meant that clearly they had members who were making them money.

It was time to explore this a little further.

Travel agents are the future

The first thing that became apparent was the travel agents were going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Covid pandemic. Travel was one of the biggest growth segments of digital transactions when the Internet started to become mainstream in the late 90s. When Covid struck however travellers who had use the Internet to book their holidays quickly discovered that the big online travel brands were not there to support them when things went wrong.

Many consumers waited for hours on hold multiple times every week trying to get through to their travel provider with no success. Emails to their online travel agent went unanswered and the websites had no self-service tools that allowed customers to cancel or reschedule their holidays. Travel agents on the other hand or per actively contacting their clients, offering them options and then obtaining refunds with speed or rebooking suitable alternate travel arrangements. 

A new sentiment had been established in the market – booking with travel agents was worth it even if there was a premium to pay.

The myth the travel agents are more expensive

In my journey of discovery I also realised the travel agents are often cheaper than the Internet. The perception has always been that the Internet is cheaper for everything but this is fundamentally untrue in travel. The reason for this is because hotels, airlines, cruise operators and a vast array of other providers of travel services carefully control their pricing. None of these providers want online travel companies undercutting them and therefore they don’t offer them a certain type of fare. 

The inclusive Tour (IT) fair is reserved exclusively for travel agents and tour operators. These fares are substantially cheaper than the fares available online because they are combined with other services to form a package. As the fair of the individual product is not exposed, the provider is not worried about being undercut. The upshot is the consumer gets a travel package incorporating all of the elements at a cost which is cheaper than the sum of its parts.

As a travel agent this meant I would be able to offer pricing that was cheaper than my online competition while still allowing me to make a healthy profit margin.

Six months into my journey

I decided to take the plunge in May 2021 and become a travel agent. It is true to say I didn’t do many bookings in the first three months because of the general uncertainty surrounding foreign travel. So I spent my time learning about destinations, hotels, attractions in the key resorts I was planning on focussing on and generally promoting my new business friends, family and their networks.

August of this year was the turning point. Suddenly travel was open and the pent-up demand in the market suddenly exploded. I was inundated with enquiries and was making bookings. October 2021 was incredible. I booked 6 couples on holiday packages to the Maldives alone. With an average value of over £3000 per person and a profit margin of 15%. The net amount I made from just these Maldives bookings was a little under £4000. I was now earning more in a week then I had done in my retail job in a month.

The future the travel agent is looking very bright and I have never been so excited about my work as I am today.