How Much Does it Cost to Become a Travel Agent?
How much does it cost to become a travel agent? If you want to start your own travel agency, which is the most common way future travel advisors enter the industry, we've got tons of info for you! (If you're looking for how much travel agents make, we've got another article for you.)
Our annual travel advisor survey finds that travel agency startup costs typically run between $0-$20,000, which isn't the most helpful. This vast range illustrates just how many factors impact how much it costs to start a travel agency.
This resource offers an overview of what you can to invest in starting your travel agency.
In this article, we'll break down how much it costs to become a travel agent by the most common routes people enter the industry:
- Franchise travel agencies
- Hosted travel agencies
- Independent travel agencies
This article will look at the latest data for how much it costs to become a hosted travel agent and why it's so stinkin' hard to get concrete data on startups for franchise owners and independently-accredited advisors.
Not sure what a hosted advisor is? First thing you need to know is what a host agency is.
⭐️ HAR Article Highlights: ⭐️
- How Much it Costs to Become a Hosted Travel Agent
- How Much it Costs to Start a Travel Agency Franchise
- How Much it Costs to Become an Independent Travel Agent
- Travel Agency Earnings: What You Can Expect in the First 3 Years
- Income for Travel Agency Startups: The Big Picture
How Much Does it Cost to Become a Travel Agent: The Big Picture
If you balked at the massive range people are spending to become a travel agent ($0-$15,000), you’re not alone. Why is there such a disparity in how much travel agents invest?
If you forced me to give a bottom line, shoe-string budget number on how much you’d invest at minimum to register your travel and access an accreditation number to book travel, I’d say the bargain basement budget startup cost would run around $500 at a bare minimum.
Frankly, when folks say they start an agency for nothing, I don’t know how they do it. If you’re one of those people, give me a holler. I want to know your secret! I’m thinking it’s likely they’re not factoring in the cost of registering their business, investing in their accreditation number, or purchasing a website domain. Those costs seem negligible individually but start to add up.
We're going to look at how much it costs to become a travel agent in a bunch of different ways. How do we do this with any amount of confidence or accuracy? I'm so glad you ask!
We pull new agent data from HAR's ridiculously comprehensive annual travel agent survey results.
1. Range: The range is the lowest and highest reported startup costs. This helps give a sense of how much it can vary and will guide you in making a budget that works for you.
2. Average: The average is the total sum of startup costs divided by the number of agents who responded to the survey. I like to think of the average as the “ballpark figure.” A lot of time, the average is a “middle value,” but when you have some folks invest $20 bucks and some invest $20K, sometimes these averages aren’t the best representation of what you can expect to spend.
3. Median: Median is the true middle startup cost. It’s the startup cost entry with an equal number of higher and lower-cost entries. And because we like to go big rather than go home, we’ll also look at . . .
4. Mode Startup Cost: The mode is where it becomes a popularity contest. It’s the startup cost is the value that travel agents reported most frequently.
5. IQ Range: Layspeak? An IQ range is a more “typical” range, looking at averages that are between the 25th percentile and 75th percentile. This helps us give advisors more of an idea of what they can realistically expect when it comes to things like income, fees, and startup costs.
How Much it Costs to Become a Hosted Agent:
Host agencies are a great option for new travel agents who want to start their own business, but don’t have the time/resources/people power to research and invest in every nook and cranny of the backend of running an agency (accreditation number, E&O insurance, Seller of Travel registration, CRM . . . the list goes on) and are looking for higher commissions.
It will come as no surprise to you that we’re fans of host agencies, and we recommend it to 99% of folks who are new to the industry and want to start their travel agency business and brand.
Hosts provide that administrative framework so you can focus on developing your travel agency brand identity and focus on selling travel. (You can read more on the benefits of using a host agency here.)
If you’re starting a travel agency with a host agency, here’s how much you can expect to invest in your startup cost:
1. IQ range Agency Startup Cost for Hosted Agents in 2024: $500-$5,000
2. Average Cost to Become a Hosted Travel Agent in 2024: $3,478
3. Median Cost to Become a Hosted Travel Agent in 2024: $1,500
4. Mode Cost to Become a Hosted Travel Agent in 2024: $500
That brings us to . . . .
How Much it Costs to Start a Travel Franchise:
Above, I mentioned that hosts are a great option for those who want backend support but still want to develop their brand. If you don't want to spend time creating a brand identity from scratch, a travel agency franchise is a great option.
With a travel franchise, you get to use the franchisor’s established branding. Rather than starting your brand identity from the ground up, you get to hit the ground running with an established brand identity. (In industry lingo, they call this a turnkey travel business.)
Is that up to your alley? You can learn about travel franchises here!
For the franchise listings on our site, the startup cost to become a travel agent through the franchise route ranges from $299-$8,995. The range of average low and average high is $1,165 to $5,665.
Annual fees range from $0 - $7,200. But it's important to note that even if a franchise has no set annual fee, they may have other fees such as a retail license fee, a tech fee, and/or take percentage of your net revenue or gross sales.
The latest data we have on startup costs for franchise owners is from 2020. Here's what that looked like back in the day:
How Much it Costs to Become an Independent Travel Agent:
Independent advisors are travel agents who get their own accreditation number, rather than using a host agency's..
Independent travel agents start from scratch when they set up their agency. They don't have the turnkey marketing of franchises nor do they have the backend and bookkeeping support from a host agency. Independent advisors get their own accreditation, travel agent license, join a consortium directly, and forge their own relationships with travel suppliers (etc.). They also need to build their own tech stack.
The good news is that in 2024 we had enough new independent advisors to offer a little bit of data! Hurray! Here's a look at the startup costs below!
While the most common startup cost for independent advisors is higher than hosted advisors, the median, average, and IQ range are lower in comparison.
This could be due to the fact there is a smaller sample and that host startup costs tend to be more variable depending on what host agency you choose at which commission tier.
If you’re a newbie independent agent, we’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments below if you’re willing to share how many coins you dropped! But most importantly, take our survey so we can offer great more great data in the independent segment!
Travel Agent Earnings: What You Can Expect in the First 3 Years
Now that you have an idea of approximately how much it costs to become a travel agent, let’s talk about how much you can expect to earn.
I’m not going to sugarcoat this: It may take you a few years to be able to earn a living from your travel agent career. Why? There are a few reasons:
Here are a few reasons why it can take time (typically 3-5 years) to generate a steady income as a travel agent:
- It takes a while to build a client base and develop your brand.
- Even when you do make your first bookings, you're often not paid commission until after your client completes their travel (or after final payment for some vendors). So, if you make seven bookings in January but the clients aren't traveling until November, you might not get paid until the next calendar year. Let's just say, if you want to walk off your current job, thinking that the big bucks will roll in the next month, you might want to reconsider your strategy. 😉
- (Leisure) travel is something most people only do 1-2 times a year. Even with referrals and repeat clients, it can take a lot longer to build a steady business compared to a new restaurant or other service industries like a hairstylist.
Now let’s talk about moolah.
Income for Travel Agency Startups: The Big Picture
We have loads and loads of in-depth travel agent research reports. In our Hosted Travel Advisor Report we have a section specifically for newly hosted travel agents with 0-3 years of experience.
I’ll offer you a brief overview of new travel agent income data, plus show you how it’s trended over time.
The Latest and Greatest New Travel Agent INCOME Data:
New advisors earned $12,057 on average, according to HAR's 2024 survey. However, those with two years of experience earned over double the income. Here's a look at what hosted advisors earned! It's important to note that the graph below only includes new hosted advisors who reported income!
But don't take my word for it. Here's a first-hand take from the owner of Travel Legacy, Veranda Adkins, and her advice on just how far out you book those dang trips and why it can take time (sometimes years!) for those commissions to land in your bank account.
What Factors Lead to More Income For Travel Agents?
The secret sauce to earning a higher income as a travel agent is not a well-kept secret. We’ve been collecting data on travel agent income for years now and here’s what we’ve seen:
Income potential increases if you:
- Work full time
- Charge a fee
- Sell certain travel products
- Have employees or independent contractor agents working with you
But that’s only part of it.
Investing in travel agent startup resources is step one. Leveraging those resources is step two.
What I’m about to say may sound extremely obvious, but hey, it’s what leads to earning more money: Investing in these resources is step one. Leveraging resources is step two.
Achieving income stability is more than investing dollars in a fancy website, joining a host agency, getting an accreditation, or ticking off boxes for travel certifications. It’s just as much about taking advantage of the tools and resources available to you through your host or consortium.
How do you know? You can find more details than you ever wanted in our travel agent income survey archive. (Psst, if you click on that link and get a little scared by the sheer volume of data, a good start is to check out our latest longitudinal travel agent income report.)
Ready to Get Started?
Not only are travel agency startup costs affordable, but there are also plenty of resources.
If you want to get a lay of the land, check out HAR's7DS Accelerator course options. If you just want to dip your toes into the waters to see if it’s for you, give the trial a try.
Once you hit your stride as a travel advisor, our travel agent income data shows that earnings trend upward with experience, time investment, and industry engagement.
We'd love to hear from you—new and experienced agents alike! How long did it take for your agency to become sustainable? Did you find your cost to become a travel agent was similar to those in the article? For agents with a few years under their belts, what do you wish you had done differently? For new agents, where are you feeling the need for additional support?
Let us know in the comment section below or email us!
*Editor's Note: This post was originally published on July 17th, 2018. We updated the information to reflect current income trends. (You can find the original article here.)
