There's a whoooole lot to consider when looking at how much travel agents make. Beyond the more obvious factors (like working hours or having more experience), here are a few things that impact a travel agent's income.

• Employee vs. Self-employed? The vast majority of leisure travel agents are now entrepreneurs (most of whom align with a host agency). This is a change from the old-school days when most travel agents were storefront agency employees. Why does this matter? Because there are going to be a lot more factors that impact income for those who run their own business compared to employees who clock in and out of a 9 to 5.
• Travel Agent Niche: A corporate advisor will typically earn a higher salary than leisure/vacation travel agents. However, within the leisure sector, niche makes a big difference. Adventure and luxury travel, for example, earned higher averages than family and Disney travel in some of HAR's more recent research reports.
• Time Investment: Self employed travel advisors who set their own schedules work varied hours. Time investment also has a huge impact on earning potential.
• Industry Experience: Experience level also plays a large role in travel advisor income, with travel advisors typically making more as they get a foothold in the industry.

The thing with travel advisors in the 21st century is that there is no "norm." Organizations outside the industry that report on travel agent salaries are ill-equipped to offer a nuanced picture. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, for example, doesn't include self-employed travel advisors in their data, only employees.

Here's the thing though. Being self employed is, by far, the most popular pathway to becoming a travel agent.

Organizations reporting on travel agent salaries outside the travel industry aren’t aware of the nuances of our field.

So that’s why we’re here! :)

As a company that focuses solely on travel advisors, we’ll break down some of those nuances so you can get a more accurate picture of travel agent salaries. I know you're curious to know if travel agents make good money but it not quite as simple as yes or no.

We’re going to dig into some in-house data to break down travel agent salaries and earnings into digestible categories.

Here’s what you can expect:

• ALL travel agents (employees and self-employed: hosted and independent)
• Self-employed travel agents (includes hosted travel agents and independently accredited agents).
• Travel agent employees (advisors who get 'ye old W2, employed by a travel agency)
• Corporate travel advisor employees and corporate travel managers (employees who book corporate travel)

So take a seat. Pour a waterfall of melted butter on a mountain of popcorn and settle in!

How much do travel agents make? All of 'em.

Before I take a deep dive into HAR's research, I want to turn my attention to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) ¹, a popular third-party entity that assesses and projects income.

While BLS data predominantly profiles travel advisor employees (not independent/ self-employed advisors, this the popularized perspective. So let's take a look at what they have to say!

According to BLS data, income for travel advisors has increased 44% over the last decade.

The BLS’ latest numbers (2024) reported an average travel agent salary of $50,040.

Buuuuuuuut . . . . here’s a few things to keep in mind about the BLS numbers for travel agent income.

• BLS only profiles primarily travel advisor employees. The BLS site sums it up here: “Estimates do not include self-employed workers.” Here at HAR, we survey full-time and part-time self-employed travel agents in addition to employees.
• BLS only looks at full-time travel agents. Here's how they crunch their numbers, "Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a 'year-round, full-time' hours."

Alright, so we took a look at the BLS data, which you now know skews heavily towards employees. Because of that, it doesn’t reflect the true industry landscape where the majority of travel advisors are self-employed.

So let's dive in to see if self-employed travel agents make good money!

What does HAR's research say about how much ALL travel agents make?

In 2024, 96% of respondents for HAR's Travel Agent Survey were self-employed and 6% were employees.

Here's a birds-eye view of average travel agent income of our survey respondents. We break it down by experience for both full-time and part-time advisors (employees, and self-employed). 

Find all the data in HAR's in-depth travel advisor reports

How much do travel agents overall make per booking? 

Another angle you can figure out how much travel agents make is by looking at how much travel agents make per booking. We've got a whole article on the subject but the key takeaway is about 10% per booking, with the average sale per booking landing at $4,401 in 2024. ²

That means that a travel agent's take-home per booking will land around $440. Again, this is a broad generalization! Advisors sale per booking depends a lot on what type of travel they sale. Income from bookings also don't take into account income travel agents earn from charging fees.

Read our full article on how much travel agents earn per booking. 

Now we'll drill down into different types of travel agents!

How much do self-employed travel agents make?

Self-employed travel advisors are those who run their own businesses (rather than work as an employee). I’m going to throw some industry lingo at you now. Are you ready?

In 2024, Full-time hosted advisors earned $67,256 on average and their independently-accredited peers earned $78,940.

The self-employed category contains two primary segments of advisors:

1. Hosted advisors (those who use another agency’s accreditation number, called a host agency) and
2. Independently accredited travel advisors (those who have their own travel accreditation

Here’s the big picture you need to know about self-employed advisors. Over time, the number of self-employed advisors has been growing exponentially, while the number of storefront travel agencies has decreased. In particular, hosted agencies have become the leading path to bringing new talent to the travel agency distribution channel.

So how much do self-employed travel agents make?

Data from our 2024 travel advisor research reports indicated full-time hosted advisors with 3+ years of experience earned $67,256 on average and their independently-accredited counterparts earned $78,940.

Why the income difference between hosted and independent agents?

Here's the short story: we know two big factors that influences how much a travel agent makes is:

1. experience level
2. whether they work full time or part time.

Hosted advisors are more likely to be newer to the industry and to work part time. The median years of experience for hosted advisors was 4 years, compared to 13 years for independent travel agents.

It’s important to note that income levels for hosted and independently-accredited advisors from our 2023 survey, which is looking at 2022 data, are still slightly impacted from the ripple effects of the pandemic. Check out our longitudinal report for a 5-year look at travel agent income before the pandemic outbreak for a more realistic take on earning potential self-employed travel agents.

Owner Deductions (and how it impacts how much self-employed travel agents make)

I want to bring up one last thing that complicates things when it comes to self-employed travel agent salaries. Because why not? You've already read this far! 😊

When we're talking about income for self-employed agents, income/salary numbers can be artificially deflated.

Why? Three things:

1. Business owners may not be reporting all of their income. Since cash transactions leave no paper trail for the IRS to follow, many small businesses won't report cash transactions and in not doing so, they lower the income/earnings they report to the government.
2. Business owners get write-offs. I can write off my office. I can write off my work trips. I can write off my work phone and meals with colleagues where I discuss business. When I do that, it lowers what I report for my taxable income (ahem, salary) to the IRS. Not only that, but travel agents will vary WILDLY in terms of how much of their income they write off. (Take a look at what travel expenses you can (and can't) write off.)
3. Salary and income are separate things for some business structures. Depending on the agency's business structure, the owner may pay themselves a salary (say $45k) but the income of the company may actually be much higher. All the IRS requires with these S Corp business structures is that the owner pays themselves a “reasonable” salary. (Learn about the different travel agency business structures.)

So, keep those things in mind when you're looking at earning potential.

How much do travel agent employees make?

This section on employee travel agent salary is going to give you numbers that will be close to what you can expect if you get hired on at an agency. Travel agent employee salaries have less variance when compared to self-employed travel agents.

For the majority of travel advisor employees, income is not dependent on commissions alone.

The set salary of a travel agent employee offers stability not afforded to self-employed advisors. Additionally, employees also often receive benefits and are not subject to the added complexity and expense of paying business taxes.

When looking at travel advisor employees only, HAR’s salary data lands much closer to what the BLS reports. In HAR’s 2024 survey, employees who earned salary or wages earned $49,947. But if you ever wondered if travel agents make good money, they def can! Full-time travel agent employees earning salary and commission brought home $61,979. 😲

Employee compensation models play a substantial role when it comes to how much a travel agent employee makes. The graph below takes a look at the average travel agent income of the three most common compensation models.

Lesson on that? If you're looking for an employee position at a travel agency, find one that pays salary, plus commission! 😀

Interested in checking out some travel industry jobs? Discover industry jobs on our travel agent job board!

How much do corporate travel agents make?

Corporate travel is a higher ticket product, and leads to (generally) higher average income for the advisors compared to those who book exclusively leisure.

Corporate specialists earned significantly more, drawing 82% higher average income compared to those who strictly sold leisure.

Do you have an interest in becoming a Corporate Travel Agent? You can sink your teeth into a few juicy tidbits of info here: 

• HAR’s article, Breaking into corporate travel
• Our podcast interview (below) with corporate agent Karen Hurlbut:

• A podcast interview with entertainment travel specialist Molly Williams who moves bands around the world:

Travel Managers

Looking ahead on the corporate travel agent career trajectory, Travel Manager/Supervisory positions start with a much higher baseline.

Business Travel News (BTN) 2022 report on Travel Managers/Supervisors' salary the overall average for a corporate travel manager salary registered at $128,439.

Nice, huh?! You can make some pretty good money as a corporate travel agent. :)

Interested in becoming an advisor? Here's where to start!

Advisors are overwhelming happy with their jobs! In 2024, 95% of hosted advisors reported they would become an advisor again! This leads us to the question of what type of travel advisor career you’d like to pursue.

Do you want to become a self-employed travel advisor so you can have the creativity to book the type of travel you love and the flexibility to be your own boss? Or do you want the structure of 9-5 with benefits and the income security of a travel advisor employee?

Employees at a travel agency may have a salary cap if their compensation model is strictly hourly/salary (about 42% of employees), but for those who own their own business, the sky's the limit. Plus, it's hard to put a price on visiting beautiful places, touring the newest properties, and the freedom and flexibility to work anywhere that goes with owning your own home-based travel agency.

How do you decide what type of travel you want to sell? Do you want to do leisure or corporate? If you do leisure, which types of travel agent niches are the most lucrative? If you go the corporate route, how do you break into booking business travel? 

💕 If you're thinking of joining the industry, here are a few resources you're gonna love: 💕

• Starting a travel agency from home
• Free 15-page travel agency business plan template
• HAR's nifty course on how to start a travel agency!

We’re here to help! If you have questions about what route to take or how to get started, give us a holler in the comments or reach out to us at Hello@HostAgencyReviews.com.

Footnotes

1. Source: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes413041.htm ↩
2. Source: Hosted Advisor Report 2024 ↩