Your Roadmap to Becoming a Travel Advisor
Eight practical stages take you from loving travel to running a travel business — what each stage asks of you, and how we help you move through it faster.
Begin with step 1 »If you love to travel, you can learn to sell it, and a plan makes all the difference. The eight steps below follow how the industry actually works and how successful advisors grow. Each one shows what you need to do alongside the support we provide, informed by Peter Coloyan’s career in travel since 1972.
Choose part-time or full-time
Your to-do list
Start with an honest look at your schedule and your ambitions. Plenty of advisors simply want a fulfilling sideline helping friends, relatives and neighbors travel well; others want a business that pays the bills. Either choice is a good one, and it will shape every step after this.
- How many hours each week can you realistically commit?
- Is your goal supplemental income or a full replacement for your paycheck?
- Which trips do you already know and enjoy?
Our support
Our program offers a path for each answer:
- Additional Income — part-time, fitted around work, family or retirement.
- Career Fast Track — full-time, with an established website of your own and twelve months of one-on-one help from Peter.
Starting part-time and upgrading later is always an option.
Get a grounding in how travel is sold
Your to-do list
Travelers come to an advisor for expertise. So before you take a booking, learn how the pieces connect: who the suppliers are and how they pay commission; how deposits, final payments and cancellation penalties work; passports, visas and travel insurance; plus geography and the craft of putting an itinerary together. A respected beginner course gives you confidence and a credential clients recognize.
Our support
Training isn’t something we deliver in-house. Our job is the rest of the toolkit — a website, one-on-one help, lead generation and directory listings — and pointing you to the specialist programs that match the travel you want to sell.
- Training from your host agency on its booking platform, preferred suppliers and procedures.
- The Travel Institute — beginner courses, professional certification and Destination Specialist programs.
- CLIA — certifications and online classes from the cruise industry itself.
- Supplier Specialist programs run by cruise lines, tour operators and tourism boards.
The Specialist designations you earn through these programs are what we check before admitting you to our leads program (see step 4).
Where advisors earn Specialist credentials
Most travel advisors who pursue recognized training turn to two organizations. We recommend both and steer you toward the courses that suit the travel you plan to sell.
The Travel Institute — covering every type of travel
- TRIPKIT (Travel Introductory Program) — self-paced online training aimed at industry newcomers, which also prepares you for the TAP® Test.
- CTA® — Certified Travel Associate — a professional certification worth working toward after you’ve gained some experience.
- Destination Specialist courses — brief online courses, each with an optional exam, covering destinations including Alaska, the Caribbean, Central Europe, Hawaii, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Europe, Paris, Southern Europe and Tokyo.
- Niche and lifestyle Specialist courses — covering specialties such as luxury, cruise, group, wellness and golf travel.
CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) — for advisors who sell cruises
- CLIA Certification — the cruise industry’s own Cruise Counsellor levels: Certified (CCC), Accredited (ACC), Master (MCC) and Elite (ECC).
- CLIA online learning — bite-sized, self-paced lessons on selling cruises and growing a business, along with live and virtual events and cruise line webinars.
- Membership: CLIA certification is available to CLIA Individual Agent Members. You join through CLIA directly; your host agency can tell you how its advisors usually sign up.
Programs from suppliers and tourism boards
Many cruise lines, tour operators, resort brands and tourism boards offer their own advisor academies, frequently at no cost. Each one teaches a single product thoroughly and awards a Specialist designation when you finish.
Like a second perspective? The Travel Institute has its own step-by-step guide, How to Become a Travel Agent. Be a Travel Advisor has no affiliation with The Travel Institute or CLIA; we point advisors to them because they are the best-known names in advisor training.
Get placed with the right host agency
Your to-do list
The usual starting point for a new independent advisor is a host agency. A host lends you supplier relationships and commission levels that a newcomer couldn’t secure solo, handles and pays commission on your bookings, and gives you training and support. Hosts are far from identical: fees, commission splits, training, technology and specialties all vary.
Our support
We do the matching. You’ll be placed with one of our host agency partners — the one that best suits what you plan to sell and how you like to work — and we make the introduction. You won’t be working for us; your host handles your bookings and pays your commissions.
Peter Coloyan knows hosts from the inside: he owned one from 2001 to 2007, growing it to 87 advisors and $17 million in annual sales before selling to Expedia CruiseShipCenters. On the Career Fast Track, your host’s first-year fees are paid for.
Specialize, then prove it
Your to-do list
Advisors who try to sell everything end up competing on price; specialists earn business through know-how. Pick a focus — ocean or river cruising, one cruise line, all-inclusive resorts, escorted tours, or a region like Alaska, Hawaii or Europe — and learn it thoroughly. Cruise lines, tour operators, resorts and tourism boards all offer advisor training and Specialist programs, often at no charge, that teach the product and award a designation.
Add a recognized credential on top: a Travel Institute Destination Specialist course for your region, or a CLIA cruise certification when cruising is your focus. Step 2 lists where advisors earn Specialist credentials.
Our support
Specialist status is your key to our leads. We’ll point out the programs that match what you plan to sell. Leads for any product go only to advisors verified as Specialists in it, and we check every designation.
Designations we accept for the leads program:
- The Travel Institute — Destination Specialist and niche Specialist designations, as well as CTA® and its other certifications.
- CLIA — the CCC, ACC, MCC and ECC cruise certifications.
- Supplier programs — Specialist designations awarded by a cruise line, tour operator or tourism board.
If you say you’re a Seabourn expert, expect us to ask for proof — and we may check with Seabourn directly.
The payoff: our experience is that Specialists close as much as six to seven times as often. You and your host earn more, travelers are happier, and suppliers are happier too. Everybody wins.
Put your business on a solid footing
Your to-do list
Travel sales are regulated in parts of the country. Seller-of-travel rules differ from state to state: California, Florida, Washington and Hawaii are among those with registration or disclosure requirements, and some of these rules can reach you when you sell to that state’s residents, not just where you’re based. Look into a local business license too, keep travel income in its own account, and get tax advice from an accountant.
Cover yourself with errors-and-omissions (E&O) insurance.
Our support
Being part of an established host gives you a professional structure from your first day. Ask your host how it handles registrations, which state filings fall to you, and how E&O coverage works — many hosts provide or arrange it for their advisors.
Before you sign anything, we’ll help you know what to ask.
General information only, not legal advice. Rules change, so verify them with your state and your host agency.
Be easy for travelers to find online
Your to-do list
Before they pick up the phone, travelers look you up. You’ll want a polished website built around your specialty, plus listings in the places people search for experts. Starting a new site from nothing is slow — a fresh website typically needs months, sometimes years, before search engines send it real traffic.
Our support
- Career Fast Track: an established website that already has visitors, on a personalized domain, chosen from our inventory — and once your first year is complete, you own it.
- Career Fast Track: a Showcase listing on each of our consumer directories — the Official Travel Directory, the Official Cruise Directory and the Official River Cruise Directory — with the Official Vacation Directory and Official Tour Directory joining as they launch — valued at over $3,000 on the live directories alone.
- Additional Income: a free listing across our consumer travel directories.
Land your first clients
Your to-do list
Your first clients are usually people who already trust you: family, friends, colleagues, clubs and community groups. Let everyone know what you do now, respond quickly, and ask satisfied travelers to refer others. Over time, a dependable flow of new inquiries is what turns a pastime into a business.
Our support
A genuine stream of inquiries. Over a single year, our websites produced more than 68,000 cruise leads plus more than 30,000 additional travel leads for all-inclusive resorts, for tours and escorted tours, and for business- and first-class flights. Advisors verified as Specialists can receive leads from our websites.
- Clients you bring in: 80% of the commission is yours.
- Leads we provide: 50% of the commission is yours.
- Inquiries through your own directory listing: delivered directly to you, with no lead share and full commission.
Never stop growing
Your to-do list
Top advisors keep learning for their whole careers. Collect more Specialist designations, join supplier events and webinars, visit the destinations you sell whenever possible, and take good care of your clients so they come back and bring friends. Guidance from someone who has already walked this road can spare you years of guesswork.
Our support
On the Career Fast Track, Peter Coloyan works with you personally for a full year, and you get his direct phone number the day you enroll. Peter has been selling travel since 1972, has sold or originated over $500 million in cruises, and has trained upward of 500 travel advisors.
When that year ends, the website belongs to you, you’re part of our leads program as a Specialist, and Peter keeps advising you as long as you’re producing and working our leads.
The Whole Toolkit, Right at the Start
New advisors often spend years piecing together a website, a host, a pipeline of clients and a mentor. On the Career Fast Track you get every one of them up front, which leaves your time free for selling.
After 54 years selling travel, Peter Coloyan believes no other program offers a better route to a successful career as a travel advisor.
Your price depends on the website you select and is shared after a consultation.Installment plans may be available.
Rather start part-time? Explore Additional Income »
The Roadmap — Frequently Asked
How long until I’m a working travel advisor?
Timelines vary. Many newcomers begin helping clients within a few weeks of joining a host and starting their training. Specialist designations take longer, often anywhere from several weeks to a few months for each program depending on how quickly you work. Growing a dependable client base never really ends, and that’s where our leads and directory listings come in.
Is a license required to sell travel?
The United States has no single national license for travel advisors. Certain states, among them California, Florida, Washington and Hawaii, require seller-of-travel registration or disclosures, and some cities or counties also ask for a business license. Your host agency can walk you through its own registrations and tell you what you’ll need to file. This is general information and not legal advice.
Which training should a beginner start with?
Begin with your host agency’s training, add a respected foundation course like The Travel Institute’s TRIPKIT, then complete Specialist programs from the suppliers and destinations you plan to sell. Those Specialist designations qualify you for leads from our websites, and we verify each one.
Where can I earn Specialist credentials?
Two organizations handle much of the industry’s advisor training. The Travel Institute runs Destination Specialist courses (Alaska, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Italy, Tokyo, the Netherlands and Northern, Southern and Central Europe among them) along with niche courses in areas like luxury and cruise. CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Association, awards the cruise industry’s certifications (Certified, Accredited, Master and Elite Cruise Counsellor) and offers online learning. To be certified you need to be a CLIA Individual Agent Member. Cruise lines, tour operators and tourism boards also run Specialist programs of their own, and many cost nothing. Training is not something we provide. We supply the rest (a website, one-on-one help, lead generation and directory listings) and point you to the right programs for what you want to sell. For our leads program we verify designations from The Travel Institute, CLIA and supplier programs. We have no affiliation with The Travel Institute or CLIA.
Will I need a host agency?
That’s the usual way to begin. A host gives you supplier relationships and commission levels that would be hard to get alone, handles and pays commission on your bookings, and trains you. You’ll be placed with one of our host agency partners, chosen to fit your goals; you won’t be working for us.
Why put so much weight on specializing?
Travelers want to book with an expert. Our experience is that Specialists close as much as six to seven times as often as generalists, which means more income for the advisor and the host, plus happier travelers and suppliers. That’s why our network sends each product’s leads only to verified Specialists in it.
Where will my clients come from?
Begin with people who already know you, then add a dependable source of fresh inquiries. Verified Specialists can receive leads from our websites, which in one year produced over 68,000 cruise leads and over 30,000 other travel leads. Advisors in our program also appear on our consumer directories, and inquiries through your own listing go directly to you without a lead share.
Is part-time an option?
Absolutely. The Additional Income path is designed for selling travel part-time, alongside a job, a family or retirement. Moving up to the Career Fast Track later is always possible.
What comes with the Career Fast Track, and what does it cost?
You get an established website with traffic, chosen from our inventory and set up on a personalized domain; payment of your host agency’s first-year fees; entry to our leads program once you’re a verified Specialist; a Showcase listing on each of our consumer directories; and a year of one-on-one help from Peter Coloyan. The website becomes yours after year one. The price depends on the website you choose and is shared after a consultation. Installment plans may be available.
Meet Your Mentor, Peter “Mr. Cruise” Coloyan
Peter Coloyan — “Mr. Cruise” — leads Be a Travel Advisor. He began selling travel in 1972, sold his first cruise in 1974 at age 14, and has been a full-time travel professional since 1977. Over that career he has sold or originated over $500 million in cruise sales and trained upward of 500 travel advisors. From 2001 to 2007 he ran his own host agency, building it to 87 advisors and $17 million a year in sales before selling it to Expedia CruiseShipCenters.
Why does that matter to a newcomer? Because Peter has seen host agencies from the owner’s chair. He understands what separates one host from another, and which kind of new advisor flourishes where. His focus today is simple: helping the travel community get ready for what comes next.
Start your journey now
Tell us which path suits you and what you hope to achieve. We’ll match you with a host agency partner and map out your route to Specialist status and our leads.
Start the Career Fast Track application »