There’s no one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes — and there certainly are as many ways to operate a career as a travel advisor. Hosted advisors — aka travel agents working under host agencies as an independent contractor — often get a lot of attention, as do franchisees and travel advisors employed by a brick-and-mortar agency. But what about independent travel agents?
What sets them apart, and do the perks offered by an employer — such as back-end support and supplier relationships — offset the benefits of being an independent agent, such as being able to keep 100% of commissions?
Host Agency Reviews’ (HAR) recently released Independent Travel Advisor Report, 2023 analyzed the responses of 227 independent agents to explain how they differ from their advisor counterparts.
How to Become an Independent Travel Agent?
According to Host Agency Reviews (HAR), an independent travel agent is a non-employee travel professional who books travel with his or her own travel accreditation number. A third (31%) of respondents to the study use air-ticketing accreditation (IATA/IATAN and ARC), while the rest use non-air accreditation such as CLIA and TRUE.
About one-third of these advisors started out as a hosted travel agent and made the switch to the independent model after three years. Sixty-five percent of these advisors started out as independent agents.
How Much Do Independent Travel Agents Make?
According to HAR’s research, independent travel agents made an annual income of $68,307 in 2022 — which is 45% more than their hosted counterparts ($47,179).
Why the big difference? According to HAR, this has to do with the fact that independent agents were more likely to be experienced and work full-time compared to their hosted counterparts. In this year’s survey, the majority (91%) of independent agents have three or more years of experience, and more than half (56%) have 15 or more years of experience. And 74% percent of independent agents work full-time.
Independent Versus Hosted Travel Agents: What Else Is Different?
In addition to being more experienced and working more hours, independent agents differ from hosted advisors in various other ways. These include that independent agents are more likely to charge fees (68% versus 49%), and they are more likely to hire independent contractors (ICs) or their own employees (64% versus 20%).
Independent advisors who hire both ICs and employees earned 68% more income than solo advisors.
Most Lucrative Niches for Independent Agents
Only 9% of independent agents consider themselves to be generalists — the rest have a niche. The most lucrative niches include river cruising (with average income of $94,603), weddings/honeymoons ($92,610) and luxury ($87,663).
Demographics of Independent Agents
HAR’s study found that most independent agents live in the Midwest. Most (77%) identify as female; 60 is their median age; and 84% identify as white/Caucasian.
