Summary
Do you enjoy traveling, learning about new places, and helping people? If these are qualities that describe you, a career as a travel agent might be for you! A career in hospitality gives you the opportunity to meet the needs of guests with kindness and goodwill, which is why this career falls under the Hospitality and Tourism career cluster.
Overview
Travel agents are sometimes called destination specialists or travel consultants. As a travel agent, you help clients choose a place to take a special trip, research and schedule how your clients will travel and where they will stay, and help plan their activities and the places they will eat while they are traveling. Each day, travel agents help their clients plan trips all around the world, so they need to have a wide variety of knowledge and skills. Some of these skills include geographical knowledge, customer service (going out of your way to help people), active listening, and asking good questions. Additionally, travel agents look for ways to help people and understand their needs. It is also important to communicate with clients and pay attention to details to make sure you understand what they are looking for. The average salary for this career is around $41,000 per year.
Materials List
Oh, the Places We’ll Go! Student Guide (attached)
Travel Planner Template (attached)
Vacation Budget Guide (attached)
Travel Task Card Template (attached)
Device with internet Access
Something to write with
A blank sheet of paper (optional)
What to Do
Start with Activity 1: Travel Task Cards below, or print from the attached document (page 5).
Move to Activity 2: Trip for Your Teacher below, or print from the attached document (page 10).
Check out the additional travel agent activity and Hospitality and Tourism-based careers in the Extend section below, or print from the attached document (page 11).
Activity #1
As a travel agent, you will meet different people with different travel needs and desires. For this activity, you will choose a client and plan a trip based on their wants, needs, interests, and other things to think about. Don’t worry about the cost of travel in this activity—just have fun exploring different places and making a plan to fit the needs of your client!
Materials:
Travel Task Cards (attached)
Travel Planner (attached)
Vacation Budget Guide (attached)
Oh, The Places We’ll Go! Student Guide (attached)
Device with Internet access
Pen or pencil
Blank sheet of paper (optional)
Take a few minutes to look at the example Travel Task Card and Planner below.
Instructions
Look at the Travel Task Cards below.
There are four different clients you can choose to plan a trip for.
Select one table and read what the client wants for their travel plans. Each client lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Using a device with internet access, start researching locations that would meet the needs of your client. Try using websites like Trip Advisor to help you get started.
Print the Travel Planner template found in the attachments and use a pen or pencil to write in the details of the trip. If you cannot print the Travel Planner, use a blank piece of paper and pen or pencil to plan your trip. Remember, cost does not matter for this activity. The most important thing is to plan the trip based on the information your client has given to you!
Once you have completed your planning, share your work with a family member.
You can choose another client to work for, or have a family member pretend to be a client and give you a new scenario to plan a vacation for them!
Activity #2
Budgeting, or planning on how much money to spend, is a very important part of travel planning, especially when you have a certain amount of money to spend.
In this activity, you will be planning a special trip for your teacher who has won Teacher of the Year! Your teacher has been given $6,000 to travel to the location of their choice with one guest over the summer. The total amount of money must cover all transportation, lodging, food, and attractions for both travelers (your teacher and their one guest). Their trip must last for at least three days, but can be longer if you would like.
Think about a teacher you have had who would be deserving of this award. Think about their likes and interests when it comes to the location they might enjoy traveling to - you could even reach out and ask them! You complete this activity by estimating the vacation expenses, then looking up the actual information and see how close you were (and if you went over or under your budget)!
Materials:
Vacation Budget Guide sheet (attached)
Device with Internet Access
Pen or Pencil
Blank piece of paper (optional)
Calculator (optional)
Instructions:
Print out a copy of the attached Vacation Budget Guide table, use the copy of the Vacation Budget Guide in the attached Student Guide, or create your own table on a blank piece of paper.
Select a teacher you want to plan this Teacher of the Year trip for. On your Vacation Budget Guide, write the teacher’s name, location for their trip, and dates of travel.
Start by estimating costs for each item on the budget planner. Remember, you are planning for your teacher AND a guest to be going on the trip. The estimates and totals need to reflect both travelers’ expenses.
Total your estimates to see how close you were to your budget. Remember, you want to stay within your $6,000 budget.
Now, using a device with internet access, research the cost for each of your estimated categories.
(Tip: Look for special offers or discounts that may help you reduce costs.)
Total up your actual trip costs to see if you stayed within your budget or went over your budget. Also, compare the actual costs to your estimates to see how you did.
Once you have completed the last step, you will finish this activity by reflecting on your learning using the instructional strategy My Favorite Mistake:
Review your Vacation Budget Guide sheet and look for areas where your estimates were very different from the actual costs.
Select one example and write about your thought process for your estimate and what you learned from the actual cost. Share with a teacher or family member.
Extend
One way to take everything you have learned about being a Travel Agent is to write a Future Occupation Bio-Poem! Creating an Occupation Bio-poem is a great activity to help imagine yourself in the career of your dreams.
Here is the format for the Occupational Bio-Poem:
Line 1 – Write your first name.
Line 2 – Write the title of the occupation.
Line 3 – “Who can…” [Write something important you will do in this occupation.]
Line 4 – “Who earns…” [Write the salary information for this occupation.]
Line 5 – “Who knows how to…” [Write knowledge necessary for this occupation.]
Line 6 – “Who values…” [Write the work value(s) related to the occupation.]
Line 7 – Write your last name.
Here is an example:
Ronnie
A physical therapist
Who can alleviate pain
Who earns $23 an hour
Who knows strength, motor development, and function
Who values active listening and helping people get well
Lewis
Want to learn more about what it means to be a travel agent? Check out My Next Move to discover more about travel agents, what they do, and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed in the field.
Did you know being a travel agent isn’t the only specialty in the Hospitality and Tourism cluster? Check out My Next Move to see all of the other career options in this cluster!
Sources
Fun Career Planning Activities. (2017, November 26). Retrieved from https://guidancezchhs.blogspot.com/2017/11/fun-career-planning-activities-for.html?m=1
My Next Move. (n.d.) All careers. https://www.mynextmove.org/find/browse?c=0
My Next Move. (n.d.) Travel agents. https://www.mynextmove.org/profile/summary/41-3041.00
Tripadvisor. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www.tripadvisor.com/