For information on how to be a travel agent in Connecticut, you have come to the right place. On this page you will find information about travel agent requirements, travel agent duties, travel agent salary and much more.

Mystic Seaport, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Beardsley Zoo, and the Discovery Museum are all tourist attractions in Connecticut that a travel agent should be able to inform their customers about. Besides local attractions, the travel agent has to be able to give information about attractions in various locations all over the world. This is why travel agents constantly have to educate themselves about changing trends in vacation destinations. Customers expect to receive information that they cannot find anywhere else.http://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/bridgeport-us-ct-b.htm

Some travel agents prefer to specialize in certain areas such as cruise travel, group travel, honeymoons, and business trips. It's important for travel agents to become travel experts because websites like expedia.com, travelocity.com, priceline.com, hotwire.com and kayak.com enable people to book their own air fares, hotel accommodations and rental cars. They can choose from many different airlines and hotels and companies like Hertz, Avis, Thrifty and Enterprise offer various car rental deals and discounts.http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos124.htm

If you want to become a Connecticut travel agent, you might have a lot of questions. Hopefully this page will help answer some of them.

EDUCATION: Employers prefer to hire people with some form of travel agent training. They would like their agents to be well traveled, courteous, accurate, detail oriented, and organized. If you are knowledgeable about world history, geography, computer science and foreign languages this might benefit you when working as a travel agent. It's expected that you at least have a high school diploma or the equivalent. After high school some people go on to get an associate's or bachelor's degree in tourism and travel. If you are a Connecticut resident you can look into the following schools for travel agent training:

• ■ Briarwood College, 2279 Mount Vernon Rd, Southington, CT 06489-1057, Phone: (860) 628-4751.

This school was established in 1966 and offers tourism and travel classes. http://www.citytowninfo.com/school-profiles/briarwood-college

• ■ Three Rivers Community College, 574 New London Turnpike, Norwich, CT 06360, Phone: (860) 886-0177.

This school was established in 1992 and teaches classes in tourism promotion, tourism and travel. http://www.citytowninfo.com/school-profiles/three-rivers-community-college-norwich

If you want to be able to combine your studies with another job or other activities, you can try taking classes online. Online classes in Connecticut can be found for the following schools:

• ■ Stratford Career Institute: Established in 1991, offers classes in travel and tourism. http://www.citytowninfo.com/school-profiles/stratford-career-institute
• ■ Central Pennsylvania College: Established in 1881, offers classes in travel & tourism operations. http://www.citytowninfo.com/school-profiles/central-pennsylvania-college
• ■ Penn Foster Career School: Established in 1890, offers classes geared towards becoming a travel/tourism specialist. http://www.citytowninfo.com/school-profiles/penn-foster-career-school

WORK: Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Danbury are the three cities in Connecticut where the travel agent profession is most common. Bridgeport and Waterbury have the most job opportunities for aspiring travel agents. Norwich, New Haven, and Hartford have the least travel agent opportunities. http://www.citytowninfo.com/employment/travel-agents/connecticut

When you start looking for work as a travel agent in Connecticut, you can expect to start in an entry level position. Many people that want to become travel agents start out as a reservations clerk or receptionist at a local travel agency. By doing this they get their foot in the door, and gain experience by being around other travel agents. They can see the day to day activities the job requires and eventually they might get more responsibilities resulting in becoming a travel agent. Even if you have to offer to work as an unpaid intern at a travel agency, the experience you gain will look good on your resume and will increase your chances of being hired as a travel agent. http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/travel_agent.htm

SALARY: The average base annual salary of a travel agent in Connecticut is $32,024. Danbury, Norwich, and Waterbury are the three cities with the highest average salaries. If you decide to start your own business from home your income potential is unlimited. http://www.citytowninfo.com/employment/travel-agents/connecticut http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layoutscripts/swzl_salaryresults.asp?op=salswz_psr&hdOmniNarrowDesc=Materials+Management&hdOmniTotalJobsFound=20&pagefrom=selectjob&redbird=&jobfamilycode=23&joblevelcode=&hdLocationOption=1&hdSearchByOption=0&hdKeyword=travel+agent&hdJobCategory=AR02&hdZipCode=06510&hdStateMetro=275&hdGeoLocation=New+Haven%2C+CT+06510&hdCurrentPage=1&hdViewAllRecords=0&hdSortBy=0&hdJobCode=OF13000058&hdJobTitle=Travel+Clerk&hdNarrowDesc=Hotel%2C+Gaming%2C+Leisure%2C+and+Travel&hdJSBoolDisplayAdvertisement=&jobcounter=8&countertype=1&rdbSearchByOption=0&txtKeyword=travel+agent&totaljoblistnum=2&hdAjaxDisplaySection1=0&hdAjaxDisplaySection2=1&hdAjaxKeyword=travel+agent&hdAjaxKeywordWithOR=%23travel%23+OR+%23agent%23

SCAMS: There are many advertisements out there offering job opportunities where you can work from home and sell travel. The advertisements usually say you can work either full or part time and still make lots of money. To start all you will have to do is pay a few hundred dollars which will give you your own website to start selling travel. There are legitimate agencies that recruit people to independently sell travel for them; however, some of these advertisements are scams. They only want to take your money for something that sounds too good to be true. Make sure you are dealing with a reputable agency before getting involved. http://www.homebasedtravelagent.com/scams.htm

DUTIES: When getting a job, your salary is important, but also important is knowing what is expected of you. You want to know what the job entails and what is expected of you. Here are some tasks and duties you might have to perform as a travel agent:

• ■ Booking air fare, accommodation, transportation and any desired tours at the destination.
• ■ Advising, informing, and assisting customers when deciding on where to travel.
• ■ Providing brochures and publications of their travel destination.
• ■ Informing customers about the location's weather, customs, attractions, vaccinations, and visa requirements.
• ■ Printing tickets for the clients
• ■ Research online to get favorable pricing and additional information. Make sure you have multiple vacation packages to offer the client.
• ■ If you work for a tour operator you might have to arrange, develop and do presentations to sell and promote the company's travel packages.

LICENSING: To sell travel as a travel agent in Connecticut, you do not need a license. There is no state administered test you have to pass like there is in real estate and insurance. Some states do require you to join a travel seller's registration program. You pay a fee after which you are recognized by suppliers as a legitimate entity. Since laws are always changing, it's best to check with the state office of the Attorney General or Department of Commerce on licensing requirements. http://www.careeroverview.com/travel-agent-careers.html http://www.homebasedtravelagent.com/FAQ.htm

BENEFITS: As a Connecticut travel agent you get to enjoy discount travel and see a lot of the world. It is considered part of the job to travel. Your employer might send you to go to a vacation resort so that you can experience it firsthand. Once you get back, you will be able to sell the resort more effectively and confidently because you are speaking from your own experience. After a minimum of 6 months your employer will add you to the IATAN list of employees allowed to travel at discounts. IATAN will issue you a travel ID card that will give you discounts up to 80 percent on air fares, cruises, hotels, car rentals and more. Upon termination of employment, you will have to turn in your ID card. http://www.travelagenttrainingcenter.com/Travel%20Industry%20Benefits.htm