Knowing how to become a travel agent in New York is not difficult, you just need to know the correct steps to take. Some people think that travel agents get to travel all over the world and that it's the ideal job to make money while basically vacationing. This is only partially true. The profession of travel agent entails much more than just traveling.

New York is one of the top cities to start a travel agent career in. Other top cities include Chicago, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta and Boston. Because travel websites like Travelocity.com, Kayak.com and Expedia.com enable people to become their own travel agent, it requires much more nowadays to become a travel expert. As a travel agent you need to educate yourself on a recurring basis so that you stay up to date of the changing trends in popular travel destinations. You should be aware of new hotels and attractions so you can recommend them to your customers.

As a travel agent you can work right from home either for yourself or for a host company, or you can work at a travel agency. Salary and other compensation for your sales will also be mentioned on this page. New York is known for its many tourist attractions like the Statue of Liberty, Radio City Music Hall, Broadway and the Empire State Building. As a travel agent it's your job to be able to tell your customers about tourist attractions in the destination of their travel. You want your customers to feel like they are getting information that they cannot find by themselves.http://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/new-york-city-us-ny-nyc.htm

If you are well organized, accurate, professional, courteous and detail oriented you are well on your way to becoming a New York travel agent.http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/travel_agent.htm

GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL: To become a travel agent in New York, you have to start by graduating High School. After this some people opt to proceed to college to get a bachelor's or associate's degree in tourism and travel. You can also choose to take travel agent training at various New York schools such as Dowling College, CUNY LaGuardia Community College, Adirondack Community College, Nassau Community College, and [[Monroe Community College. For online classes, look into Strayer University Online, Penn Foster Career School, Central Pennsylvania College, and Stratford Career Institute. Some other beneficial classes to consider include world history, geography, foreign languages and computer science. http://www.citytowninfo.com/employment/travel-agents/new-york http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/travel_agent.htm

SALARY: New York travel agents won't start making commission right away. First you need to build a client base. The 2010 base annual salary of a travel agent in New York is estimated at $35,788.00. However, if you decide to start your own home based travel agency, your earning potential can go up to 100K per year. 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=&hdStateMetro=119&hdGeoLocation=New+York%2C+NY+10118&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 http://www.homebasedtravelagent.com/FAQ.htm

LICENSING: To become a travel agent in New York, you do not need to pass a state administered test. Unlike a real estate or insurance agent, there is no license required to sell travel. However, if you are a home based agent selling travel, you might have to register with a travel seller's registration program. This will make you appear as a legitimate and reputable entity to suppliers. Each state is different, so make sure to check state laws on registration requirements. http://www.homebasedtravelagent.com/FAQ.htm

BENEFITS: Travel agents usually get to travel for their job after a minimum of 6 months on the job. Your employer has to add you to the list of names of employees allowed to travel at a discount. You will get a travel agent ID card issued by IATAN that will give you discounts on air fares, hotels, car rentals and such. Upon termination of employment, the card has to be returned. Travel agents get to travel to various vacation destinations so that they can sell it more effectively to their clients. http://www.travelagenttrainingcenter.com/Travel%20Industry%20Benefits.htm http://www.times10travel.com/Articles/agentbenefits.htm

DUTIES: A New York travel agent has many more duties and responsibilities than just traveling and reviewing various destinations. Some other tasks you will have to perform include:

• ■ Advising and informing travelers about their travel destinations: Inform them about the climate/weather, attractions, currency, required travel documents, necessary vaccinations, customs and possible accommodations. Clients expect information they can't find anywhere else.
• ■ Researching publications and online sources: Find information on flights, group discounts, fares, and quality of hotel accommodations.
• ■ Promoting, developing, arranging and selling travel services: If you work for a tour operator you might have to sell the company's own travel services and package tours. This is usually done through presentations, the Internet, and direct mail.
• ■ Calculating: You have to calculate air fares, hotel costs, and rental car costs. You have to be able to quote various package prices to your customers.
• ■ Printing out the tickets and answering further questions is another requirement. http://www.careerplanner.com/Job-Descriptions/Travel-Agents.cfm

SCAMS: When you start looking for a job as a travel agent, don't expect to find it right away. You might start out as a receptionist or reservations clerk at a travel agency. You can gain experience this way by watching the day to day activities of other travel agents. Over time you can request more responsibility which might ultimately lead to becoming a travel agent. If you cannot get your foot in the door as a receptionist, try offering to work for free, as an intern. It will help with your future job search and will look good on your resume. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos124.htm

While looking for that job, you are bound to come across one of the many scams that are out there. There are companies that sell the dream of traveling at discounts while making money by working part or full time right from your home. These companies glamorize the profession of travel agent and only focus on the benefits. They also charge you an upfront amount to use their web portal and name to sell travel. At times they don't even want you to sell travel; they just want you to recruit more affiliates. If this is the case, you are dealing with a multi level marketing company. Many of these scam companies operate on the Internet. Make sure to do your research. You want to be dealing with a reputable company. http://www.homebasedtravelagent.com/scams.htm