You’ve likely heard more than a few daunting narratives about what being a travel advisor entails. Travel advising is hard work, but it’s also fun and rewarding, and the industry is growing—a recent Chase Travel survey found that 60% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers want to use a travel advisor.
Here are three myths you may have heard about becoming a travel advisor, and the reality behind each one.
Myth #1: You need to give up your full-time job or caretaking duties to become a travel advisor
Fora's booking platform allows you to book wherever, whenever
Fora offers a flexible career path that can be done full-time or part-time.
The booking platform allows you to book wherever, whenever.
Training programs are designed with asynchronous training schedules for your busy life.
There are no sales quotas or fine print—book as much as you want, on your terms.
Many of our travel advisors work full-time, planning dozens of trips at once. Others plan travel while maintaining their full-time job or working as a full-time parent. Fora is designed to meet you where you are.
Myth #2: You need to be a seasoned travel expert to become an advisor
While destination knowledge and planning experience are undoubtedly assets, Fora’s training programs and regularly updated resources are designed to help you hit the ground running. In fact, 97% of Fora Advisors had never worked as a travel advisor before joining. The desire and willingness to learn, an entrepreneurial spirit and a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude are the most important qualities for success.
Fora’s flexible training programs welcome advisors from diverse backgrounds. Our travel agent training program takes you through everything you need to build a travel business. We’ll cover the ins and outs of booking, hotel perks, travel insurance, and more. You’ll also be able to attend live training sessions and webinars covering subjects such as specific travel partners, far-flung destinations, and marketing best practices to grow your business.
From there, you’ll have the option to progress to our Advanced training program and specialized trainings for different booking types and suppliers. Advisors who surpass $500,000 in annual bookings reach Fora X, our top tier for those who are interested in making Fora advising their full-time career. Centum is an accolade reserved for our top 100 advisors in a given year.
No matter what stage of growth you’re in, you’ll have a travel-obsessed community behind you, eager to help. Forum, Fora’s community app, is where advisors and HQ members go to ask for help, share feedback, research, and celebrate each other’s wins. In-person days of learning, local Chapters, and conferences provide additional opportunities for communal learning and connection. In other words, the Fora community has your back every step of the way.
Learn more about how Fora supports beginners
Myth # 3: You need an established network of clients to become a travel advisor
While many advisors join Fora with an existing clientele, it’s not required. The vast majority of our advisors start by booking travel for friends and family. From there, your network will inevitably grow through word-of-mouth and referrals.
Fora also provides marketing tools and training to attract clients. Fora Advisors can submit personal pieces of content in the form of guides, itineraries, and trip reports, which our team then transforms into posts that live on your dedicated Fora profile. These pieces of content are useful marketing tools that showcase your expertise. Each guide, itinerary, or trip report has a clear call to action for a potential client to get in touch to book a trip, removing any friction.
All advisors can access these tools as soon as they join and set up their profile. Once you book more than $100,000 in annual travel, you can join Fora’s Client Lead Program. As part of this program, you get inbound client leads and exposure to a broader set of potential clients.
