Career profile · Hospitality & Tourism
Travel Agent
Career summary
A travel agent, also called a travel consultant or travel advisor, helps people plan and book trips. You find flights, hotels, car hire, tours, cruises and travel insurance, then put them together into one plan that fits the client's budget. You also explain visa rules and what papers the traveller needs.
Some travel agents sell holidays to families from a shop in a mall, on the phone or on live chat. Others work for travel management companies that book business trips for big companies, following each company's travel rules. Some experienced agents work from home and run their own business, for example as a franchise of a bigger travel brand.
No professional council registers travel agents in South Africa, and joining ASATA (the Association of Southern African Travel Advisors) is your choice. Employers mostly look for a matric, a travel or tourism certificate, sales experience and skill on airline booking systems such as Amadeus. Much of your pay can come from commission, so selling matters as much as planning.
A Day in the Life
A travel agent's day mixes selling, careful booking work and sorting out problems. A shop consultant and a corporate consultant do similar tasks, but for very different clients.
08:00
Check what changed overnight — You read new emails and check the booking system for airline schedule changes. A flight that moved by three hours can mean a missed connection, so you fix those bookings first.
09:30
Quote and build trips — A family wants a beach holiday on a set budget. You compare flights, hotels and transfers, then build a few options. Corporate consultants do the same for business trips, but must follow the client company's travel rules.
11:30
A flight is cancelled — An airline cancels a flight and your client is stuck. You rebook them, sometimes on another airline, and reissue the ticket. One wrong code can mean the airline fines your agency, so you work fast but carefully.
13:30
Visa paperwork — You check what visa each traveller needs and help them find an appointment. Some visa appointments are hard to get, so you may check the system many times a day.
15:00
Close the sale — You follow up on quotes you sent earlier in the week. Most agents work to sales targets and earn commission, so turning a quote into a booking matters.
After hours
Emergency standby — Some corporate clients require after-hours help, so some corporate consultants are on call for travel emergencies at night, on weekends or on public holidays.
Choose this career if…
- You are careful with detail
- You stay calm when things go wrong
- You genuinely like people
- You keep your cool when someone is rude to you
- You push through when it gets hard
- You are fine working nights, weekends and public holidays
Mathematics or Maths Literacy?
Worth knowingGrade 10 and 11 · still reversible
You take Mathematics
- Every route on this page stays open, including the Occupational Certificate: Travel Professional, which asks for NQF 4 with Mathematics.
- Tourism diplomas that accept Maths Literacy also accept Mathematics, often with a lower mark needed.
- Mathematics keeps business and finance degrees open if you later want to manage or own an agency.
You take Mathematical Literacy
- Closes the Occupational Certificate: Travel Professional, which requires Mathematics.
- Higher Certificates in tourism or travel stay open: the registered entry rules checked ask only for a matric that allows Higher Certificate study.
- Diplomas in Tourism Management checked for this page accept Mathematical Literacy, but usually ask for a higher mark than in Mathematics.
Best School Subjects
Essential
- English · Home Language or First Additional Language. Some colleges set a minimum English mark, and you use it daily with clients.
Strongly recommended
- Tourism · Introduces travel products, map work and the tourism industry you will sell.
- Geography · Helps with destinations, time zones and climate when planning trips.
Also useful
- Business Studies · Useful for sales, targets and one day running your own agency.
- Accounting · Helps with quotes, costs and running a business one day.
- Mathematics · Needed for the Occupational Certificate route; Maths Literacy works for most other routes.
Practical Requirements
Work Experience Modules for the Travel Professional certificate (108 credits)Internship
Enrolling for the Occupational Certificate: Travel Professional (SAQA 101372). This certificate includes two work experience modules worth 108 of its 252 credits. You research and sell tourism products, and you process reservations and issue travel documents, in a real workplace. You need proof of this work experience before you can sit the final assessment.
Career Ladder
- Junior travel consultant · Higher Certificate in Tourism or Travel · NQF 5
- Travel consultant · Matric plus 1-3 years' sales experience
- Senior travel consultant (corporate) · 3 to 5+ years' corporate travel experience and booking-system (GDS) skills such as Amadeus
- Store manager or area leader · Experience and a record of sales results
- Home-based or independent agency owner · One franchise asks for 5 years' recent travel experience
Experience matters to employers
Job adverts we checked ask for sales or customer service experience and booking-system skills such as Amadeus, and corporate roles can ask for three to five years or more. One home-based franchise asks for at least five years' recent travel experience.
Last reviewed October 2026. We work hard to keep this information accurate, but details can change — always verify before making a career decision. Tell us something is out of date.
