Travel Consultants

ANZSCO ID 451612

Overview

Snapshot

Employed
19,800
Future Growth
N/A
Weekly Earnings
N/A
Full-Time Share
73%
Female Share
80%
Average age
36

Summary

Travel Consultants plan travel, accommodation and associated arrangements for clients, and make travel bookings. They may work in call centres.

Also known as: Travel Agent.

Specialisations: Business Travel Consultant, Domestic Travel Consultant, International Travel Consultant.

Formal qualifications are not essential to work as a Travel Consultant. Although some workers have a Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualification or a university degree in travel, tourism or another related field.

Tasks

  • Determines clients' requirements for travel, accommodation and special interests.

  • Suggests itineraries based on available travel routes, availability and convenience of transport and cost.

  • Makes and confirms travel and accommodation reservations and informs clients of bus, plane, ship and train connections.

  • Notifies clients of travel dates, baggage limits, and medical and visa requirements.

  • Provides information on tourist attractions and tour availability, and procedures for dealing with lost and stolen documents.

  • Assists with travel clearances.

  • Collects payments and issues clients' itineraries, relevant documentation, tickets for travel and vouchers for accommodation.

  • Provides information on travel insurance, relevant government regulations such as customs regulations, and use of credit cards and traveller's cheques.

  • Answers inquiries from tourists and offers suggestions about tours, travel routes, accommodation and local customs.

  • Provides literature and information on local and national tours and places of interest.

  • Discusses transport availability and cost.

Characteristics

Job Type
Community And Personal Service Workers
Skill Level
Medium skill
ANZSCO Occupation group
Unemployment Rate
n/a
Industries
Pathway(s)
  • University
  • Vocational Education and Training (VET)
  • Informal or on-the-job
Interests
  • Administrative
  • Enterprising
Physical Demand
  • Sedentary

Outlook

Employment Outlook

JSA produces employment projections to show where likely future job opportunities may be. Employment projections data are only produced for occupations at the broad four digit Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) level. While data are not available for this occupation, projections data are available for the parent occupation, Tourism and Travel Advisers, under the outlook section.


Earnings and hours

Working arrangements

  • Around 73% of people employed as Travel Consultants work full-time hours, in all their jobs combined. This is 7 percentage points above the all jobs average (66%).

    Full-time workers work an average of 43 hours per week in their main job. This is similar to the all jobs average (44 hours per week).

    Sources:Full-time share and full-time hours: ABS, 2016 Census, customised report. Compared to the all jobs average.


Industries

Main industries

1
Administrative and Support Services
87.0%
2
Transport, Postal and Warehousing
6.4%
3
Accommodation and Food Services
1.3%
4
Financial and Insurance Services
0.7%
5
Other industries
3.8%

Regions

Employment across Australia

NSW

33.6% All occupations: 31.6%

VIC

24.5% All occupations: 25.6%

QLD

22.2% All occupations: 20.0%

SA

6.6% All occupations: 7.0%

WA

9.3% All occupations: 10.8%

TAS

1.8% All occupations: 2.0%

NT

0.6% All occupations: 1.0%

ACT

1.4% All occupations: 1.9%

Employment by State and Territory (% Share)

State Travel Consultants All Jobs Average
NSW 33.6 31.6
VIC 24.5 25.6
QLD 22.2 20.0
SA 6.6 7.0
WA 9.3 10.8
TAS 1.8 2.0
NT 0.6 1.0
ACT 1.4 1.9



Worker profile

Age and gender

Age In Years
36
All Jobs Average is 40
Female Share
80%
All Jobs Average is 48%
  • The median age of Travel Consultants is 36 years. This is younger than the all jobs average of 40 years.

    A large share of workers are aged 25 to 34 years.

    Females make up 80% of the workforce. This is 32 percentage points above the all jobs average of 48%.

    Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile and gender share compared to the all jobs average.

Age Profile (% Share)

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Bracket Travel Consultants All Jobs Average
15-19 0.9 5.0
20-24 11.5 9.3
25-34 33.1 22.9
35-44 24.4 22.0
45-54 17.5 21.6
55-59 5.4 9.0
60-64 3.8 6.0
65 and Over 3.3 4.2
Median Age 36 40

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.


Employment Pathways

Education, training and experience

Formal qualifications are not essential to work as a Travel Consultant. Although some workers have a Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualification or a university degree in travel, tourism or another related field.

Visit

  • My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
  • AAPathways website to explore Tourism, Travel and Hospitality VET training pathways.

Highest Level of Education (% Share)

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
Type of Qualification Travel Consultants All Jobs Average
Post Graduate/Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate 3.8 10.1
Bachelor degree 21.3 21.8
Advanced Diploma/Diploma 24.8 11.6
Certificate III/IV 19.3 21.1
Year 12 23.6 18.1
Year 11 2.9 4.8
Year 10 and below 4.3 12.5

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.


Skills and Knowledge

Employers look for Tourism and Travel Advisers who provide good customer service, can communicate clearly and have strong people skills.

Skills

Skills can be improved through training or experience.

  • 57%

    Active listening

    Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

  • 57%

    Serving others

    Looking for ways to help people.

  • 54%

    Reading comprehension

    Reading work related information.

  • 54%

    Critical thinking

    Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

  • 50%

    Persuasion

    Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.

  • 46%

    Negotiation

    Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.

  • 45%

    Social perceptiveness

    Understanding why people react the way they do.

  • 45%

    Speaking

    Talking to others.

  • 45%

    Active learning

    Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.

  • 43%

    Judgment and decision making

    Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.

  • 43%

    Writing

    Writing things for co-workers or customers.

  • 41%

    Complex problem solving

    Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

  • 41%

    Coordination with others

    Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.

  • 41%

    Monitoring

    Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.

  • 41%

    Time management

    Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.

  • 37%

    Instructing

    Teaching people how to do something.

  • 36%

    Mathematics

    Using maths to solve problems.

  • 32%

    Learning strategies

    Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.

  • 29%

    Systems analysis

    Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.

  • 29%

    Systems evaluation

    Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.


Knowledge

These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.

  • 68%

    Customer and personal service

    Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.

  • 64%

    Sales and marketing

    Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

  • 61%

    English language

    English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

  • 58%

    Clerical

    Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.

  • 57%

    Computers and electronics

    Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

  • 53%

    Geography

    Describing land, sea, and air, including their physical characteristics, locations, how they work together, and the location of plant, animal, and human life.

  • 49%

    Telecommunications

    Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

  • 48%

    Administration and management

    Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.

  • 47%

    Education and training

    Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

  • 47%

    Communications and media

    Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.

  • 38%

    Economics and accounting

    Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.

  • 36%

    Transportation

    Moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road.

  • 34%

    Foreign language

    Foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

  • 33%

    Mathematics

    Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.

  • 29%

    Personnel and human resources

    Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.

  • 23%

    Law and government

    How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.

  • 23%

    Public safety and security

    Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.

  • 21%

    Engineering and technology

    Use engineering, science and technology to design and produce goods and services.

  • 21%

    Production and processing

    Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.

  • 20%

    Psychology

    Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.


Abilities

Workers use these physical and mental abilities..

  • 57%

    Oral comprehension

    Listen to and understand what people say.

  • 57%

    Oral expression

    Communicate by speaking.

  • 57%

    Speech recognition

    Identify and understand the speech of another person.

  • 55%

    Near vision

    See details that are up-close (within a few feet).

  • 54%

    Written comprehension

    Read and understand written information.

  • 54%

    Deductive reasoning

    Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.

  • 52%

    Speech clarity

    Speak clearly so others can understand you.

  • 50%

    Brainstorming

    Come up with a number of ideas about a topic, even if the ideas aren't very good.

  • 43%

    Sorting or ordering

    Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

  • 43%

    Categorising

    Come up with different ways of grouping things.

  • 43%

    Inductive reasoning

    Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.

  • 43%

    Originality

    Come up with unusual or clever ideas, or creative ways to solve a problem.

  • 43%

    Written expression

    Write in a way that people can understand.

  • 41%

    Problem spotting

    Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.

  • 41%

    Multitasking

    Do two or more things at the same time.

  • 41%

    Working with numbers

    Add, subtract, multiply, or divide.

  • 39%

    Memorization

    Remember things like words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.

  • 34%

    Selective attention

    Pay attention to something without being distracted.

  • 30%

    Auditory attention

    Pay attention to a certain sound when there are other distracting sounds.

  • 29%

    Mathematics

    Choose the right maths method or formula to solve a problem.


Activities

These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.

  • 66%

    Collecting and organising information

    Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.

  • 64%

    Researching and investigating

    Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.

  • 64%

    Working with the public

    Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.

  • 64%

    Keeping your knowledge up-to-date

    Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.

  • 62%

    Planning and prioritising work

    Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.

  • 60%

    Influencing people

    Convincing people to buy something or to change their minds or actions.

  • 59%

    Building good relationships

    Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.

  • 58%

    Making decisions and solving problems

    Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.

  • 57%

    Communicating with the public

    Giving information to the public, business or government by telephone, in writing, or in person.

  • 55%

    Working with computers

    Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.

  • 54%

    Assessing and evaluating things

    Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.

  • 54%

    Communicating within a team

    Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.

  • 53%

    Negotiating and resolving conflicts

    Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.

  • 51%

    Scheduling work and activities

    Working out the timing of events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.

  • 51%

    Making sense of information and ideas

    Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.

  • 50%

    Documenting or recording information

    Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.

  • 49%

    Providing office support

    Doing day-to-day office work such as filing and processing paperwork.

  • 44%

    Explaining things to people

    Helping people to understand and use information.

  • 43%

    Training and teaching others

    Understanding the needs of others, developing training programs, and teaching or instructing.

  • 43%

    Thinking creatively

    Using your own ideas for developing, designing, or creating something new.


Interests and demands

Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.

Interests

Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.

  • 100%

    Enterprising

    Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.

  • 81%

    Administrative

    Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.

  • 52%

    Helping

    Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.

  • 38%

    Creative

    Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.

  • 33%

    Practical

    Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

  • 19%

    Analytical

    Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.


Values

Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
  • 67%

    Relationships

    Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

  • 48%

    Achievement

    Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

  • 48%

    Independence

    Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.

  • 48%

    Recognition

    Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.

  • 45%

    Working conditions

    Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.

  • 43%

    Support

    Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.


Demands

The physical and social demands that workers face most often are shown below:
  • 100%

    Telephone

    Talk on the telephone.

  • 100%

    Electronic mail

    Use electronic mail.

  • 97%

    Spend time sitting

    Spend time sitting at work.

  • 96%

    Being exact or accurate

    Be very exact or highly accurate.

  • 89%

    Contact with people

    Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.

  • 89%

    Contact with the public

    Work with customers or the public.

  • 86%

    Unstructured work

    Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.

  • 81%

    Letters and memos

    Write letters and memos.

  • 81%

    Face-to-face discussions

    Talk with people face-to-face.

  • 81%

    Freedom to make decisions

    Have freedom to make decision on your own.

  • 78%

    Impact of decisions

    Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.

  • 77%

    Competition

    Compete with others, or be aware of competitive pressures.

  • 76%

    Automation of tasks

    Do tasks that are mostly automated.

  • 75%

    Frequent decision making

    Frequently make decisions that impact other people.

  • 75%

    Time pressure

    Work to strict deadlines.

  • 74%

    Using your hands to handle, control, or feel

    Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.

  • 69%

    Teamwork

    Work with people in a group or team.

  • 68%

    Responsible for outcomes

    Take responsibility for the results of other people's work.

  • 68%

    Consequence of error

    Work where mistakes have serious consequences.

  • 64%

    Lead or coordinate a team

    Lead others to do work activities.

Occupational Information Network
O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 41-3041.00 - Travel Agents.


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