A freelance travel consultant is a travel agent or consultant who works on a freelance basis and often works from home. These individuals to work like any other travel agents and help clients book tickets, book trips for groups and individuals and carry out the tour planning. The only difference between regular travel consultants and freelance travel consultants is the fact that these individuals are not tied up in contracts and work on a per-project basis. The main skills needed to be a freelance travel consultant is good knowledge of travel destinations, the ability to conduct internet-based research, etc.
The job of any freelance travel consultant is one in which he/she works as per the budget requirements and specifications of the client and charges a fee for the services offered. Freelance travel consultants may work as individuals or may work as a group of consultants offering consultancy to clients. In either of the cases, the duties and tasks remain more or less the same. To know more about how to become a freelance travel consultant, you can go through the following given information:
Freelance Travel Consultant Jobs
As a freelance travel consultant, an individual needs to fulfill several duties and responsibilities. Some of the main duties are given below:
- To help clients choose, book and plan their trip, its destination and places to visit.
- Suggest places; consult clients about their choices or preferences.
- To work on a budget specified by the client is also the duty of a freelance travel consultant.
- To book air tickets, train tickets, buses and other means of transportation for the client.
- To book hotels and book tickets for local attractions of the travel destination
- To provide advice about passports and visas and help in the visa process.
- To sell holiday insurance or travel insurance
- To market and promote his/her freelance business.
- To get the best hotel and air deals for clients.
- To manage budgets, collect payments and deal with customer or client queries or doubts.
Skills
Not anyone and everyone can become a successful freelance travel consultant. One must possess several skills to do well at this kind of a job and some of these skills are given below:
- A Corporate travel consultant working on a freelance basis must have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to be able to deal with not only clients but also with others as this can help him negotiate and convince the other person.
- Good mathematical skills and accounting abilities are also needed for this kind of freelancing job.
- Ability to present strong travel proposals so that the maximum number of clients can be bagged is also needed for a freelancer in the travel agency business.
- To be commercially aware and to have an interest in travel and tourism is a prerequisite.
- Fluency in local or certain foreign languages can also help one to do well at this kind of job which requires communication with people from different cities and countries.
- Detail-oriented, strong organizational skills and the ability to get work done quickly are also needed.
Being Successful As A Freelance Travel Consultant
As a freelance travel consultant, you should always try to look out for more clients so as to increase workload and hence gain more profit. Being successful in this field means providing clients what they are looking for at the best rate so that they choose you rather than another travel agent. For this, doing things differently and in a more reasonable way can help. Some ways to be a successful freelance travel consultant are:
- Educate yourself continuously about new and upcoming travel destinations. Suggest offbeat places to clients so that they choose you rather than another agent who comes up with regular, popular tourist places.
- Make sure you negotiate well with hotel owners so that you can profit more from the deal between the client and the hotel.
- Market yourself effectively and preferably using social media. Social media marketing is an upcoming source of marketing and promoting your business.
- Look for work on freelancing websites where buyers and sellers of services meet to strike deals.
- Associate yourself and develop good relations with regular flight services, popular hotels and other places that need prior booking.
[Also Read: Freelance Travel Consultant freelancing Travel Consultant]
Average Remunerations
Freelancing is an upcoming platform for people belonging to service-based businesses and tasks. The same holds true for travel agents. Freelance travel consultancy is gaining popularity with every passing day and the scope within this field is tremendous, given the fact that most people look for services on the internet these days rather than other places.
Freelance travel consultancy can be of two types-one in which you charge a fixed amount and one where you charge on the basis of services you offer. In either case, the average salary that one can expect to earn per year is $34600. A high school diploma is often a mandatory requirement for one to take the job of a travel agent but this is not a compulsory requirement in case of freelancing. However, clients may prefer their agents to be aptly qualified and with the expertise of computers and internet research.
Finding Work
While relying on advertising methods like newspaper ads etc. may seem sufficient to some, there are many other ways of finding freelance travel consultancy work. Getting your own domain on the internet and setting up a blog or a website is a great way to attract traffic to your freelancing work. You can use the internet to find more work, even from home. Applying for jobs on freelance work websites is also a good idea to stay in the loop of jobs and bag clients on a per-project basis.
Some of the websites that you can find freelance travel consultancy jobs(1) are Elance, O-Desk, PeoplePerHour, and Freelancer, etc. Keep updating your blog about attractive travel destinations to develop an interest in your readers. If your blog is good enough to drive large traffic, then this may reflect on the number of clients you have and the jobs that you bag.
