How to become a travel agent in Australia (2026)

If you’re thinking about becoming a travel agent in Australia, you want to know which way in suits you. You don’t need a licence, because state licensing ended in 2014. Most people either take a job at an agency and learn on the job, or do a Certificate III in Travel (SIT30222) first. From there you either stay an employee or run your own home-based business under a host agency.

I’ve worked in travel since 2004, bought into an agency in 2009 and still own it, and since 2013 we’ve run it purely as a host agency for home-based advisors. This is what I’d tell a friend who asked me.

State travel agent licensing ended

2014

TAFE Queensland’s online Cert III, full fee, the cheapest I found

$3,145

Network joining fees on published pages, including GST

$0–$1,495

Months to build healthy revenue, says TravelManagers

12–24

What are the ways to become a travel agent in Australia?

There are three ways in, and most people use two of them, one after the other.

1. Take a job first

   1. Apply to an agency Retail chains hire people without a travel qualification
   2. Learn on the job Many chains enrol you in a Cert III traineeship
   3. Paid while you learn Base wage plus incentives on what you sell
   4. Go home-based later Most of the people I’d want as advisors spent a few years in an agency first

2. Study first

   1. Cert III in Travel $85 to $6,000 depending on provider and state
   2. Apply for jobs or to a network Some networks won’t take you without it

3. Go home-based

   1. Bring sales experience Or a community you can sell to
   2. Join a host agency $0 to $1,495 to join, plus monthly fees or a share of commission
   3. Find your first clients Nearly everyone starts with people they know
   4. Build healthy revenue 12 to 24 months, says TravelManagers

Flight Centre has run national traineeships for new consultants since about 2017, so the job route is still open without a qualification.

Do you need a licence to be a travel agent in Australia?

No. State licensing ended in 2014 and a voluntary scheme, now called ATIA Accredited, took its place. You don’t need accreditation yourself, because your employer or your host agency holds it. The detail, including IATA, is in do you need a licence to be a travel agent in Australia.

What qualifications do you need to be a travel agent?

Legally, none. In practice the SIT30222 Certificate III in Travel is the recognised entry qualification, and you can do it fully online with no work placement. Some networks won’t take you without it, and it teaches you fares and a reservations system, which are hard to pick up on a live booking. I see it as a foundation. Selling, supplier knowledge and judgement come from doing the work. I’ve compared every main provider, the Cert IV and the Flight Centre Travel Academy program in Cert III vs Cert IV in Travel.

Can you become a travel agent with no experience?

Yes, but which door you use matters.

Getting hired is the easier door. Retail chains are the usual first job, and one commenter on r/travelagents said in September 2026 that Flight Centre likes “folk with no prior experience working in travel”. Corporate travel companies take juniors too, usually with a Cert III.

Going home-based with no experience is harder, and most networks say so. Here’s what their own pages said on 20 October 2026.

Niftrip takes forward-thinking newcomers as well as experienced consultants, and our new to travel page explains how.

If you have no sales experience and nobody already asks you to book their holidays, take a job first. A year or two in an agency teaches you fares, suppliers and how to handle a cancelled flight, and you’re paid while you learn. One experienced advisor put it this way:

if you have no database or potential leads, 100% recommend becoming an employee and learning.

How do you become a travel agent, step by step?

1. Decide whether you want a job or a business

   An employee works set hours for a wage plus incentives, and the agency finds the customers. A home-based advisor is self-employed with an ABN, chooses their own hours, keeps most of the commission and finds every client themselves. Work-from-home employee roles exist, mostly in corporate travel, and they usually want experience.

2. Get the Cert III, or get a job that pays for it

   Cost

   $3,145 full fee at TAFE Queensland online

   Time

   6 to 12 months part-time at most providers

   If the network you want requires the Cert III, finish it first. If you’re applying for jobs, it helps you get an interview, though some employers will train you without it. Pick a provider that teaches Amadeus or Sabre, because a reservations system is the hardest part to learn alone. Provider prices are in the course details near the end of this guide.

3. Learn the product you want to sell

   Start with an area you already know or care about, whether that’s cruise, Japan, family holidays, ski or small-group touring. Supplier and destination training teaches you far more about a specific product than any course.

4. Choose an employer or a host agency

   Joining fees

   $0 to $1,495 on published pages

   Compare the total cost, joining and monthly fees as well as the split. A 90% split with a $370 monthly fee costs more than an 80% split with a $170 fee until your sales get large. Read the contract too, especially minimum terms, notice periods, restraint clauses and who owns your client list when you leave. My checklist is in how to choose a host agency, and the networks that take beginners are compared in host agencies for beginners.

5. Set up your business properly

   For a home-based advisor that means:

   Setting up your business

   • An ABN
   • A conversation with an accountant about GST and tax
   • A separate bank account for your business income
   • A clear plan for how you’ll present yourself to clients

   0 of 4 checked

   Your host agency supplies the accreditation, the supplier relationships and the client account that client money goes into.

6. Find your first clients

   Nearly everyone starts with people they know. Give them a proper quote, a clear itinerary and a fee if your work justifies one, then build outward through referrals and a niche you know well.

How much does it cost to become a travel agent in Australia?

If an agency hires you, it can cost you nothing. For the home-based route, here’s a year-one budget using published prices only.

Here’s how a first year might look on Niftrip. Say you sell $150,000 and your bookings average 10% commission, which earns you $15,000. You pay 1% of what you invoice, $1,500, and $1,188 in monthly fees ($99 × 12), all plus GST, with no joining fee. You keep $12,312 before tax. That’s a part-time income, which is normal for a first year.

What does the first year look like?

Usually slower than people hope. TravelManagers puts it at 12 to 24 months to build healthy revenue, which I think is fair. The commission lag catches most newcomers out, because a lot of supplier commission isn’t paid until close to departure or after the client has travelled. A cruise you book in March for next January may not pay you for months, so plan your savings around that.

What helps is a niche, consistent follow-up, a fair service fee, and technology that stops admin eating your evenings. On Niftrip a cruise confirmation becomes a booking and an invoice in 1 minute 19 seconds with no typing.

How much do travel agents earn?

Employed consultants were mostly advertised at $70,000 to $100,000 a year plus super and incentives in October 2026, though those roles want experience. Home-based, $500,000 a year in sales at a 10% average commission is $50,000 in commission before network fees. The full breakdown is in how much do travel agents earn in Australia.

Should you start as an employee or go straight to home-based?

It depends on your sales experience and whether people already ask you about travel.

Start as an employee if you need a reliable income now, you’ve never sold anything, or you want colleagues around you while you learn.

Go home-based if you’ve sold before, you have a community to sell into (a workplace, a club, a cultural or language community, a following), and you can carry a year of modest income while you build. If you’re new and willing to study properly, it can work from day one with a host that will train you. Read the contract before you pay a joining fee.

If you’re leaving a chain after a few years, your options are different again, and I’ve written about them in leaving Flight Centre.

The details

Course prices and network terms are the published ones, checked on 20 October 2026.

Licensing and accreditation dates

The Travel Compensation Fund stopped accepting claims after 30 June 2014. Its place was taken by a voluntary scheme, ATAS, which started on 1 July 2014 and was renamed ATIA Accredited in November 2024.

What the Cert III covers

SIT30222 has 17 units, including core units on using a computerised reservations system and constructing international airfares. It helps in three practical ways.

1. Some networks won’t take you without it. Your Travel Centre says you “need to have completed a Certificate III in Travel or similar qualification before you can be considered to join us.”
2. Accredited agencies have a staffing rule. Under the ATIA Charter, 50% of an accredited business’s consumer-facing staff must hold recognised industry training, which may include a Cert III in Travel, or have at least two years in a front-line selling role.
3. It teaches you the language. Fares, fare rules, supplier terms and a reservations system are hard to pick up from scratch on a live booking.

A Cert III student on Reddit said in 2026 that the course “probably only gives you 5% of the knowledge you need on the job”.

Cert III providers and prices

Provider	Cert III price	Length	System
TAFE Queensland	$3,145 full fee; QLD subsidised $240, concession $85	12 months part-time, online	Amadeus
Suzan Johnston Australia	$6,000 self-funded ($800 deposit then $325 a unit)	10 to 19 months, online	Sabre
Travel Training Australia (for FIT College, RTO 31903)	Not published, quote on enquiry	6 to 12 months, online	Amadeus
TAFE NSW	$7,250 standard fee; about $0 to $2,550 for eligible NSW residents	About 8 months full time	A computer reservations system (not named)

Victorians should look at the Cert IV in Travel and Tourism at Holmesglen, which is Skills First subsidised at $5,232, or $1,047 with a concession. The Cert III in Travel isn’t subsidised in Victoria in 2026.

For selling Australia, Tourism Australia’s Aussie Specialist Program is a well-known example of product training, an online program for travel agents only.

What people say about getting hired

On an Australian Reddit thread in September 2026, one poster said Flight Centre had hired people they went to school with “who didn’t get any qualification”. In the same thread, a commenter said Flight Centre puts more weight on sales ability, with the Cert III or IV done on the job, and another warned that most agencies won’t hire inexperienced staff because a new consultant is “absolutely useless to the team for like 6 months minimum”.

Flight Centre’s traineeships use TAFE partners such as South Metropolitan TAFE in WA, which train you while you work. A TAFE graduate on Reddit in August 2026 said their teachers had positions lined up from TMCs “looking for fresh out of TAFE consultants”. Flight Centre’s MyCruises brand also runs a cruise academy intake for entry-level staff about once a year, advertised on Flight Centre’s careers site, according to a member of the Travel Agent Jobs Australia Facebook group.

A Connected Travel staff member wrote that the home-based path “is not for everyone. You need an entrepreneurial mindset and should expect your first 12 months to involve a LOT of learning and hands-on support.”

Several people in the Australian job groups are looking for “a full time travel agent role working from home as an employee”. With a host agency you’re self-employed and the host is your business partner.

How big the home-based networks are

Network	Size	Source
MTA	About 450 advisors	Helloworld’s ASX announcement, October 2025
TravelManagers	480 Personal Travel Managers selling $500 million in the year to 31 March 2025	Travel Weekly
Envoyage (Flight Centre)	About 1,800 Australian advisors and agencies for FY25	Karryon

The first few years

An experienced advisor on Reddit warned that “generally speaking, friends and family will be your worst clients”. Another estimated three to five years to build a strong client base, and I’ve seen good people take that long. Fare rules, supplier terms, payment deadlines and what to do when a booking goes wrong are learned one booking at a time, so check everything twice early on.

Where to next

If you’re new and want to build a travel business with modern tools from the start, read our new to travel page. We run a program for advisors new to travel. We’ll talk you through it when we meet.