No experience? No problem

Welcome to the Academy

Our 2-year Travel Academy is tailored exactly to the needs of people who are new to travel.

It is accredited by the Institute of Travel and Tourism and all of our Business Development Coaches have achieved the ILM Level 5 Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring.

17% of all our franchisees globally joined us through the Academy, so you’ll be following in the footsteps of plenty before you and you’ll have the years of travel experience of the remaining 83% of franchisees to call upon.

Our Academy Travel Counsellors have joined us from a whole range of backgrounds, including retail, finance, charity, public sector roles like teaching, the police force and the NHS.

What will I learn?

The two weeks you’ll spend at our Head Office in Manchester cover the basics of travel, making the most of our systems and tools, marketing your business, product and destination knowledge and most importantly; how to put a holiday together and sell!

Then follows 30 weeks of interactive, guided study for you to do at home as well a two follow-up trainings at Head Office.

You’ll cover travel legislation, the procedural knowledge you need to operate on a day to day basis, and of course start building your knowledge of worldwide destinations, airlines, cruise lines and more.

Our Travel Academy will teach you not just to be a travel agent, but how to be a tour operator; tailor-making the perfect holiday from scratch. If you don't know the difference between a travel agent and a tour operator, find out here.

Crucially, acting as a tour operator gives Travel Counsellors control over the booking, instead of it being in the hands of a third party, and it future-proofs your business. Over 50% of all bookings are made via our own tour operation. But, thanks to their 'clean slate' of travel knowledge and the training they receive, Academy TCs act as the tour operator on 61% of their bookings.

Is all my training classroom-based?

The short answer is no! The best way to learn travel is to experience it for yourself.

Learn from the experts

TC Takeover Days are your chance to meet suppliers and learn about product direct from the source. In the past we’ve done events focused on Thailand, Winter Experience, Cruise, Florida, Touring and Adventure and more.
Find your sea legs

All Academy Travel Counsellors get complimentary membership to CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) and invited to the 3-day annual CLIA Conference – this is exclusive to Academy Travel Counsellors and vital for building your knowledge of cruise.
Take flight, jump on board, or set sail

Regular FAM trips which see Travel Counsellors travel to visit destinations worldwide to experience product first-hand. Then when you come back you are better-placed to sell that product.

Lack of previous experience is by no means a barrier to becoming a great Travel Counsellor.

‘Gold’ is the name we give to our top-selling Travel Counsellors, a number of whom joined us through our Travel Academy, and now reap the rewards such as our annual Gold Weekends.

On average, our Gold Academy Travel Counsellors take home £52,000 pa.

If that seems a long way off, remember that these people joined us with no experience either. They embraced everything we have to offer to achieve their goals, and you can do the same.