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Travel Agents

Occupation · SOC 41-3041.00

Plan and sell transportation and accommodations for customers. Determine destination, modes of transportation, travel dates, costs, and accommodations required. May also describe, plan, and arrange itineraries and sell tour packages. May assist in resolving clients' travel problems.

Also called: Destination Specialist · Travel Agent · Travel Consultant · Travel Counselor · Auto Travel Counselor · Beach Expert · Corporate Travel Consultant · International Travel Consultant · Tour Coordinator · Tour Counselor · Booking Agent · Business Travel Consultant

Job family: Sales and Related Occupations

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A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch /roles/role-41-3041-00/context.md directly.

AI work map

A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.

Often handed to AI

Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.

  • Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations. · 1.3%
  • Compute cost of travel and accommodations, using calculator, computer, carrier tariff books, and hotel rate books, or quote package tour's costs. · 0.3%
See how AI is used here →

Use as a copilot

Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking — staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.

  • Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers. · 1.1%
  • Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required. · 0.8%
See collaboration patterns →

Keep a human in the loop

Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.

  • Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers. · 100.0% need a human
  • Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required. · 100.0% need a human
  • Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations. · 99.2% need a human
See the boundary tasks →

89th-percentile task overlap — yet about 7,100 openings a year (+2.2% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 4441% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

Measure Rank vs all occupations Percentile Score
Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High 80th 1.1
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) High 95th 1.0
AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) High 76th 0.2

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.6), and including AI-powered software (γ 1.0). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

Historical automation estimate (2013)

A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.

Frey–Osborne probability 0.1 · 28th percentile among occupations · Low

How AI is actually used in this job

Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.

Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers. 0.8%
Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required. 0.5%
Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations. 0.4%

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

Outlook About average · +2.2% by 2034
Projected annual openings 7,100
Employment 2024 → 2034 65,700 → 67,200

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international 2 occupations below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

51% mean task exposure (2025)
89th percentile of 427 placed occupations
−14 pts shift 2023 → 2025
International occupation (ISCO-08) Task exposure (2025) Most tasks fall in
Travel Consultants and Clerks · 4221 56% Gradient 3
Business Services Agents Not Elsewhere Classified · 3339 45% Gradient 2

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Working with AI in this job

How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.

Augmentation vs. automation 44.4% working with AI · 45.9% handed to AI
Most common way people use AI here Directive · AI does it; you give the instruction
Typical AI autonomy 3.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently
Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) 7.7%

What people delegate to AI

The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.

Task How Usage
Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations. Directive 1.3%
Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers. Iteration 1.1%
Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required. Iteration 0.8%
Compute cost of travel and accommodations, using calculator, computer, carrier tariff books, and hotel rate books, or quote package tour's costs. Directive 0.3%

Where a human is still needed

Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.

Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers. 100.0%
Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required. 100.0%
Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations. 99.2%
Compute cost of travel and accommodations, using calculator, computer, carrier tariff books, and hotel rate books, or quote package tour's costs. 96.8%

What people most often hand AI here

Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.

  • Help me provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations.

    From: Provide customer with brochures and publications containing travel information, such as local customs, points of interest, or foreign country regulations. · 1.3% of measured AI use · directive

  • Help me plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers.

    From: Plan, describe, arrange, and sell itinerary tour packages and promotional travel incentives offered by various travel carriers. · 1.1% of measured AI use · task iteration

  • Help me converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required.

    From: Converse with customer to determine destination, mode of transportation, travel dates, financial considerations, and accommodations required. · 0.8% of measured AI use · task iteration

  • Help me compute cost of travel and accommodations, using calculator, computer, carrier tariff books, and hotel rate books, or quote package tour's costs.

    From: Compute cost of travel and accommodations, using calculator, computer, carrier tariff books, and hotel rate books, or quote package tour's costs. · 0.3% of measured AI use · directive

Tasks

All 8 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

Work activities

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service 4.3
English Language 4.0
Sales and Marketing 3.9
Geography 3.4
Computers and Electronics 3.4
Administrative 3.2
Telecommunications 3.2
Transportation 3.1
Administration and Management 2.9

Essential skills

Active Listening 4.1
Reading Comprehension 4.0
Speaking 4.0
Writing 3.1
Critical Thinking 3.1
Active Learning 3.1
Monitoring 3.0

Transferable skills

Service Orientation 4.1
Social Perceptiveness 3.8
Persuasion 3.6
Judgment and Decision Making 3.4
Coordination 3.1
Negotiation 3.1
Complex Problem Solving 3.0
Time Management 3.0

Abilities

Speech Recognition 4.1
Oral Comprehension 4.0
Speech Clarity 4.0
Written Comprehension 3.9
Oral Expression 3.9
Near Vision 3.9
Problem Sensitivity 3.5
Information Ordering 3.3
Written Expression 3.1
Deductive Reasoning 3.1
Selective Attention 3.1
Fluency of Ideas 3.0
Originality 3.0
Inductive Reasoning 3.0
Category Flexibility 3.0
Number Facility 3.0

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

Tools & technology

Example Category
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet software Hot technology In demand
Microsoft Office software Office suite software Hot technology In demand
Microsoft Outlook Electronic mail software Hot technology In demand
Intuit QuickBooks Accounting software Hot technology
Microsoft Access Data base user interface and query software Hot technology
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation software Hot technology
Microsoft Word Word processing software Hot technology
SAP Concur Accounting software Hot technology
Zoom Video conferencing software Hot technology
Amadeus CRS Data base user interface and query software In demand
Sabre Central Command Enterprise resource planning ERP software In demand
Apollo Reservation System Calendar and scheduling software
Colibripms Software Colibri Customer relationship management CRM software
DataSwell Business intelligence and data analysis software
Galor Travel Booster Data base user interface and query software
Global distribution system GDS software Data base user interface and query software
Globekey Agentkey Calendar and scheduling software
Illusions Online Illusions OnDemand Business intelligence and data analysis software
IMS Travel Agent Reservation Software System Calendar and scheduling software
MGHworld Travel Agents Customer relationship management CRM software
Orbitz Worldwide Orbitz for Agents Data base user interface and query software
Rezdy booking software Calendar and scheduling software
Rezgo online booking software Calendar and scheduling software
Rezopia Data base user interface and query software
Sabre Airline Solutions SabreSonic Customer Sales & Service Customer relationship management CRM software
TourCMS Data base user interface and query software
TourWriter Data base user interface and query software
Travel Agent CMS Data base user interface and query software
TravelCarma Data base user interface and query software
Travii reservation system software Data base user interface and query software

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

Telephone Conversations 5.0
E-Mail 5.0
Spend Time Sitting 4.9
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate 4.8
Contact With Others 4.5
Deal With External Customers or the Public in General 4.4
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals 4.3
Written Letters and Memos 4.1
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams 4.0
Freedom to Make Decisions 4.0
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results 3.9
Level of Competition 3.9
Degree of Automation 3.8
Frequency of Decision Making 3.7
Time Pressure 3.7
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls 3.7
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team 3.4
Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers 3.4
Consequence of Error 3.4
Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities 3.2
Physical Proximity 3.2
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled 3.1
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks 3.1
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions 3.1
Conflict Situations 3.1
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People 2.6
Health and Safety of Other Workers 2.5
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable 2.2
Spend Time Standing 1.7
Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body 1.6
Public Speaking 1.5
Dealing with Violent or Physically Aggressive People 1.3
Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment 1.2
Spend Time Kneeling, Crouching, Stooping, or Crawling 1.2
Exposed to Contaminants 1.2
Spend Time Keeping or Regaining Balance 1.1
In an Enclosed Vehicle or Operate Enclosed Equipment 1.1
Exposed to Extremely Bright or Inadequate Lighting Conditions 1.1
Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled 1.1
Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions 1.1

How to get in

Job zone
Zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Education
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Typical entry-level education
High school diploma or equivalent · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
Related experience
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Preparation level
SVP (6.0 to < 7.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) 37.3%
High School Diploma 30.8%
Bachelor's Degree 14.4%
Post-Secondary Certificate 11.5%
Some College Courses 6.1%

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Interest areas

Personal Service 6.6
Sales 5.8
Office Work 5.2
Professional Advising 2.8
Marketing/Advertising 2.5
Management/Administration 2.2
Accounting 2.1
Information Technology 1.9
Business Initiatives 1.9

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Enterprising 5.8
Conventional 5.8
Social 4.3

Work styles

Dependability 4.0
Attention to Detail 3.0
Social Orientation 2.4
Cooperation 2.0

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

$33k10th$39k25th$48kMedian$61k75th$74k90th
Annual wages by percentile — U.S. (BLS OEWS). The light band spans the 10th–90th percentile; the darker band is the middle half (25th–75th); the line is the median.
66k202467k2034 (proj.)+2.2% · About average
Projected U.S. employment, 2024–2034 (BLS Employment Projections). A labor-market forecast for the occupation, not an AI-impact forecast.
10th percentile $33,280
25th percentile $38,760
Median (50th) $48,450
75th percentile $60,880
90th percentile $74,160
People employed 59,150

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Industry Workers National median pay
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 47,620 $48,080
Finance and Insurance · Sector 1,910 $54,240
Transportation and Warehousing · Sector 1,830 $38,550
Accommodation and Food Services · Sector 1,110 $49,190
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector 1,050 $40,180
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 780 $59,740
Temporary Help Services · National industry 130 $60,530
Information · Sector $65,350
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing · Sector $37,140
Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector $61,530
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector $58,790

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Industry Concentration Workers
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 13.74× 47,620
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector 1.04× 1,050
Finance and Insurance · Sector 0.8× 1,910
Transportation and Warehousing · Sector 0.65× 1,830
Accommodation and Food Services · Sector 0.2× 1,110
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 0.19× 780
Temporary Help Services · National industry 0.13× 130

Part of the Hospitality, Events, & Tourism career cluster.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay Travel Agents sits at the 89th percentile of AI task-overlap and the 29th percentile of median pay, placed here against 10 adjacent occupations on the same two axes. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Travel Agents Retail Salespersons Counter and Rental Clerks Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks Receptionists and Information Clerks Freight Forwarders Insurance Sales Agents Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Travel Agents — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

Travel Agents show 89th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 7,100 annual U.S. openings

  • Travel Agents rank in the 89th percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
  • The occupation is projected to see about 7,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • BLS projects employment to be about average (+2.2%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • Median annual pay is $48,450, across about 59,150 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 44% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Travel Agents show 89th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 7,100 annual U.S. openings

• Travel Agents rank in the 89th percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• The occupation is projected to see about 7,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• BLS projects employment to be about average (+2.2%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• Median annual pay is $48,450, across about 59,150 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 44% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2)

Source: Singulariki — "Travel Agents". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-3041-00
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Travel Agents." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-3041-00

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Travel Agents. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-3041-00

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-41-3041-00,
  title  = {Travel Agents},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-3041-00}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.

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