Consider an exciting career as a Travel Agent!

All about Salaries for Travel Agents, Benefits and Hours for Travel Agents, Job Qualifications for Travel Agents and more in Malawi on Mywage Malawi

Working in the Tourism sector as a Travel Agent offers many challenges. And also many rewards. 

The job

The main work of a Travel Agent includes booking flights and also providing necessary information, including accomodation and entertainment options, to travellers. Travel Agents are often a useful link between airlines and travellers.

According to information sourced from one of the Travel Agencies in Malawi, Travel Agents help travellers sort through vast amounts of information to help them make the best possible travel arrangements. They offer advice on destinations and make arrangements for transportation, hotel accommodation, car rental, and tours for their clients. 

They are also the primary source of bookings for most of the major cruise lines. In addition, resorts and speciality travel groups use Travel Agents to promote travel packages to their clients. 

Working hours

This is a job which demands that you work long hours, and in Malawi many Travel Agents start work at 7:30am and can work up to 9pm. However, in some instances others work  shifts.

Qualifications

Many people who work as Travel Agents get trained at the Malawi Institute of Tourism (MIT) where they get IATA (International Air Travel Association) qualifications. If you get an IATA diploma you can go on to obtain an advanced diploma which is equivalent to a degree. 

But there are also private institutions that offer training in IATA as well as Travel and Tourism, among them Blantyre Business College (BBC). 

For one to enrol for these courses you have to have a Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) with strong credits in Geography.

Mzuzu University is also another centre which has started offering courses in this field. They offer a degree in Tourism and Travel and the requirements are that you have a good MSCE. However, you can also enrol as a mature entrant after obtaining a diploma or certificate.

Prospects

With a degree or a diploma, Travel Agents can rise to managerial positions with others being employed as Travel Experts or Consultants.

There are several Travel Agent institutions in Malawi - one of them is Soche Tours and Travel. Apart from that you can also work in Airlines.

Soche Tours and Travel General Manager Harry Mtuwa said IATA qualifications were the best for one to start a job as a Travel Agent. 

He said other Travel Agencies employ those with MSCE but with a credit in Geography, saying this was important as the job centres on being knowledgeable about various places in the world.

Mtuwa said that salaries for Travel Agents vary; for those with IATA qualifications the starting point is K20,000, and for those with diplomas the figure shoots to over K40,000 per month.

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