Travel Jobs Survey Finds Younger Agents Look to Sell Leisure Travel

Research shows that when it comes to planning travel, younger generations are looking for leisure.

A Hot Travel Jobs survey profiled age brackets in both the corporate and leisure travel sectors and found that corporate travel planning skews older while the leisure sector is growing younger.

In addition to providing job listings for individuals looking to work in the travel industry, Hot Travel Jobs is profiling job seekers to develop a better understanding of salary and hiring information from the ground up.

Its jobs survey seeks to bring together information gathered by travel professionals and gain knowledge regarding their employment conditions, challenges, experiences and compensation.

The survey monitors and benchmarks the age of the travel agent workforce, its salaries and trends.

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In comparing and contrasting 2016 data with 2017 data, Hot Travel Jobs found an increase in travel agents aged 55-plus working in corporate travel planning and an increase in younger travel agents seeking jobs in the leisure sector.

The number of corporate travel planners aged 55-plus increased seven percent from 2016 to 2017, and there was a decrease in the number of agents in the 35- to 45-year-old age bracket, which dropped four percent from 2016.

Forty-five percent of corporate travel agents are over the age of 55. Another 45 percent are between the ages of 45 and 55. Seven percent are between the ages of 35 and 45 and three percent are between 20 and 35.

Leisure travel agents are mostly over the age of 55 as well, at 46 percent. Thirty-eight percent are between the ages of 45 and 55. There are more leisure travel agents between the ages of 35 and 45 than corporate travel agents making up 14 percent of the sector.

Just two percent of leisure travel planners are under the age of 35.

Corporate travel managers also tend to be older. Fifty-nine percent are over the age of 55 and 33 percent are between the ages of 45 and 55, making up the majority of the industry. Only six percent are between the ages of 35 and 45 and just 2 percent are under age 35.

The survey included data from more than 400 travel professionals.