What this life looks like
You make the world accessible. Travel Consultants and Agents help clients plan, book, and enjoy travel — advising on destinations, organising flights, accommodation, tours, and visas, and ensuring that journeys — for leisure, business, or special occasions — are seamless, value-for-money, and memorable. Despite the rise of online booking, specialist travel agents with deep destination knowledge and personal service continue to thrive, particularly for complex African itineraries and luxury travel.
What she actually does
You consult with clients about their travel dreams, budget, and requirements, design personalised itineraries, book flights, accommodation, tours, and transfers, manage visa and travel documentation, advise on travel insurance, manage changes and cancellations, provide pre-departure briefings, and support clients during travel when problems arise. Specialist Africa travel consultants often develop deep expertise in specific destinations or types of travel — luxury safari, cultural travel, adventure tourism — that distinguishes them from generic booking agents.
Where you can work
| Sector | Places in Africa |
|---|---|
| Travel Agencies | Flight Centre Africa, Sure Rennies Travel (SA), Grosvenor Travel (SA), Carlson Wagonlit Africa |
| Tour Operators | Abercrombie & Kent Africa, Wilderness Safaris Travel, African Travel Inc. — specialist Africa operators |
| Online Travel | Jumia Travel, Travelstart (SA), Wakanow (Nigeria) — African online travel agencies and booking platforms |
| Corporate Travel | Corporate travel management companies handling business travel for African corporations and multinationals |
Why it matters in Africa
Intra-African travel is one of the fastest-growing travel markets in the world — Africans travelling for business, to visit family across borders, and increasingly for leisure within the continent. International tourism to Africa is growing. And the complexity of African travel — visa requirements across 55 countries, connecting between relatively underserved airports, understanding which safari camps offer the best wildlife in which season — creates genuine demand for specialist consultants who understand the continent deeply.
Your pathway in
- Study Travel and Tourism, Hospitality, or Business at university or through IATA accredited courses
- Develop destination expertise: the best African travel consultants know specific regions — East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, North Africa — deeply and can advise with genuine authority
- Build proficiency in GDS (Global Distribution Systems): Amadeus, Sabre, and Galileo are the industry-standard booking platforms
- Pursue IATA (International Air Transport Association) certification — it is the standard qualification for travel agents and enables you to issue airline tickets
- Develop relationships with hotels, lodges, and tour operators across your destination specialisations — personal knowledge of the products you sell is your most valuable asset
Skills you will need
- Destination knowledge (African and global)
- GDS platform proficiency (Amadeus, Sabre)
- Itinerary design
- Visa and documentation management
- Client advisory and consultation
- Problem-solving during travel disruptions
A woman in this field
Temi Popo
Nigeria
Eyitemi "Temi" Popo is a Forbes-listed Nigerian social entrepreneur, digital strategist, and founder of Girls Trip Tours. She works across technology, media, and women-centered tourism to uplift communities and support female leadership. Girls Trip Tours, founded by Popo, this travel company curates socially impactful itineraries across Africa exclusively for women. The company deliberately partners with women-led businesses and locally-owned hotels to keep tourism revenue within local communities. Girls MAP Foundation, a non-profit extension that provides mentorship, tech training, and professional development programs to young African women.
Take your first step
- Research the IATA (International Air Transport Association) travel agent certification at iata.org — it is the standard entry qualification for travel agents and the prerequisite for issuing airline tickets
- Study African visa requirements: the Henley Passport Index and IATA Travel Centre both document which passports require visas for which African countries — this complexity creates genuine demand for knowledgeable travel consultants
- Create a sample itinerary for a two-week trip across East Africa — Nairobi, Amboseli, Zanzibar, and Rwanda — using publicly available booking platforms and destination research. Building itinerary-creation skills is foundational for travel consulting
- Research Travelstart at travelstart.com and Wakanow at wakanow.com — both are major African online travel platforms whose operations show you how African travel services are evolving
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