Plan other people's trips and fix them when they fall apart. In Ontario you need to pass an exam first.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $50,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $36,000 at the lower end to about $73,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 2 years after high school, on the usual route.
$150 to $18,200 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Ontario and Quebec. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$50,000
Lower end
$36,000
Upper end
$73,000
Job Bank's national median is $24 an hour, about $50,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The low is $17.50 and the high is $35 an hour, about $73,000. Pay is often a base plus commission, so what you sell moves your income.
$34.21 an hour
The median in Nunavut, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces, British Columbia's median is highest at $27, then Ontario at $25. Quebec's is the lowest, at $21.63. Your first year is slow anywhere, because you have no repeat clients yet.
A share of each booking
Paid by cruise lines and tour operators on what you sell
Agencies keep part of it and pay you a share set by your contract. Rates vary by supplier and there is no official survey of them. Independent agents pay their own costs.
Roughly, all in
$150 to $18,200
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The cheapest real route is the TICO (Travel Industry Council of Ontario) Certification Program on its own: since January 2026 its exam costs 150, and a rewrite 50. The high end is a two year college travel and tourism program at up to 9,000 a year plus the exam. Industry training courses cost little or nothing, and cruise lines and tour operators often pay for them. If you work for yourself from home you pay a monthly desk fee to a host agency, which is a running business cost rather than a cost of qualifying.
Roughly $150 to $18,200 in total. Fees change, so check the current figure with the regulator in your province before you budget for it.
Familiarization trips
Cruise lines, hotels and tourism boards take agents on heavily discounted trips so they can sell the product. This is the perk everyone in the industry talks about.
Agent rates
Reduced hotel, cruise and tour prices for your own holidays.
Work from home
One of the few hospitality jobs that can be done entirely remotely.
Flexible hours
Especially as an independent agent, though clients in other time zones do not care about your evening.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Short training, then an exam in some provinces, then years of building a client list.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Geography, a second language and any retail or service job. Travelling yourself helps, but is not required.
Travel and tourism program, optional
1 to 2 years
A 1 or 2 year college certificate or diploma. Some agencies hire without it and train you, especially in call centre roles.
Provincial exam if you are in Ontario
Weeks
Since January 5, 2026, anyone who sells travel at an Ontario registered agency must, by law, complete the TICO (Travel Industry Council of Ontario) Certification Program and its exam.
Work at a registered agency
1 to 3 years
You learn the booking systems, the suppliers and the fine print on cancellation rules.
Specialize
Year 2 onward
Cruises, corporate travel, weddings, adventure, a region you know well.
Geography
You need a real map in your head.
A second language
French is close to mandatory in Quebec and valuable everywhere.
English
Itineraries, quotes and apologies are all writing.
Business or marketing
You are selling, and eventually building your own client base.
Ontario and Quebec license the people who sell travel. In Ontario the Travel Industry Council of Ontario oversees about 2,100 registered travel retailers and wholesalers, and since January 2026 the people who sell for them must complete its Certification Program and exam. Quebec requires a yearly travel counsellor certificate from its consumer protection office. British Columbia licenses travel agencies through Consumer Protection BC (British Columbia), but not the staff who sell for them. In the rest of Canada there is no provincial registration, so an agency can hire you and start you selling. Rules change, so confirm with the regulator where you live.
In Quebec you cannot sell travel without a yearly certificate from the OPC (Office de la protection du consommateur, the Quebec consumer protection office), and you must sell through a travel agency.
Secondary IV or V
From age 16
The travel sales DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) takes students from age 16 with Secondary IV language, second language and math, or with a high school diploma.
DEP in Travel Consulting and Sales (5355)
About 11 to 12 months
1,185 hours at centres in Montreal, Laval, Quebec City and Montérégie. In English (5855) at St. Pius X Career Centre in Montreal. Not legally required, but it is the trade's own diploma.
Open your file and pass the exam
1 hour
Create your file on the OPC website, then book the exam with the ITHQ (Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec, Quebec's tourism and hotel school). Multiple choice and true or false, 60 minutes, 65% to pass.
Join an agency and get the certificate
Weeks
Within 2 years of passing, link your file to a travel agency and pay the issue fee, or you must pass the exam again. The certificate lets you sell only while you work for an agency or have an exclusive contract with one.
Renew every year
Yearly
Renew online each year and pay the renewal fee by credit card. Payment by phone is not accepted.
The OPC (Office de la protection du consommateur, the consumer protection office) charges these certificate fees until June 30, 2027, and they rise with inflation each July 1. The ITHQ (Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec) sets the exam fees. The study manual is in French.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Cruise
Repeat business, and cruise lines train agents at no cost.
Corporate travel
Booking business trips. Steadier salary, less commission, more hours in an office.
Groups and weddings
One booking can be 40 people, and the commission scales with it.
Adventure and expedition travel
Small market, high prices, clients who come back yearly.
Accessible travel
Planning trips for travellers with disabilities. Real demand, very few specialists.
Certification through the national agent association
The Association of Canadian Travel Agencies and Travel Advisors runs the CTC (Certified Travel Counsellor) and CTM (Certified Travel Manager) designations.
Booking system training
Learning one reservation system properly makes you employable at any agency.
A social media following
Independent agents get clients from content, not from a storefront window.
Your own travel
Clients trust an agent who has been where they are going.
Many experienced agents eventually work from home under a host agency. The host holds the provincial registration and the supplier contracts, you bring the clients, and you split the commission with them. You also pay a monthly fee and get no salary, no benefits and no paid holiday. It works for people with a client list and a following, and it is a fast way to earn nothing in year one.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Emails first: quotes to send, deposits due, a schedule change from an airline that you have to explain to a family. Mid morning is research and building itineraries, checking visa and entry rules, and comparing suppliers. Afternoon is calls with clients who want to change one thing that changes everything. You are also selling: following up on old quotes, posting a deal, asking for referrals. When a storm or a strike hits, the day turns into rebooking people you have never met at midnight.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Ontario's travel industry compensation fund is paid for entirely by the industry. It refunds people who booked through a registered agent when the agency, an airline or a cruise line fails. In July 2026 it approved $124,973 for 81 travellers after one agency lost its registration.
Job Bank counted about 14,600 travel agents in Canada in 2023. 41% were 50 or over, and the median retirement age was 62, earlier than in most jobs.
Ontario's travel certification exam is taken online with two video feeds watching you and photo ID (identification) for every attempt. Fail three times and you wait 30 days before the next try.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Hotels and travel first, then the rest of the field. See every career in food and hospitality.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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