The Rise of the Travel Agent Homeworker
The end of 2024 brought welcome news from the UNWTO that global tourism numbers have demonstrated a 99% recovery post-covid. Many destinations across the globe reached pre-pandemic visitor numbers with an estimated 1.4 billion international tourists recorded in 2024. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2025, estimates predict that these numbers will continue to grow between 3-5% on last year’s figures.
These stats bring an air of positivity across the industry as travel businesses emerge from a period of recovery into an exciting era of growth. However, despite the pandemic feeling like a distant memory, the lasting impact this time period has had on the travel industry is certainly here to stay.
Five years ago, many of the workforce, including travel agents, were transformed into homeworkers overnight. This change highlighted the desirability of flexible work and coupled with many needing to reinvent their careers in the wake of redundancies and furlough schemes, has spurred on significant interest in travel homeworking businesses. Fast forward to today and this movement is now a firm fixture and important aspect of the travel sector.
As the world got back to normal life, many travel homeworking businesses have reported significant growth in their membership bases. Travel Counsellors (TC), a pioneer of the homeworking movement, started 31 years ago when “no-one was home working” according to Matt Harding, Director of Franchise Sales. Fast forward to 2024 and Travel Counsellors reported their membership base grew to over 2,000, with almost 300 new members joining in 2024 alone. Through organisations such as TC, the travel industry has become a trailblazer for flexible working, putting homeworking businesses on the map. Travel businesses have continuously listened to the needs of employees in a post-pandemic world and presented an attractive work-life-balance. This has resulted in impressive employee retention and an overall boom of homeworkers within the travel industry.
It is not only established players within the industry leading the way for homeworkers, but also more recent entrants to the market such as Experience It Now Travel. Specialising in cruises, weddings and long-haul holidays with shops across the UK, the company opened in 2019 and has recently received a significant increase in the number of homeworker applications. In 2023, the company employed just two homeworkers and now, in 2025, they have a team of 105 homeworkers, with the aim of reaching 200 by the end of the year. The company reported in TTG, that they have seen applicants from all walks of life from police officers to nurses and bank managers, receiving a total of 1,400 applications with only 7%-8% becoming successful. Figures such as these seen by Experience it Now, demonstrate clearly the marked increase in popularity to become a homeworking travel agent and the significant rise in competition to break into the industry.
Supporting Travel’s Homeworkers
As the number of homeworkers increase, suppliers across the UK are reshaping and adapting to support this growing community. This year, luxury tour operator, Azure, launched their own home working agency, ‘Independents - Powered by Azure’, offering the chance for independent agents to retain up to 100% on commission. As reported in Aspire, in the past, homeworking agents have only been able to retain 60-80% of their commission. The new agency has pledged to address the challenges faced by homeworkers such as restrictive contracts, commission cuts and high fees, empowering travel consultants and providing greater flexibility than ever before.
Unique and innovative ways of supporting homeworkers are materialising across the industry, from large scale activations to tailored and personalised initiatives, helping homeworking agents feel part of the wider travel community. As reported in Travel Weekly, the dedicated trade specialist, Classic Collection (CC), opened their doors to homeworkers for the duration of January with their ‘homeworking hub’ in Manchester. The initiative provided desk space for homeworkers close by to the CC team for extra support, to build relationships and access informal training from the wider team. To go the extra mile, the tour operator even covered the bill for agents at the on-site coffee shop and opened up their office bar for after work socialising.
Thinking of more creative ways to reach home workers, TTC launched their Walkies Talkies initiative. Joined by a canine friend, their sales manager has been planning visits to agent homeworkers across the UK for a walk and a chat, providing an adapted alternative and creative twist on the traditional store visit. This initiative helps overcome the challenges faced by homeworkers being based remotely, offering agents a chance to step away from their desks, connect with TTC sales managers and other homeworkers, and learn about touring holidays.
Educating and Training our Homeworkers
The end of 2024 brought with it a call from travel agents to ‘fix the fam trip’ model, following reports from TTG about the shared frustrations among the industry around the traditional fam trip set up. With homeworkers in mind, Jamaica Tourism (JTB) has shown their support, working to restructure their FAM trip model, introducing their ‘hybrid FAM trips’. The hybrid format, enables homeworking agents to work in the mornings, before switching off in the afternoons to explore the island. The tourism board has also created a new Business Development Officer role, specifically for homeworkers, a trend followed by many key players within the industry such as Wendy Wu Tours and Travelosophers, both introducing BDM and Sales Manager roles specifically for homeworking agents. Investments and developments such as these are essential to making sure home workers feel supported and connected in their remote roles.
The Next Steps for Your Business
Overall, we are seeing significant investment for homeworkers from the wider travel industry, as key players adapt to connect with this rapidly growing community. Travel Counsellors, has recently appointed Dragon’s Den entrepreneur, Sara Davis as the agency's first ‘growth and entrepreneurship partner’, providing tailored coaching for agents through webinars and events. On a global scale, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has taken their step forward in support of homeworkers launching the ‘Together in Travel’ initiative. The initiative aims to support and transform how small to medium enterprises operate providing access to global markets, investment opportunities, training programmes and sustainable practice frameworks. The programme will be promoted to all major travel groups, providing members with the support they need to thrive within the ever-evolving travel industry.
As the surge in homeworking agents continues to reshape the travel industry landscape, forward-thinking businesses must adapt their strategies to support and engage with this growing community of professionals. Reviewing and re-thinking trade representation is essential for businesses to ensure they are reaching all corners of the travel trade community. Recognizing homeworkers as valuable partners in the travel ecosystem and investing in their support is key to keeping businesses competitive, within this crowded marketplace.
Is your business looking for support in reaching homeworking agents across the globe? The PC Agency’s expert trade team can help. Our team will work to maximise your visibility among the trade, from the individual homeworker to the largest volume driving tour operators. We are here to support you in increasing your visibility and reputability among the trade, providing stand-out events, training and fam trips for your unique destination, hotel, or product.
Get in touch with the team to discuss how we can help at trade@pc.agency.
