Turn your travel expertise into a business built around your specialism, with Travel Counsellors’ support. Join our November or December inductions and get ready to do peaks your way.

Perhaps you’re the person colleagues turn to for complex cruise enquiries. You know how to make a first safari unforgettable, or which questions to ask when planning a multi-generational holiday.

When you’ve worked in travel for years, you develop expertise that customers value. But how much opportunity do you have to build your career around it?

Starting a niche travel business could give you the freedom to put that knowledge to work for yourself. With Travel Counsellors, you can combine your experience with the technology, business support and community to help you take it further.

What could your travel niche look like?

A niche gives customers a clear reason to come to you. It might centre on a destination, a type of holiday or a group of travellers whose needs you understand particularly well.

For an experienced travel professional, that could mean:

• Expedition cruises for customers looking for their next adventure.

• Tailor-made Japan itineraries for first-time visitors.

• Luxury family holidays with every generation considered.

• Honeymoons built around a couple’s shared interests.

• Specialist trips for walkers, food lovers or wildlife enthusiasts.

Your starting point might already be in your working week: the enquiries you most enjoy, the bookings where your advice makes the biggest difference, or the customers who regularly recommend you.

You don’t have to restrict every booking to one specialism. Your niche can be the expertise you lead with, while leaving room to meet your customers’ wider travel needs.

Turn specialist knowledge into a reason to book

Customers can research destinations themselves. Your value lies in helping them make sense of the options and choose what’s right for them.

A cruise customer might need help understanding expedition styles, cabin locations and pre-cruise arrangements. A family planning a safari may want someone who can explain how lodge choices, journey times and children’s ages shape the whole experience.

That depth of understanding gives you something meaningful to talk about in your marketing. Instead of simply promoting a destination, you can answer the questions your ideal customers are asking.

Bring your experience. Build on it with our support.

You already know how to sell travel and look after customers. Running your own business adds another dimension: deciding where to focus, finding new customers and planning for growth.

At Travel Counsellors, attracting talented travel professionals is only the beginning. We’re committed to helping you become more successful with us.

Our training, ongoing learning and business coaching help you develop as a business owner, building on the knowledge you bring. You’ll have people to turn to as you work towards your goals, alongside a community of fellow Travel Counsellors who share experience and ideas.

For someone developing a niche, that creates space to ask practical questions. Who is your ideal customer? Which activity is generating worthwhile enquiries? Where should you invest your time next?

Your expertise is the starting point. Developing the business skills around it helps you make more of it.

Give your expertise the tools to go further

Specialist travel can involve detailed research and complex itineraries. Having connected tools behind you matters.

Our Phenix booking platform helps you search, quote, book and manage tailor-made trips. Integrated customer management and marketing tools help you keep track of preferences and stay in touch, with ready-to-use content supporting your own marketing activity. That gives you more time to apply your knowledge and build the personal relationships at the heart of your business.

You bring the understanding of what makes a trip right for your customer. We provide the infrastructure to help you deliver it.

Join now and do 'Peaks' on your terms

Think about the next peak booking season. What would you like to be building towards?

Your own customer relationships. A reputation for the travel you know best. A business where you can decide how to focus your expertise and ambition.

Joining before peaks gives you the opportunity to get familiar with our systems, shape your proposition and start planning your customer conversations, with support around you as you launch.

We have spaces available on our November and December inductions. If you’re an experienced travel professional ready to build a business around your strengths, now is a great opportunity to join Travel Counsellors and do peaks your way.

Take our TC Pathfinder to find out whether we could be the right next step for you, or book onto one of our relaxed, no pressure Discovery events.