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Travel Wholesalers
Travel wholesalers produce travel packages for the public that may include airline tickets, transport, accommodation, sightseeing and tours. Travel consolidators negotiate airfares with airlines and sell them to retail and corporate travel agents.
Travel Wholesaler or Consolidator
Tasks and duties
Travel wholesalers may do some or all of the following:
• negotiate prices with hotels, airlines and other travel services
• produce brochures for travel agents to make available to the public
• receive orders from travel agents on behalf of the public
• quote airfares to travel agents
• update the airfares manual, using a database
• make reservations and confirm them with travel agents
• produce tickets and itineraries for the public.
Skills and knowledge
Travel wholesalers need to:
• know about different countries, their attractions and types of accommodation
• be able to negotiate prices with airlines and other travel services
• know how to construct airfares, organise air travel to different countries and produce tickets
• have good customer service, sales and communication skills
• know how to use online databases
• have good writing, problem solving and time management skills.
Personal qualities
As a travel wholesaler or travel consolidator you need to be:
• able to use your initiative and solve problems
• reliable and hard working
• well organised, with an eye for detail
• able to work under pressure
• polite and friendly with a good phone manner
• able to deal with a variety of people.
