March 21, 2024

The rewards of being a travel agent are backloaded.

It can take months and months of work to get a client ready for a trip. Picking the location, booking flights and hotels, and coordinating activities are among the many duties of an agent. Payment for all that work typically occurs once the traveler has experienced the fruits of the agent’s labor.

That’s what made the sudden shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic all the more devastating.

“You put in the work and hope that 10 months from now you’re gonna get a paycheck,” said Jennifer Brinks, who has worked in travel for almost 13 years. “All that work that I had done, as any travel agent can attest, just got wiped out completely.”

After a rough year or two, travel has rebounded to levels at or above the pre-pandemic standard, according to multiple local travel agents.

Tyson Wharton, owner and founder of Sioux Empire Travel, said “everything has gone up” in the world of travel since the pandemic — demand is skyrocketing, but so have prices.

Sioux Empire Travel began with only Wharton but has expanded to meet local demand. He has added eight advisers to his business, including his wife, in the past few years.

To be a travel agent is to be constantly tuned into national and international news, Wharton said. Where it’s safe and feasible to travel can change on a dime — that happened with a trip to Israel and Jordan that was put on indefinite pause because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Throughout their respective careers, the agents said no other event has completely shut down travel to the extent COVID-19 did. Karen Schroedermeier, who founded All About Travel in 1997, said other major disruptions throughout her career such as the Great Recession and 9/11 attacks pale in comparison to the pandemic.

“The pandemic can’t compare to anything else the travel industry has ever gone through in the Midwest,” she said. “And I say in the Midwest because … other major catastrophes, us in the Midwest have really been kind of immune to a lot of that. We’re very resilient. We like to travel, we like to go on vacation, and we don’t let a lot of those things impact our day-to-day living.”

The pandemic was different, she said.

“Everything was pretty much out of our control at that time because of the fact that the flights weren’t going, destinations were closed, and we just didn’t know what direction it was actually going to take.”

Even before the worldwide travel halt in March 2020, Wharton remembers seeing storm clouds on the horizon.

“We were going to do our first Ireland group trip and announce it on St. Patrick’s Day of 2020,” he said. “I was watching the world, and I knew that we were planning this Ireland trip, and I saw an outbreak in China and had clients over in Germany. So as soon as it hopped over to France, that’s when I really started getting worried.”

During the summer of 2020, certain destinations started to reopen slowly at vastly reduced prices. Over the next year, local demand grew steadily as people became more comfortable with hopping on a plane. The past two calendar years have been a boon for travel agents, with Wharton reporting Sioux Empire Travel’s best two years of business in 2022 and 2023.

As soon as people felt comfortable that they could travel safely, they jumped on the opportunity, Schroedermeier said. Many with yearly travel budgets had more to spend than usual after being forced to take a hiatus.

“They had that extra money available, and they did spend it on their vacations,” she said.

Schroedermeier said she’s seeing travel demand starting to level out as “the pent-up demand has actually kind of been fulfilled.”

Six years ago, Brinks went out on her own as Welcome Back Travel. For the past three years, she has focused entirely on all-inclusive resort destinations, or “sun and sand” as she calls it. Her “big three” destinations that she books for her clients are Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

“We’re getting back to that normal feel that we had pre-pandemic, and it’s not slowing down,” Brinks said. “People want to get out of here. It’s cold. They want to go away. They want to experience new things. They want to try new things. So they’re willing to pay a little bit more to get the type of trip that they want.”

Brinks said people enjoy all-inclusive destinations because all the money is paid upfront. Food, drinks and other amenities are included in the cost of booking. While sitting by the pool or lounging on the sand, guests don’t need to carry their wallets. They can completely unplug and know their basic needs always will be met.

“It’s taking away all these extra worries and unnecessary stressors,” Brinks said. “You get to focus on who you’re with, and you get to experience the new foods, drinks and culture.”

The agents also have noticed shifts in consumers’wants and needs when it comes to travel. For example, Schroedermeier said many travelers “want to go further” with their travel in terms of destination, time and money spent.

Wharton concurred, saying people are much more likely to act on their bucket list trips rather than choose an easier and cheaper destination.

“I think the pandemic kind of showed that life is pretty short, and these things aren’t going to be around forever,” he said.

This is where travel agents can be especially beneficial, those in the industry said. Their entire livelihoods revolve around travel, so they provide valuable advice to people who may not know where they want to go or what they want to do when they’re there.

When somebody wants to take that “once-in-a-lifetime” vacation, travel agents say they can achieve the most value, helping craft an entire itinerary and handle the details of booking. Agents will work with their clients to navigate the countless options available and make budget-friendly decisions.

In a world where many online options exist for travelers to plan on their own, people still crave the personalized services that travel agents provide, they said. Agents take care of the logistics of travel, so all their clients need to focus on is one thing: getting away.

“People want someone that they can trust to help them,” Brinks said. “You can do your own oil change, and hopefully it works out. Maybe you’re really good at it, but not everyone’s good at doing an oil change. So I’d rather pay an expert to take care of my car and make sure it’s done right and not have to worry about it. I think the same goes with travel.”