Home Based Travel Business UK: Why Now Is a Good Time to Start
Home Based Travel Business UK: Why Now Is a Good Time to Start
Originally published: 25 July 2025 | Last reviewed and updated: 10th August 2026
Starting a home based travel business can give you the flexibility to build something of your own without taking on the overheads of a traditional high-street travel agency.
But it is important to understand what that actually means.
A professional travel business from home is not simply posting holiday offers on Facebook, booking your own trips or turning on a laptop beside a swimming pool.
You need clients. You need to understand the travel you are selling. You need proper booking and payment processes. You need to understand commission, customer protection and your responsibilities as a self-employed business owner.
Get those foundations right, however, and a home based travel business can be built gradually around your existing life, developed into a specialist business and grown through repeat customers and recommendations.
And there are some particularly good reasons to consider starting now.
What Is a Home Based Travel Business?
A home based travel business is a travel agency or consultancy operated primarily from home rather than from retail premises.
In the homeworking model used by The Independent Travel Consultants, consultants are self-employed and build their own client relationships while operating through the wider commercial and operational structure of Jamie Wake Travel.
That means you can concentrate on developing your business without having to recreate every part of a travel agency yourself.
You still have genuine responsibilities as a business owner, but the infrastructure behind you can include supplier relationships, booking systems, customer payment processes, training, operational support and the appropriate arrangements for selling protected travel.
The Civil Aviation Authority specifically recognises homeworking schemes and describes a homeworker, for its guidance, as a self-employed travel professional operating a business from home and offering travel booking services to consumers.
That distinction matters.
The home is the location. The travel business is the job.
If you are specifically researching the role rather than the business itself, our guide to becoming a home-based travel agent explains that side in more detail.
Why Can Now Be a Good Time to Start a Home Based Travel Business?
There is no magic date when everybody should become a travel agent.
Your own finances, available time, expectations and reasons for starting matter much more than a calendar year.
But several things make the current travel market interesting for somebody building a professional client-focused travel business.
Travellers Still Value Human Travel Advice
Online booking has not removed the need for travel professionals.
ABTA's Holiday Habits 2025-26 research found that 34% of people had used a travel professional to book a holiday during the previous 12 months. Ease of booking and saving time were important reasons, while the proportion saying they felt more confident after booking through an agent or operator increased.
More recent ABTA research published in July 2026 found that, among UK adults considering a holiday in the following 12 months, 31% said recent international uncertainty made them more likely to book through a travel professional, with knowledge and expertise among the main reasons.
That does not mean customers automatically appear because you become a travel agent.
It does suggest there remains a market for people who can offer something beyond a search box:
knowledge, interpretation, reassurance, organisation and personal service.
Technology Has Made a Home-Based Model Far More Practical
You no longer need a high-street shop simply to communicate professionally with customers.
A travel consultant can manage enquiries, customer information, quotes, bookings, payments, marketing and follow-up through modern digital systems.
Clients can communicate by phone, email, messaging, video call or social media.
That does not make the business effortless.
It makes the location less important.
Your professionalism matters far more than whether the desk you work from is in a retail unit or a spare bedroom.
You Can Build Gradually
A home based business does not necessarily require somebody to resign from their job on Friday and become a full-time travel entrepreneur on Monday.
GOV.UK confirms that someone can be employed and run their own business at the same time.
That creates an important option for new travel homeworkers.
You can potentially build around:
- existing employment;
- family commitments;
- caring responsibilities;
- or another source of income.
That can remove some of the pressure to make the business replace a full-time salary immediately.
Our guide to running a travel business part-time looks at that approach in more detail.
You Don't Need Retail Premises
A travel business is particularly well suited to homeworking because it does not normally require stock, manufacturing space or customers continuously visiting your premises.
Government guidance confirms that many businesses can operate from home, although you should still check whether permission, insurance or business rates requirements apply to your particular circumstances.
Removing commercial premises can make the cost structure very different from starting a traditional retail agency.
But lower overheads should not be confused with no costs.
You still need to budget properly.
Three Ways to Start a Travel Business from Home
Not every home based travel business uses the same model.
Understanding the difference before joining anything is extremely important.
Supported Travel Homeworking
You operate as a self-employed travel consultant through an established travel company.
The company behind you provides much of the travel infrastructure, which can include supplier access, systems, training and operational processes.
You build the client-facing business.
This is the model used by The Independent Travel Consultants.
Travel Franchise
A franchise normally gives you access to an established business model and brand in return for fees and contractual commitments.
For some people, the structure and established identity are attractive.
Others want greater freedom around their own customer-facing brand or do not want the upfront investment that can accompany some franchises.
Our guide to travel franchise alternatives explains the differences in more depth.
Build a Completely Standalone Travel Agency
An experienced travel professional can potentially establish an agency independently and arrange their own commercial, regulatory, supplier, payment, insurance and technology infrastructure.
That gives significant control.
It also gives you significantly more to organise.
For somebody entering travel for the first time, a supported homeworking structure can therefore offer a more practical route into business ownership without pretending that the consultant has to become an expert in every part of running a travel agency before making their first booking.
A Travel Business Should Be Built Around Clients, Not Recruitment
When comparing home based travel business opportunities, look carefully at where the business expects its income to come from.
A professional travel consultancy is built around serving travellers and generating genuine travel bookings.
If an opportunity places more emphasis on recruiting other sellers, building a downline or earning recruitment-related bonuses than it does on learning how to find, advise and look after travel customers, you are looking at a different type of business model.
With The Independent Travel Consultants, you are not required to recruit other consultants to generate your income. Your focus is on building your own client base, making commercially sustainable travel bookings and developing repeat and referral business.
That is an important question to ask of any opportunity:
Am I being taught how to build a travel business - or how to recruit other people into one?
What Does a Home Based Travel Business Actually Sell?
The obvious answer is holidays.
The more accurate answer is:
expertise and service that result in travel bookings.
Depending on your supplier access and business model, you might arrange package holidays, cruises, hotels, tours, tailor-made itineraries, family holidays, luxury travel, honeymoons, city breaks, group travel or specialist trips.
But successful consultants do not simply collect as many supplier logins as possible.
They learn how to understand a customer's needs and recommend something suitable.
A client might tell you:
“We want an all-inclusive holiday in Greece.”
Your job is to discover what sits behind that sentence.
Are they travelling with toddlers or teenagers?
Do they want a quiet hotel or entertainment until midnight?
Is a sandy beach essential?
Would they prefer a swim-up room or spend the difference on a longer holiday?
Which departure airports work?
What genuinely matters to them?
That is where an independent travel consultant begins adding value.
You Are Building a Client Base, Not Buying a Job
This is one of the most important realities of starting a home based travel business.
Joining a homeworking company does not automatically create customers.
You need to build them.
Early customers can come from personal networks, referrals, communities, social media, local marketing, networking, partnerships, search engines, email marketing and other sources.
Over time, the aim is to reduce dependence on constantly finding strangers.
A customer books with you.
You look after them well.
They return.
They recommend somebody else.
Your client base starts to compound.
That is one of the biggest differences between treating travel as a short-term side hustle and building an actual business.
If starting from zero is worrying you, read How to Build a Travel Client Base from Scratch.
What Does It Cost to Start a Home Based Travel Business?
Costs vary enormously according to the model you choose.
Possible expenses can include joining or franchise fees, monthly membership, equipment, websites, marketing, software, business insurance, branding and professional services.
This is why comparing opportunities solely by commission percentage is a mistake.
You need to understand the total cost of operating the business.
With The Independent Travel Consultants there is currently no joining fee and standard membership is £50 per month.
You will still need suitable equipment and may choose to spend money on your own marketing or additional business tools.
Our detailed guide to travel homeworking startup costs explains what to budget for and what questions to ask before joining a company.
How Does a Home Based Travel Business Make Money?
Most self-employed travel homeworkers earn through the commission or margin generated by the travel they sell.
That does not mean receiving a percentage of the customer's entire holiday price.
A booking has a sales value.
The supplier or booking arrangement generates commission or margin.
Relevant booking costs may need to be accounted for.
The consultant then receives the share specified by their homeworking agreement.
At The Independent Travel Consultants, the standard consultant share currently starts at 80% after applicable booking costs and payment-processing charges.
Commission is paid after the customer has travelled.
That last point is crucial.
Making a £10,000 booking today does not necessarily create money in your bank account today.
The booking may produce commission that becomes payable after travel many months later.
Anyone planning to make travel their main income therefore needs to understand cash flow as well as sales.
For the complete calculation, see our guide to independent travel agent commission.
For realistic income planning, read How Much Can You Earn as an Independent Travel Consultant?.
Do You Need Your Own ATOL?
Not necessarily.
But this needs more explanation than “the host handles it”.
The CAA says that a self-employed homeworker who does not hold an ATOL must act as an agent for an ATOL holder or operate in another applicable exempt category.
Where an agent sells on behalf of an ATOL holder, formal agency arrangements and documentation requirements apply.
So the advantage of an established homeworking structure is not that legal responsibilities magically disappear.
It is that you can operate within professional systems and agreements rather than trying to establish every required arrangement independently.
Consultants still need training so they understand:
- what they are selling;
- who they are acting for;
- what protection applies;
- what documentation customers need;
- and what they can accurately tell a customer.
Our guide to legal responsibilities for travel homeworkers is worth reading before you start.
Do You Need Travel Experience?
No previous travel-industry experience is automatically required to start with The Independent Travel Consultants.
But that is very different from saying:
“Anyone can sell travel.”
Travel is a professional service.
You need to learn.
Someone coming from another industry may already bring highly transferable skills:
customer service;
sales;
administration;
hospitality;
marketing;
organisation;
problem-solving;
or relationship management.
What you need to add is travel-industry knowledge, systems, booking procedures, compliance and product knowledge.
That is why the quality of training and ongoing support should be a major factor when choosing a homeworking company.
Read Do You Need Travel Experience to Become a Homeworker? if this is one of the things holding you back.
What Do You Need at Home?
You do not need a glamorous Instagram office.
You do need somewhere you can work professionally.
At minimum, think about:
a suitable computer;
reliable internet;
telephone access;
a working environment where confidential customer conversations can take place;
secure handling of customer information;
and enough separation between work and home life to stay organised.
You should also check your own circumstances.
GOV.UK advises people running businesses from home to consider whether permission is required from a landlord or mortgage provider and whether existing home insurance adequately covers business use.
Running a business from home is straightforward for many people.
It is still a business.
Do You Need to Register as Self-Employed?
If you are operating a self-employed travel business, you need to understand your responsibilities to HMRC.
Government guidance says that earning commission from selling goods for other people can amount to trading, and people working for themselves may need to report their income and set up their business appropriately.
Depending on your circumstances, you might operate as a sole trader or choose another business structure.
Keep proper records from the beginning.
Do not wait until your business becomes busy before trying to remember what you spent six months earlier.
Our Self-Employed Travel Agent Checklist is a useful companion to this guide.
What Makes a Home Based Travel Business Successful?
Access to booking systems is not enough.
The consultants who build sustainable businesses tend to become good at several interconnected things.
They learn to attract the right enquiries.
They get better at asking questions.
They follow up rather than assuming silence means no.
They understand the commercial value of bookings.
They develop supplier and destination knowledge.
They stay visible.
They look after customers after the booking.
And they build a reputation that generates repeat business and referrals.
You do not have to master all of that before you start.
But you do need to accept that these are skills you will have to develop.
Your First Goal Should Not Be “Go Viral”
A new consultant does not need 50,000 followers.
You need customers.
Ten people who genuinely trust you with their holidays can be more commercially useful than thousands of passive social-media followers.
Your first business goals might therefore be much simpler:
create a professional identity;
tell people clearly what you do;
speak to prospective customers;
learn how to handle an enquiry;
complete your first quote;
make your first booking;
provide excellent service;
ask for recommendations;
and repeat.
Growth is usually built through consistent actions rather than one breakthrough social-media post.
Can You Build Your Own Travel Brand?
That depends on the homeworking company you join.
Some businesses require consultants to operate prominently under a central brand.
Others allow more individual identity.
With The Independent Travel Consultants, consultants can develop their own compliant customer-facing business identity while making their relationship with Jamie Wake Travel clear.
That allows a consultant to build something recognisably theirs without hiding the professional travel business behind the bookings.
Your brand can become particularly valuable as your client base grows because customers often remember and recommend the person who looked after them.
Should You Choose a Travel Niche?
Not necessarily on day one.
A new consultant can start relatively broadly while discovering which customers, products and destinations they enjoy working with most.
But specialisation can become powerful.
You might eventually become particularly known for cruises, family holidays, luxury travel, Florida, Maldives, accessible travel, touring, groups or another area.
A niche can make your marketing clearer and give customers an obvious reason to come to you.
It should develop from genuine expertise and demand rather than picking something merely because somebody says it has “high commission”.
Jamie Says:
“When I talk to someone about starting a travel business, I don't want the first conversation to be about working beside a swimming pool or earning thousands of pounds straight away.
I want them to understand what they're actually building.
You need customers. You need to learn how travel works. You need to follow processes, look after bookings properly and become somebody people trust enough to recommend.
The advantage of a supported homeworking model is that you don't have to build the whole travel agency infrastructure as well.
We can provide systems, supplier access, training and support.
But we cannot build your client relationships for you.
That part becomes your business - and that's also where the real opportunity is.”
Why The Independent Travel Consultants Takes a Different Approach
There are many ways to enter travel homeworking.
At The Independent Travel Consultants, we deliberately avoid presenting it as effortless income or a lifestyle scheme.
Our consultants are self-employed travel professionals.
There is currently:
no joining fee;
£50 standard monthly membership;
an 80% starting consultant commission share after applicable booking costs and payment-processing charges;
training for people entering the industry;
access to the wider supplier and booking infrastructure of Jamie Wake Travel;
the opportunity to build your own compliant client-facing business identity;
and ongoing operational support as your business develops.
What we do not promise is equally important.
We do not promise guaranteed earnings, automatic customers, instant success or passive income.
We provide the structure.
You build the business.
You can review the complete current proposition on our Join Our Team page.
Is Now the Right Time for You?
This is the more useful question than whether 2026 is objectively “the best time” to start.
Now may be a good time if you:
want to build something of your own;
can commit regular time to learning and marketing;
understand that income will take time to develop;
enjoy working with people;
are willing to become responsible for your own self-employed business;
and want flexibility without having to create an entire travel agency infrastructure from scratch.
It may not be the right time if you need an immediate guaranteed salary, expect the company you join to provide all your customers, or are primarily attracted by promises of cheap personal holidays and effortless income.
Those are important distinctions.
The objective should not be to join quickly.
It should be to choose a model you can realistically build.
Frequently Asked Questions About Starting a Home Based Travel Business
Can I start a home based travel business with no travel-industry experience?
Yes. Previous industry experience is not required to join every homeworking model, including The Independent Travel Consultants. However, you will need proper training and a willingness to learn booking systems, suppliers, customer service, compliance and how to build your own client base.
Do I need to set up my own travel agency to work from home?
No. One option is to operate as a self-employed consultant through an established travel company. This can give you access to supplier relationships, systems and operational infrastructure without establishing a completely standalone agency yourself.
Do I need my own ATOL to start a travel business from home?
Not necessarily. The CAA says a self-employed travel homeworker without their own ATOL must operate as an agent for an ATOL holder or within another applicable exempt category. Your exact obligations depend on the arrangements you sell and the business structure you operate through.
Can I start a home based travel business while still employed?
Yes. GOV.UK confirms that someone can be employed and run a business at the same time. You still need enough time to develop the business and give customers a professional service.
Do I need permission to run a travel business from my home?
Sometimes. Government guidance says you may need to check with your landlord or mortgage provider, insurer or local authority depending on how your home will be used. A desk-based travel consultancy with no visiting customers may be relatively straightforward, but you should check your own circumstances.
How quickly can a home based travel business make money?
There is no guaranteed timeframe. You first need enquiries and bookings, and commission payment can be delayed until after clients travel. With The Independent Travel Consultants, consultant commission is paid after travel, so building bookings does not necessarily create immediate cash flow.
Will a homeworking travel company give me customers?
You should not assume so. A genuine self-employed business means developing your own client base. A homeworking company can provide infrastructure, training and support, but marketing and client relationships remain an important part of your role.
Is a travel franchise the same as a homeworking travel business?
No. A franchise is one possible model. Supported homeworking, membership arrangements and completely independent agencies are other routes. Compare fees, commission, branding freedom, supplier access, support and contractual terms rather than assuming all travel-business opportunities work in the same way.
Can I use my own business name as a travel homeworker?
It depends on the company you join. The Independent Travel Consultants allows consultants to develop their own compliant customer-facing identity while making the relationship with Jamie Wake Travel clear.
Will AI and online booking sites make home based travel agents unnecessary?
Will AI and online booking sites make home based travel agents unnecessary?
What should I compare before joining a homeworking travel company?
Look beyond the headline commission percentage. Compare total costs, when commission is paid, training, supplier access, customer-payment arrangements, business ownership, branding rules, support, notice terms and what happens to existing bookings if you leave. Our guide to choosing the right travel homeworking company goes through these questions in detail.
Also ask what happens if a booking is amended or cancelled, when your commission actually becomes payable and whether commission can be reduced or reclaimed in particular circumstances. A headline commission percentage tells you very little unless you also understand the rules behind it.
Ready to Explore a Home Based Travel Business?
A home based travel business can offer flexibility, independence and the opportunity to develop something that grows with your client base.
But it is not a shortcut to easy money.
It works when you combine:
professional travel infrastructure
with
your own commitment to building a real client-focused business.
If that sounds like the kind of opportunity you are looking for, explore the costs, commission, training, support and current joining process on our Join Our Team page.
If you are still researching, start with What Does an Independent Travel Agent Really Do?, then read our real-world guide to starting your own travel business.
About Jamie Wake
Jamie Wake is the founder of The Independent Travel Consultants and Jamie Wake Travel, helping people build sustainable travel businesses with practical training, supportive systems and genuine guidance behind them.
Having built his own travel business following redundancy, Jamie understands the uncertainty, determination and learning involved in starting something new. He combines hands-on experience of running a UK travel company with knowledge of travel sales, customer service, marketing, supplier relationships, compliance and day-to-day business operations.
Through The Independent Travel Consultants, Jamie shares practical, honest guidance about becoming a travel homeworker, attracting and supporting customers and building a business that feels personal, professional and sustainable—not simply chasing bookings at any cost.
