Everyone who said the Travel Agent is dead is now wrong.
And for Loan Officers, this story matters more than you think.
Remember the mortgage conference slides? The ones that held up the travel agent as the cautionary tale, the profession tech replaced? The internet showed up. Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity let consumers book their own trips. The value of a travel agent buying tickets and making reservations... gone.
Between 2000 and 2012, the number of US travel agents fell by nearly half. Employment peaked around 340,000 in 2000, and by 2011 it sat at less than half of that, numbers from Ernie Tedeschi, Chief Economist at Stripe and a former White House Council of Economic Advisers economist.
That was supposed to be the end.
But today, travel agent is one of the 25 fastest-growing jobs on LinkedIn over the past three years, up 63% between 2024 and 2025, per The Wall Street Journal. A record 47% of Americans now use travel agents to book vacations, including 38% of Gen Z and millennials.
And this comeback is happening mid-AI-revolution.
Why?
Consumers use AI for 90% of their travel research, and new apps keep feeding that habit. But all that research and planning doesn't equal trust. All that information creates overwhelm. AI makes things easier on one hand, and it complicates the other.
So the consumer went looking for an advisor. From Travel Agents... to Travel Advisors.
The consumer is busy, overwhelmed, and just wants it done, with the best experience they can trust.
In the age of AI, we expect tech, speed, ease, and efficiency, and we still want human trust and experience that AI can never know.
This is why I always say: People connect with people, not products.
The consumer wants an advisor, not a loan officer (agent). They want a frictionless experience.
So ask yourself:
Where's the friction for today's consumer?
What keeps your ideal clients up between 2am and 5am?
What do they need YOU to solve, versus what tech can solve?
People are reinventing themselves for this reason. Recognizing they need to shift their value.
Are you an agent, or an advisor?
Either shift happens to you.
Or you Make Shift Happen for you.
Let's go.
The Build Your Niche Takeaway
The same principle that the travel agent comeback teaches is the reason to Build Your Niche. When you know your niche, your purpose, and your ideal customer, you get remembered and referred. The consumer does not want an agent, they want an advisor, and the way you stop being a commodity is to ignite your personal brand and unlock your genius zone. Book your 90-Minute Private Coaching session below and shift from agent to advisor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Avoid the Commodity Trap
The 90-Minute Private Coaching session ($995) walks you through the 3-part Build Your Niche framework: your niche, your customer, and your purpose. In one session we get specific about the value only you can deliver, so you stop competing on price and speed alone. Book your session through the Build Your Niche button below.
Why did the travel agent come back?
Because information without trust creates overwhelm. Consumers use AI for research, then go looking for an advisor who can make it easy and trustworthy. The same shift is happening in every industry that thought tech would replace the human.
Am I an agent or an advisor?
Ask where the friction is for today's consumer and what keeps your ideal clients up at night. If you are solving problems tech cannot solve, you are an advisor. If you are just transacting, you are a commodity, and shift happens to you either way.
How do I get coaching clients?
The same way the travel agent came back: become the specialist, not the commodity. Clients find the coach with a named customer and a named problem, because people connect with people, not product. The industry's own advice is to niche down radically, since specialists earn more than generalists. That is the Build Your Niche argument, and standing out when AI writes everyone's content is where the modern version starts.
How much should I charge for coaching?
Charge for the outcome, not the hour. When you serve one named customer with a specific problem, your price stops being a guess, because the value is specific. The 90-Minute Private Coaching session is $995, and it is the fastest route to the position that justifies your premium.
This is part of the Build Your Niche framework: Build Your Niche, Connect your Customer.
Craig Davis is a Leadership Performance Coach and the creator of the Build Your Niche framework, helping leaders break their echo chamber, for themselves, their team, and their business.
Craig is the real deal. I appreciate his authentic, genuine, friend to friend approach. He treats you as a peer even though he has accomplished so much. He brings clarity so that energy and momentum emerge organically.
Darren M.