Short answer
Check the licence first — travel agents are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 2,896 Australian travel agents in this directory, only 20.5% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 9.6% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Travel Agents handle flights, cruises, packages, tours and itineraries, and the help when a trip goes wrong. This is what to check before you hand over thousands of dollars for a trip months away, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no travel agent licence — so check something else
Travel agent licensing was abolished nationally in 2014, so there is no licence to check. What replaced it is voluntary: ATAS accreditation through the Australian Travel Industry Association, which carries a code of conduct and a complaints process. The practical protections are paying by credit card, holding the booking confirmations in your own name, and knowing the cancellation terms before you pay.
Search the ATAS accredited agent list at atas.com.au. There is no licence register because there is no licence.
What 2,896 Australian travel agents actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For travel agents:
| What we checked | Travel Agents | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 20.5% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 43.7% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 9.6% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 87% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 85.6% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 43 | 39 |
What goes wrong with travel agents
- Money paid to an agent who is not accredited and holds no client funds protection
- Bookings held in the agency's name, so you cannot deal with the airline or cruise line directly
- Cancellation and change fees layered on top of the supplier's
What to ask before the work starts
- Are you ATAS accredited?
- Will the bookings and confirmations be in my name, and can I manage them directly?
- What are your fees for changes and cancellations, on top of the supplier's?
A travel agent who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median travel agent in this directory has 43 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the travel agents are
Sydney (220), Melbourne (167), Brisbane (100), Adelaide (75), Perth (73), Cairns (55). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best travel agent in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do travel agents need a licence in Australia?
- No. Travel agent licensing was abolished nationally in 2014, so there is no licence to check. What replaced it is voluntary: ATAS accreditation through the Australian Travel Industry Association, which carries a code of conduct and a complaints process. The practical protections are paying by credit card, holding the booking confirmations in your own name, and knowing the cancellation terms before you pay.
- How do I check a travel agent's licence?
- Search the ATAS accredited agent list at atas.com.au. There is no licence register because there is no licence.
- What percentage of Australian travel agents have a verifiable ABN?
- 20.5% of the 2,896 travel agents in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a travel agent have?
- The median travel agent here has 43. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare travel agents near you
2,896 travel agents, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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