What Are the Best Travel Agency Franchises?

Helping people plan their next travel adventure can be an exciting and rewarding experience—and travel agency franchising is a great way to get into the industry. 

Now is a great time to get into travel as the industry is still booming following pent-up demand post-pandemic. In fact, cruise and travel agency franchises had a market size of $1.5 billion in 2021 and employ nearly 13,000 people in over 6,600 businesses. 

Not only is it a profitable industry, but because many opportunities allow you to work from the comfort of your home, there is minimal overhead and low-investment costs for franchisees. If this career path sounds like it's for you, here are the top travel agency franchise brands in 2023.  

Dream Vacations

Investment Range: $2,000–$21,000
Unit Count: 1,600+

Dream Vacations, a CruiseOne company that has been in business for over 29 years, is the world’s largest seller of cruise vacations and is renowned for its premier service within travel franchising. The brand is frequently recognized for excellence within the industry and is consistently ranked on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500. Its remote working opportunity provides franchisees with a low-cost, low-investment business model that is perfect for new business owners. 

Cruise Planners

Investment Range: $2,000–$23,000
Unit Count: 2,500+

Cruise Planners is one of the largest franchised travel agencies in the world. As a home-based agency, it is also one of the more flexible and low-cost models for franchisees, with an initial franchise fee of $10,995. Contrary to its name, services include more than just cruise planning, from land vacations to travel insurance, car rentals, hotels and more. 

Expedia Cruises

Investment Range: $167,000–$292,000
Unit Count: 240+

Expedia CruiseShipCenter is part of the Expedia Inc. family of brands and has been franchising since 1987. The brand also offers vacation packages, tours, expeditions and travel insurance, making it a particularly diversified business model compared to many cruise-focused brands. An omnichannel retail model provides a smooth booking experience for customers, while franchisees can source leads from their personalized website, walk-ins, general marketing and from Expedia.com’s online services.

Travel Leaders

Investment Range: $2,000–$17,000
Unit Count: 7,000+

Travel Leaders Network has been around for 30 years and boasts two focus areas: business and leisure. The brand has nearly 7,000 Associate (franchise) and Member travel agencies in Canada and the United States alone, over 35,000 individual travel agents and more than $17 billion in annual sales.