Licence name
Travel agent licence
Fees
Fees and charges effective 1 July 2011.
Unless specified, fees are exempt from GST and therefore a tax invoice will not be issued.
Application | Fees |
| Licence | $236.00 |
Pre-grant* | |
| For a natural person | $363.00 |
| For a body corporate | $865.00 |
Annual | |
| Licence for a natural person | $363.00 |
Licence for a body corporate
plus
fee per office (maximum of 10 offices) | $865.00
$149.00 |
Other | |
| Default penalty for periodic returns | $149.00 |
| Replacement licence | $22.90 |
* The licence fee must be pre-paid before your application can be processed. If the licence is not granted, the pre-grant fee will be refunded. The licence application fee is not refunded.
Duration
Ongoing, with annual fees
Overview
Any person or body corporate carrying on business as a travel agent must be licensed under the
Travel Agents Act 1986, subject to certain limited exceptions.
If a business operates as a partnership each partner must hold a licence.
If you intend operating the business through a company - body corporate - the company must apply for a licence. The Act requires a licensed travel agent carrying on business to ensure the place of business is managed and supervised by a suitably qualified person.
You are considered to be carrying on the business of a travel agent if you:
- sell or arrange to sell the rights to travel in a vehicle you do not own
- sell or arrange to sell the rights to accommodation at a place you do not own if there is a travel component and even if you own the means of transport
- make incidental arrangements such as organising car hire or traveller's cheques if there is a travel component.
This therefore not only includes operators who promote themselves as travel agents but may include wholesale or retail agents, railways, airlines, coach/bus/car/boat hire operators and tour operators.
Operators of backpacker houses, hostels, bed and breakfast venues, motels, hotels, caravan and camping parks, conference organisers and others may also require a licence.
When a licence is not needed
You are not required to hold a licence as a travel agent if you are selling or arranging to sell the rights to:
- travel - or accommodation - within Australia where the value sold in any one year does not exceed $50,000
- travel in a vehicle for the purposes of day trips only - ie a round trip completed in a day
- travel in a vehicle used to provide regular passenger transport services where there are regular routes and timetables - excluding boats or aircraft.
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Apply for a licence
First, you need to apply for membership of the Travel Compensation Fund (TCF) and lodge the application with their office.
Travel Compensation Fund15 Castlereagh Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 8227 3500
Fax: (02) 8227 3535
www.tcf.org.auSecond, if you have never held a licence before, or it has lapsed, you will need to apply for a new one.
You can apply for a new licence by answering a series of questions verbally, either over the phone or in person, at Consumer and Business Services (CBS) - phone 131 882. Staff will complete the application form for you and send it to you for checking and signing.
You will need to lodge your application with the
specified fees and supporting documents. CBS then assesses your application to see if you have met all the necessary criteria.
Before you apply, check the CBS website for your
entitlement to be licensed.
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More information
Other websites
Forms for travel agents - Consumer and Business Services