TURN YOUR CAMPUS CONNECTIONS INTO A TRAVEL BUSINESS
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Posted By: Randi Payton on September 17, 2026 College Students: Your Next Side Hustle Could Be Travel What if the people you already know—classmates, fraternity and sorority members, student organizations, teammates, friends and family—could become the foundation for your own part-time travel business? College students spend money every year traveling for spring break, concerts, sporting events, festivals, homecoming weekends, family vacations, cruises, birthday trips, reunions and group getaways. Instead of simply being the person who finds the trip, shares the hotel link or tells everybody where to buy tickets, you could learn how to operate as a travel advisor and build a business serving a market you already understand. TRAVEL IS A MASSIVE INDUSTRY—AND COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE ALREADY PART OF IT Travel is much bigger than booking airline tickets and hotel rooms. Today’s travel marketplace includes cruises, resorts, vacation packages, group trips, rental cars, excursions and entertainment experiences. Depending on the travel platform, supplier relationships and applicable rules, advisors may also be able to help clients arrange access to concerts, sporting events, attractions and other ticketed experiences. Think about the opportunities around you: Spring Break: Help organize trips for groups of friends who want to travel together. Concerts & Festivals: Assist students with travel packages built around major concerts, music festivals and entertainment events. Sports: Help arrange trips for students, alumni, families and fans traveling to college games, professional sporting events and championship weekends. Campus Organizations: Work with fraternities, sororities, clubs, alumni groups and other organizations planning group travel. Friends & Family: Your potential market doesn’t end when you leave campus. Parents, relatives, coworkers and friends travel throughout the year. Cruises & Group Vacations: Build groups around birthdays, graduations, reunions, destination celebrations and special-interest travel. One satisfied traveler can potentially introduce you to an entire network of future customers. A SIDE BUSINESS THAT CAN TRAVEL WITH YOU For students, one of the biggest advantages of a travel business is flexibility. You don’t necessarily need a storefront or traditional office. Much of the work can be handled online and around your class schedule. You can start part time, learn how the industry works and develop valuable skills in sales, marketing, customer service, entrepreneurship, social media, artificial intelligence and business development. That means you’re not simply looking for another temporary college job. You’re learning how to build and market a business. And unlike many campus side hustles, your customer base can grow beyond graduation. The student who books a spring-break trip today may eventually need a honeymoon, family vacation, cruise, business trip or reunion. Building strong customer relationships can create opportunities for repeat and referral business, although commissions and income are never guaranteed. WHY NOW? Travel represents an enormous consumer marketplace, and today’s digital tools make it easier for an individual entrepreneur to reach customers. But opportunity alone isn’t enough. The challenge for a new travel advisor is learning what to sell, who to sell it to, how to find customers and how to turn personal relationships into a professional business without becoming the person who constantly pressures friends to buy something. That’s where training and mentorship can make a difference. LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE—AND USE AI TO COMPETE Travel business expert John Riley provides a tested foundation for understanding the travel industry and developing your business. Randi Payton, owner of Decisive Travel, DecisiveTravel@gmail.com, brings modern AI and digital-marketing strategies that can help students identify potential markets, develop promotional campaigns, create social-media content and communicate more effectively with prospective customers. Together, the goal is to give aspiring travel entrepreneurs a practical blueprint for getting started rather than leaving them to figure everything out themselves. You can learn how to: ● Identify a profitable travel niche and target market. ● Develop spring-break and group-travel opportunities. ● Market travel to campus organizations, friends and family. ● Promote travel surrounding concerts, sports and special events where permitted. ● Use AI to create marketing campaigns, social posts and customer communications. ● Build referrals and repeat business. ● Understand how travel commissions work. ● Develop a business that can continue after graduation. START FOR $199 For less than the price of many weekend getaways, students can potentially begin building a part-time travel business for $199 subject to the specific program’s enrollment costs, ongoing fees and requirements. The objective isn’t overnight riches. It’s learning how to participate as an entrepreneur in an industry where people are already spending money—and positioning yourself to earn commissions when eligible travel booked through your business generates them. WHAT ABOUT TRAVEL AND TAX DEDUCTIONS? Operating a legitimate travel business may also create legitimate business-expense deductions when expenses meet applicable tax requirements. However, taking a vacation does not automatically make the trip tax deductible. Business travel and other expenses generally must satisfy IRS requirements, and students should consult a qualified tax professional regarding their individual circumstances. The real opportunity is bigger than a tax deduction. It’s learning how to transform your interest in travel, your campus network and today’s digital technology into an entrepreneurial skill set that could produce part-time income during college and potentially grow into something much larger after graduation. DON’T JUST BOOK THE TRIP. LEARN HOW TO BUILD THE BUSINESS BEHIND IT. Your classmates are traveling. Your friends are traveling. Your family is traveling. Student organizations are traveling. Sports fans and concertgoers are traveling. Why not learn how the travel business works—and explore whether you can earn income by professionally serving the travelers already in your network? JOHN RILEY + RANDI PAYTON Travel Industry Experience + AI Marketing Strategies Learn the Business. Build Your Network. Sell Experiences. Create Your Own Opportunity. Income is not guaranteed and varies based on sales activity, bookings, supplier commissions, cancellations, fees and other factors. Availability and commission eligibility for travel, entertainment tickets and related products depend on the travel platform, suppliers and applicable rules. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances; consult a qualified tax professional. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! 
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Randi Payton
Entrepreneurial Journalism Instructor, Multimedia Training Institute University of the District of Columbia class of 1982 Member Since December 2020 |
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