Passport to Travel Agent Training

Miss Cynthia starts your travel agent training with a brief history of the passport- enjoy!


It is widely accepted that King Henry V of England invented what some consider the first true passport as a means for his subjects to prove who they were while in foreign lands. The earliest reference to these documents can be found in a 1414 Act of Parliament. The documents issued were dubbed “passe port” literally meaning “to pass through a port,” since, at the time, most international travel were done by sailing ships- thus our modern term “passport”. Use of the word passport became common around 1540 when the Privy Council of England was established to regulate them.

Nearly every country in Europe set up systems to issue passports. Besides needing passports from their own countries, travelers also had to have visas issued by the countries they wanted to visit, much as we have travel visas today.

The rising popularity of rail travel in the mid-19th century led to an explosion of tourism throughout Europe and causing logistic chaos and a complete collapse and the Passport and Visa system. In 1861, France responded to this problem by simply abolishing passports and visas. Other countries followed the lead, and by 1914, passport requirements had practically been eliminated throughout Europe. However, international security concerns were ignited with World War I, and passports and visas were once again required.

Although the first passe port was issued nearly 600 years after Henry V, the concept behind the documentation has not changed. Passports are official documents issued by a national government. The purpose of a passport is to certify the identity and nationality of the owner of the passport for the purpose of international travel.

Passports have always been a key to the world and if you are going anywhere outside the United States of America, you must have one. If you have not gotten yours yet, you should start the application process sooner than later.  If this is your first time applying for a passport, you will need to get your certified birth certificate issued by the city, county, or state where you were born, and this can take a few weeks in and of itself. The average amount of time to receive a passport after submitting an application is 4-6 weeks. Expedited service would take take about 2-3 weeks and would cost an average of an additional $60 for processing plus delivery fees.

A valuable resource for all passport information/applications/renewals can be found at A passport is a wise and worthy investment – especially if you plan on becoming a flight attendant, cruise ship professional, or travel agent -or just a traveler filling hoping those pages with stamps!


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Source: The Travel Academy
Passport to Travel Agent Training

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