Wanderlust Campus® has announced a major industry give-back initiative pledging up to $1 million in scholarships toward its Certified Travel Professional® certification program. Supported by leading travel organizations and partners, the initiative aims to expand access to comprehensive, hands-on professional and business education for aspiring and established travel advisors. Wanderlust Campus is also inviting additional industry leaders to join the initiative and help broaden its impact across the travel industry.
ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Wanderlust Campus®, a professional education and certification organization for the travel industry, today announced one of its largest industry give-back initiatives to date, pledging up to $1 million in scholarship funds to help aspiring and established travel advisors access comprehensive education, business training and professional certification.
The initiative marks the first time Wanderlust Campus has offered scholarships on this scale and represents a significant expansion of the organization's mission: helping travel advisors build the skills, strategy, systems and business acumen necessary to create sustainable, scalable businesses.
Scholarship applications are open now through October 16, 2026, with individual awards ranging from $500 to $2,000 toward Wanderlust Campus' Certified Travel Professional® certification program.
"For nearly a decade, our mission at Wanderlust Campus has been about much more than teaching people how to book travel," said Cyndi Williams, Founder and CEO of Wanderlust Campus. "It has been about teaching travel professionals how to build real, sustainable businesses. After personally helping more than 4,000 businesses throughout my career, I began asking myself what the next era of that mission should look like. For me, this initiative is about giving back to the industry that has given so much to me and finding a way to make truly transformative education more accessible to the people who are serious about building their careers here."
Closing the Education Gap for Travel Advisors
The initiative addresses a unique challenge within the travel industry. Many travel advisors operate as independent contractors or independent business owners, meaning the responsibility for their professional education; as well as the strategy, setup and operation of their businesses largely falls on the advisors themselves.
While the industry offers an abundance of free supplier trainings, educational resources and self-paced content, Williams says the challenge for advisors is not a lack of information. It is the overwhelming task of piecing together thousands of disconnected resources that were never designed to provide a comprehensive roadmap for building and operating a profitable travel business.
"Travel advisors have access to thousands of free trainings, but trying to piece together disconnected information from hundreds of different sources is an incredibly difficult way to build a business," Williams said. "There is no through line. There is no intentionally designed curriculum taking someone from learning the profession to actually building the sales, marketing, technology, operational and service systems required to run a profitable, scalable travel business."
Williams founded Wanderlust Campus after identifying that gap between traditional travel-industry training and the comprehensive business education entrepreneurs need to successfully launch, operate, market and scale a modern travel business.
The resulting Certified Travel Professional® program combines travel-industry education with business development, career tools, strategy, marketing, sales, service, technology and operational training in an intensive 12-week certification experience.
A central part of the Wanderlust Campus educational model is direct instruction and consultation. Rather than relying solely on self-paced e-learning, its programs combine an intentionally designed, sequential curriculum with live instruction, direct consultation and implementation support. Students are not simply given information about what they should do; educators work alongside them as they build and implement the systems, strategies and infrastructure within their own businesses.
"In most industries, no one would expect an entrepreneur to become successful by collecting thousands of disconnected pieces of free information and figuring out how to assemble them into a company," Williams said. "Yet that is essentially what travel advisors are asked to do. They are learning how to sell travel while simultaneously trying to figure out marketing, sales, technology, client experience, operations and business strategy; often without anyone actually in the classroom with them showing them how those pieces work together."
That hands-on model, Williams says, is at the heart of the transformative student outcomes Wanderlust Campus has built its reputation on.
"We believe information alone doesn't transform a business, implementation does," Williams said. "Our results come from being in the classroom with our students, consulting with them, looking at their businesses and helping them actually do the work. We don't just want someone to finish a course knowing more. We want them to leave with the skills, strategy, systems and infrastructure to operate a stronger business than the one they walked in with."
A Major Give-Back Initiative for the Travel Industry
The scholarship initiative was created to help close that education gap by reducing the financial barrier to comprehensive, hands-on professional and business education.
Wanderlust Campus has brought together a group of travel-industry organizations and partners that share its commitment to professional education and stronger business outcomes for travel advisors.
Participating organizations announced as part of the initiative include Travefy, Travel Industry Solutions, Host Agency Reviews, Trevello, Tembo Wild, Cruise and Travel Experts, Suitcase Designs, along with additional host-agency and industry partners.
Wanderlust Campus is also an ASTA-affiliated travel school, and members of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) are encouraged and eligible to apply for scholarship opportunities.
"These are companies that care deeply about the success of travel advisors and understand the role transformative education can play in changing the trajectory of a business," Williams said. "Their commitment goes beyond supporting the industry, they are investing directly in the professionals who power it. Together, we are expanding access to the kind of comprehensive, hands-on education that can change the trajectory of a travel advisor's business."
Eligible applicants affiliated with participating partners may qualify for Campus Partner Scholarships. Wanderlust Campus has also established scholarship funding through its Legacy Fund to create opportunities for applicants who may not be affiliated with one of the participating organizations.
Williams is also inviting additional travel-industry organizations, consortiums, host agencies, suppliers and partners to join the initiative and help expand its reach.
"We see this as an opportunity for the entire industry to come together around something that benefits all of us: better educated, better prepared and more successful travel professionals," Williams said. "Our commitment is already up to $1 million, but our vision is bigger than Wanderlust Campus. We're inviting industry leaders who believe in the power of transformative education to join us in this mission and help us open more doors for the professionals building the future of our industry."
The scholarships are not income-based, and applicants are not required to disclose their income as part of the application process.
"We intentionally did not want this initiative to be defined by income," Williams said. "This is about supporting people who are serious about their education, their professional development and building successful businesses. Whether someone is preparing to launch or is already operating a travel business and ready to grow, we want them to have the opportunity to apply."
Up to $1 Million in Scholarship Funding
Through the initiative, Wanderlust Campus is pledging up to $1 million in total scholarship funding for future students, with individual awards ranging from $500 to $2,000.
Applications will be reviewed throughout the scholarship window, and because scholarship funding is limited, prospective students are encouraged to apply early.
The initiative also signals what Williams describes as the next chapter for Wanderlust Campus: leveraging the organization's curriculum, educators, experience and industry relationships not only to train travel advisors, but also to expand access to substantive professional and entrepreneurial education throughout the industry.
"This is bigger than getting another credential," Williams said. "This is about giving back to an industry we love and helping more travel advisors build businesses that can actually support the lives they are trying to create. We want people to leave our classrooms differently than they entered them; with stronger skills, better systems, greater confidence and a business built to grow. This scholarship initiative is our opportunity to do that on a larger scale."
Scholarship Applications
Applications are open now through October 16, 2026.
Travel Advisors and those new to the industry interested in scholarships are encouraged to learn more and apply at:
wanderlust-ceo.com/scholarship
Travel-industry organizations interested in joining the scholarship initiative and helping expand access to professional education are also invited to contact Wanderlust Campus at [email protected].
About Wanderlust Campus®
Wanderlust Campus® provides professional education, business training and certification for travel advisors and entrepreneurs. Founded by travel-industry veteran and award-winning educator Cyndi Williams, the organization was created to bridge the gap between traditional industry training and the practical business education required to launch, grow and scale a successful modern travel business.
Through programs including Careers on Vacation® and the Certified Travel Professional® certification, Wanderlust Campus has trained thousands of travel professionals in areas including sales, marketing, client service, technology, business operations and professional travel skills. Its educational model combines intentionally designed curriculum with direct instruction, consultation and implementation support to help students translate education into real-world business application.
Media Contact
Stephani Voge, Wanderlust Campus, 1 8325328643, [email protected], www.wanderlust-ceo.com
SOURCE Wanderlust Campus
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