Search travel agency bond requirements and you will find the same list copied across a dozen sites. Seven states, sometimes eight, usually with no dates and no citations. A good chunk of that list has been wrong for years.
We went through the current statutes state by state. Here is what is actually on the books right now, what the security has to look like, the one bond that applies nationwide and never shows up on those lists, and which entries you can stop worrying about.
First, what a seller of travel bond is actually for
It protects the customer. Not you.
A seller of travel bond, or a travel agency bond depending on which state you are reading, is a promise that if the agency takes money for a trip and then fails to deliver it, there is a pot of money the consumer can claim against. If a claim gets paid, the surety comes back to the agency for the full amount. The bond is not coverage. It is credit.
That distinction matters because the policy that actually protects a travel business is errors and omissions, and the two get confused constantly. More on that at the bottom.
California
Every seller of travel operating in California has to register with the Attorney General, Seller of Travel Program, before doing business. That part is not optional and it applies to out of state agencies selling to California residents too.
The financial protection piece splits into two paths. Some registrants participate in the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund. Others have to maintain a trust account or a surety bond instead. Which one applies depends on the structure of the business and where it is located, and the Seller of Travel Program is the right place to confirm before you buy anything.
If a bond is the route, the California Seller of Travel bond page has current pricing.
Florida
Florida is the one with real numbers attached, and the amount depends on how the business is certified under section 559.929 of the Florida Statutes.
- Standard registration, up to 25,000 dollars, rising to 50,000 if the agency offers vacation certificates
- The middle category, up to 100,000, or 150,000 with vacation certificates
- The top category, up to 250,000, or 300,000 with vacation certificates
Florida also allows a waiver. If a seller of travel has five or more consecutive years of experience in the state, a clean regulatory record, and a satisfactory complaint history, the department can waive the bond annually. That waiver is not available to the two higher categories.
Registration runs through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Pricing on the Florida Seller of Travel bond is on our site.
Washington
Washington requires a seller of travel license for any business that sells or advertises travel services. The financial responsibility requirement only kicks in if you hold customer money for more than five business days, which in practice catches most retail agencies.
When it applies, you pick one of three routes. A surety bond, tiered by the prior year gross income from Washington residents:
- Under 200,000 dollars in Washington revenue, a 10,000 dollar bond
- 200,000 to 499,999, a 20,000 dollar bond
- 500,000 to 749,999, a 30,000 dollar bond
- 750,000 to 999,999, a 40,000 dollar bond
- 1,000,000 and up, a 50,000 dollar bond
Or a dedicated trust account. Or membership in a professional association carrying at least 1,000,000 dollars in errors and liability insurance plus a 250,000 dollar minimum bond.
Details are with the Washington State Department of Licensing. The Washington Seller of Travel bond page covers the bond route.
Hawaii, where the bond only shows up if you run charter tours
Hawaii is the state most lists get half right.
A regular travel agency does have to register, with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, before selling travel services. But there is no bond attached to that registration. Hawaii handles it with a client trust account instead. Under chapter 468L of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, consumer money has to land in a trust account at a federally insured Hawaii institution within five business days.
The bond shows up only for charter tour operators, and then it is substantial. A charter tour operator has to be registered as a travel agency first, and then post either a performance bond or an irrevocable letter of credit, one or the other, naming the director:
- One to six charter tours in a twelve month period, security under the federal rule at 14 CFR 380.34
- Seven to fifteen charter tours, 300,000 dollars, less any federal security already posted
- Sixteen or more, 1,000,000 dollars, less any federal security already posted
Plus a separate charter tour client trust account. So if somebody tells you Hawaii requires a travel agency bond, they are describing the charter tour rule and applying it to everybody.
The bond nobody puts on the state list, because it is not a state requirement
If your agency issues airline tickets, the security that actually applies to you has nothing to do with what state you sit in.
Airlines Reporting Corporation, ARC, is the settlement plan that moves money between travel agencies and the carriers. Accreditation is a private contract, not a license, and it applies nationwide. You cannot issue ARC tickets without it, and ARC will not accredit you without financial security on file.
What ARC accepts is one of three things. A performance or financial guarantee bond from a surety, an irrevocable letter of credit from a federally insured bank, or a cash security deposit paid directly to ARC. The surety has to appear on the current revision of Treasury Department Circular 570, which rules out a fair number of markets.
The amounts, from the current ARC financial instrument requirements:
- New applicants, a 20,000 dollar minimum
- Applicants with an international parent entity, a 150,000 dollar minimum
- Either amount has to hold for two years, after which it may be reduced to 10,000 dollars
- On a Type 5 ownership change, a new instrument equal to the prior amount or 20,000 dollars, whichever is greater
Those are floors, not the final number. Above the minimum, ARC sets the required coverage off average total cash sales across all of your approved locations, so a high volume agency carries more. The calculation lives in section 30 of the Reporting Agreement and section D of the handbook.
Two things agencies get caught by. The instrument has to be in the exact legal business name, and the coverage runs across every branch rather than per location. Both are common reasons an application comes back.
The ARC accreditation pages have the current forms. If you want the bond route priced, send us the state and the amount ARC gave you.
A note on where this fits. The ARC requirement stacks on top of state registration, it does not replace it. A Florida agency issuing airline tickets deals with both. And the Verified Travel Consultant track, which is the lighter option for agencies not ticketing directly, is a separate program with its own fee structure.
The three that lists get wrong
Iowa repealed the whole chapter in 2020
Iowa used to require travel agencies soliciting Iowa residents to register with the Secretary of State and file a 10,000 dollar surety or cash performance bond. That was chapter 9D of the Iowa Code.
It is gone. Chapter 9D was repealed by 2020 Acts, chapter 1103, and the current code page shows nothing but the repeal line. There is no Iowa travel agency registration and no Iowa travel agency bond today.
If you are being quoted for one, ask what statute it is written under.
Illinois is an exemption, not a requirement
This one gets repeated as a 100,000 dollar Illinois travel promoter bond. The number is real. The framing is backward.
Under the Travel Promotion Consumer Protection Act, the definition of travel promoter specifically excludes a promoter carrying 1,000,000 dollars or more in professional errors and omissions coverage together with a surety bond or equivalent surety of 100,000 dollars or more for the benefit of consumers in a bankruptcy. Air carriers, sea carriers, appointed agents in good standing with the Airline Reporting Corporation, and riverboats regulated under the Illinois Gambling Act are also excluded.
So the bond is a way out from under the Act, not a filing the state demands. Illinois has no travel promoter registration and no agency to file with. A tour operator carrying that combination is simply outside the statute.
Nevada does not have a seller of travel bond
There is no Nevada seller of travel registration. No chapter on travel agents, sellers of travel, or travel clubs.
What Nevada does have is narrower. Sections 598.405 through 598.525 of the Nevada Revised Statutes cover sightseeing tours, and a tour broker or tour operator running sightseeing tours has to register with the Consumer Affairs Division and, where it applies, deposit security in the form of a bond, an irrevocable letter of credit, or a certificate of deposit. The provisions are limited by county population, so they do not reach the whole state, and the Division does not currently publish a registration packet for it. If you run sightseeing tours in Nevada, call the Division rather than working from anything you read online, including this.
The bond is not the policy that protects you
Worth saying plainly, because this is the call we get most.
If a client misses a cruise because a passport requirement got missed on your end, that is an errors and omissions claim, and E and O is the policy that responds. The bond does nothing for you there. Run the two as separate line items in the budget and do not let anybody sell you one as a substitute for the other.
The other thing agencies ask about constantly is what to tell clients about trip protection, and whether recommending it requires a license. There is a plain language rundown of that side of it, including the limited lines producer question, on our travel site at travel agents and tour operators.
Where to start
Pull the statute for the state you actually sell in, not a list. Confirm whether a bond, a trust account, or a fund payment is the route your business qualifies for, because in three of the four states that require security you get to pick. Then price it.
We write seller of travel bonds nationwide. If you know the state and the amount, an application takes a few minutes and most come back same day.
Requirements change, and two of the ones above changed inside the last six years. Everything here was checked against the current statute in September 2026. Verify with the agency before you file.
