Who in the world would want to be a travel agent?

For starters, the major source of revenues in the old days – airline ticket commissions – has completely disappeared. Moreover, travel has been depressed – first by September 11, 2001 and then by the Iraq war. And now the drop in the dollar has made international travel almost prohibitively expensive.

Oh yes – and the percentage of people booking their own travel plans online is increasing each year. Yikes.

Clearly, it takes someone who truly loves travel, and who has had the grit and smarts necessary to survive these disruptions.

Meet Valerie Wilson, one of the country’s top travel consultants, as she prefers to be called. Head of one of the largest agencies in America, Ms. Wilson has positioned her New York-based firm as a high-end provider of luxury and corporate travel. She specializes in arranging exotic no-stones-unturned outings and in steering clients to the most exclusive and elegant hotels in the world.

That is the fun part. Ms. Wilson just returned from visiting a new resort called Paraiso de la Bonita on the so-called Mayan Riviera. The trip was courtesy of a prestigious industry organization called Virtuoso.

This by-invitation-only outfit puts its 264 members in touch with posh new locations and offers the resorts expert feedback on how to make their guests happy. In return, Virtuoso exacts from the property certain amenities and freebies for their clients not available to other guests.

Ms. Wilson recently waxed poetic in her description of the Mexican resort, literally gushing about the superb architecture, the gorgeous spa, the delicious cuisine. Her enthusiasm, in other words, has not been diminished by her 30-plus years as a travel specialist, nor by innumerable visits to destinations, one would think, pretty much like this one.

Ms. Wilson has not always worked in the travel industry. As a young person fresh out of Iowa and the Chamberlain School of Retailing in Boston, she first worked for the Gant Company in New York.

She quickly showed her entrepreneurial bent by establishing Gant’s women’s shirt division; the idea of women wearing button-downs was a novelty at the time. A few years later she moved with her investment banker husband to London, theoretically putting aside career to focus on raising her two daughters.

While in London, she helped found the Junior League of London and subsequently edited a book called “Living in London: A Practical Guide.” The book, aimed at expats, is now in its eighth edition.

In other words, Ms. Wilson has rarely been idle.

While in London, the Wilson family took to traveling. Since she was unable to find a satisfactory travel professional to help with her arrangements, Ms. Wilson took on the job herself. Soon her friends started coming to her for advice, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Valerie Wilson Travel has sixteen locations, 330 affiliated agents, and had bookings last year of around $275 million. The two Wilson daughters, now grown, are helping their mother manage the company, as co-chief operating officers.

About 60% of the firm’s revenues come from corporate clients, for whom Ms. Wilson’s firm plans elaborate incentive outings or management retreats. She also helps clients keep travel costs down by capitalizing on the firm’s size and clout to wrest concessions from carriers and hotels.

Wilson Travel also helps corporations with emergency services, visas, and attends to individual preferences. In other words, they provide the kind of attention not available through the Internet.

Happily, the balance of Wilson’s business comes from clients who are more interested in lining up the perfect vacation than in counting pennies. Ms. Wilson’s strong suit is luxury; she is so keen on high-end travel, she even wrote a book about her favorite resorts entitled “Valerie Wilson’s World.”

To offset the hardships of the past few years, the firm has undertaken several initiatives. First, Valerie Wilson was early in establishing service fees. If you need an airline reservation and want the help of a professional, you have to pay for it.

Second, the firm has taken advantage of the industry’s consolidation trend to add geographic diversity. Wilson added its first branch operation in 1998, in Purchase, N.Y. This addition was followed by the acquisition of an agency in Hilton Head, S.C., a wealthy community heavily populated by older people with time to travel.

Though the local market was strong, Hilton Head at the time entertained a surfeit of 18 independent travel agencies. Ms. Wilson convinced seven to come together under her firm’s umbrella. Now the island has only four or five competing operations, profitability is much improved, and Ms. Wilson is delighted with her new reach.

She has also established a successful Internet business, through which clients can access Wilson’s large number of agents. Through the in-house network, her agents can share information about new discoveries like Paraiso de la Bonita or new promotions.

Despite these efforts, Ms. Wilson’s business has certainly been hurt by the downturn in travel. The best year ever for the firm was, ironically, 2001. After September 11, few travelers cancelled their plans. Resorts had been sold out, prospering from a strong stock market and solid economy; they remained sold out.

It was in 2002 that tourism fell off sharply, hurting airlines, hotels, museums, and travel operations like Valerie Wilson Travel. Though 2003 and 2004 saw some recovery, it is the current year that finally promises to return to the level of 2001.

What other changes does Ms. Wilson see affecting her industry? A trend toward family vacations. Concerns about terrorism seemingly strengthened Americans’ desire to be with family; child-friendly activities and destinations are much in demand.

Also, Ms. Wilson’s clients are increasingly drawn to destinations that are in danger of changing in the next few years, and being spoiled. Cambodia is a good example of this, as is China. This trend is positive for Ms. Wilson’s firm, since it is associated with numerous planners of exotic trips, like Abercrombie and Kent.

Of course, most helpful for Ms. Wilson is that her clientele tends to be individuals and corporations that are not too influenced by economic ups and downs. It is her own high standards and requirements that lead Ms. Wilson to be so popular with such clients.

It also makes her a valued advisor to the many hotel, cruise, and resort firms on whose advisory boards she sits. When she is a guest of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, or Starwood Hotels, for example, she is happy to share with management her views on exactly how the bathroom should be laid out, how the flowers should be arranged, or any other detail that might have escaped their eye.

Naturally, when she calls and alerts these operations that a favored client is about to visit, they turn on the hospitality. If you see a lavish fruit basket being delivered to the room next to yours, you may wish you had booked through Valerie Wilson Travel.