How to open your travel agency from scratch?

Tourist business is subject to those businessmen who are sociable, possess resistance to stress, have the ability to convince people and are able to take risks. Additional advantages are knowledge of languages, as well as interest in foreign countries. It does not necessarily have to have special knowledge, although they can also be an effective starting point. Nevertheless, in the tourist business, sincere interest in the very process of work and the ability to learn quickly is more important.

The next article we will build on such issues:

• Where to start?


• Stages of creating


• How to open a franchise?


• Features of the


• How to open from scratch?


• Working with corporate clients

Where to start the opening of a travel agency?

We first recommend paying attention to our other article, which will tell you how to start your business, this article will help to understand the plan for future actions.

You can start the tourist business at home, having only a computer with Internet access and a telephone. The composition of the original customer base can be formed from your immediate environment. Nevertheless, this kind of activity will not yield a high income and can only be considered as a form of additional earnings, which is seasonal in nature. In order to make the tourism business the main source of income is important to bring it to the level of the whole country. Otherwise, it is better not to start this kind of business.

For a wide coverage of the tourism services market, it is important to observe several success rules:

1. The tourist business should be opened in areas where competitors have not yet made it;


2. It is better to develop a small travel agency within a separate service area, since a large-profile small company will be difficult to compete with large competitors;


3. It should be determined which segments of the tourism services market are not fully covered by other firms, that is, where there is still unsatisfied demand.

Preliminary Cost Estimate
Office. The room for a travel agency is one of the most expensive articles of this business. The office of the tourist company should be located closer to the center or in the center of the city, however, in this light there are two problems: the cost of real estate and the presence of a large number of competitors. In this light, for the first time, you can confine yourself to a room in more remote parts of the city, but, preferably in places with a large flow of people: stops, avenues, squares, etc.

Staff. According to experts, when organizing a travel agency, you should remember a simple rule: office costs are roughly equal to the total costs for personnel. However, on average, salaries in this industry are very low, therefore, staff should be motivated by the provision of additional services: benefits for the purchase of permits, internships and training at the expense of the company and other benefits. It is not difficult to find the main array of personnel, since it is easy to work in the tourist sector on the spot. Nevertheless, it is necessary to attract several professionals with excellent knowledge of foreign languages.

Advertising. The main factor of survival in the market, as well as the initial opportunity to tell customers about themselves - is advertising. In the tourist sphere, its kinds are very popular: television, press, outdoor advertising. These areas of advertising activities are associated with high costs, which are inevitable. In the future, the reputation of a travel company among clients will play a significant role. However, this kind of popularity can be purchased in no less than a year of responsible and persistent and scrupulous work.

Stages of the creation of the travel agency

1. Development of a plan. Opening its business in the tourism sector, it is advisable to develop a business plan. Particular attention in it should be given to the issue of evaluating competitors, which include not only other travel agencies, but also sites that sell air tickets, hotel reservations and other similar services on a distance basis. In addition, it is necessary to carefully develop the financial plan in order to determine the payback period and the level of profitability of the business.


2. Definition of the market niche. When opening a travel agency, one should not try to cover everything at once. It is important to be able to concentrate efforts on those directions in which there are knowledge, connections and partners. At first, it is most effective to use tactics of unidirectional activity. For example, organize tours exclusively to Europe or work with corporate travel abroad. In the framework of further activities, it is possible to expand the coverage of the market and enter other market niches.


3. Link formation. Creating advertising messages for potential customers is extremely important to emphasize the distinctive features of the travel agency: its specialization, reliable partners abroad, specific services. In addition, it should be mentioned that it is much more convenient and beneficial for clients to apply to a travel company than to independently arrange trips abroad. Initially, we should work out a system of discounts based on the factor of seasonality, as well as the persistence of customers.

Generating the profit of the travel agency
The main source of profit of the travel agency is the difference between the price of buying tour tickets from tour operators and the cost of selling it to customers.

Additional profit also provides customer advice and ticket sales. If you look at commissions from tourist vouchers, then they start up about 10-15% of the cost of starting companies, and for known ones - 18-20%.Thus, the rate of return is very significant from the standpoint of covering the permanent and variable costs of the agency. For example, if the price of the tour is 20,000 rubles, and the commission fee is 10%, then selling three trips a day can earn up to 150,000 rubles per month.

How to open a travel agency for a franchise?

Tourist industry is fraught with serious risks, so more than half of the companies-beginners become bankrupt already in the first months of activity. This situation is caused by the lack of clients, connections abroad, experience and reliable tour operators. Nevertheless, you can avoid the impact of such unfavorable factors for the business by purchasing a franchise for the opening of a travel agency.

The franchise inherently presupposes the right of a young firm to use the brand, connections, management model and ways of doing business with an established company for a fee. According to experts, the cost of a franchise for travel companies is cheaper than covering losses from the sale of activities on an independent basis.

Features of work in the tourism business

Tourist business in its composition is very extensive scope of activities. It includes the organization of traveling abroad for rest, training, business meetings, excursions, booking hotel rooms, buying air tickets, providing security, etc. Nevertheless, the whole range of tourist services can be divided into two areas:

1. Organization of the departure of citizens of the countryabroad;


2. Reception of tourists from abroad.

The first direction is less expensive and is associated with a lower level of risk. It does not imply the creation of an infrastructure industry, since it is fully oriented to the foreign market. Nevertheless, competition in this sector is many times higher than in the second direction.

In the tourism business it is important to distinguish between the activities of tour operators and travel agencies. The first are engaged in the organization of tours, and the second - they are sold. Activities as a travel agency involves working with ready-made tourism products. Therefore, the main thing is to find customers and reliable tour operators. The level of profitability of such business on the average is about 15-17% per year.

The firm-tour operator organizes tours independently, that is, it purchases air tickets, book hotel rooms, organizes guided tours, provides multiple flights, guarantees the safety of tourists. This type of business requires significant financial investments, but the yield on it is much higher - about 30-40% per year.

Often travel agencies work together with travel companies on the basis of long-term cooperation agreements.

In order to organize a business as a travel agency, it is expedient to implement the following activities:

• If possible, purchase a franchise;


• To conduct active advertising, in particular, place advertisements in the press, the Internet, on radio and television;


• To form a permanent array of customers, attracting them with discounts and additional services;


• Define the areas of activity: rest, business trips, training, sports, etc.


• To determine the geographical scope of the business: vouchers to Europe, tours to Egypt or exotic travel;


• Find relevant tour operators and conclude cooperation agreements with them.

After achieving certain successes in the form of a travel agency, you can move to activity as a tour operator, as it requires serious financial investments. Experts do not recommend starting a business in the form of a tour operator due to the fact that at the first stage there is no accumulated client base and experience.

How to open a travel company from scratch( in the absence of starting capital)?

Despite the fact that the starting point for a travel agency, like any other business, is start-up capital, it can also be started in the absence of it. However, in this case, achieving a sustainable market position, as well as high profits - will occur more slowly. In addition, the main costs associated with the tourism industry will have to be abandoned, in particular, to reduce the costs for staff, office and advertising.

With regard to personnel costs, the first time with a small volume of orders, all the work can be done independently. It should be noted that in the absence of experience in this area, you can work several months in any travel agency before opening your business.

The office problem is also insignificant, since most of the work can be done at home, and meetings with customers can be organized elsewhere, for example, in a cafe.

Central is the problem of advertising, because the new travel agent needs to form the original customer base. For this purpose, you can use your own communications, advertising on social networks and on free online classifieds sites. If you managed to create a website on your own, then with the help of it you can significantly increase Internet sales. Here the main thing is not to give up, because quality services will always find their customer base, albeit not as fast as one would like!

Creation of a travel agency for working with corporate clients

One of the most promising segments of the tourism services market is the corporate clientele sector, which is distinguished by its constancy and significant orders in terms of volumes. It should be noted that the direction of the tourist business related to the servicing of corporate clients is characterized by an increased demand, which attracts beginner travel agents. However, it is extremely difficult to penetrate this segment. First, large companies have internal departments for organizing trips abroad and do not use the services of third-party travel agencies. Secondly, those firms that do not have such departments have long established ties with specific large travel agencies and are constantly using their services. Nevertheless, to refuse the corporate sector does not at all, because in the economy now and then there are new firms that are looking for partners in the tourism industry. In addition, often, already established firms are looking for new travel agents, being dissatisfied with the services of the former. It is these customers that can be included in the initial lists of their customers.

It should be remembered that corporate clients are customers of a whole range of services to which the travel agency should be prepared. These include:

1. Registration of documents, in particular foreign passports and visas;


2. Purchase of air tickets and delivery of clients to the airport;


3. Reservation of rooms in hotels and delivery of items necessary for clients( for example, medicines, simulators);


4. Fulfillment of all requirements related to participation of clients in conferences, negotiations, symposia, round tables and their organization;


5. Creation of conditions for business meetings of clients;


6. Planning of customer expenses abroad and security.

Another significant complexity of working with the corporate sector for a travel agent is urgency. After all, often to provide the above services are provided only a few hours, and sometimes orders have to be performed on weekends. Nevertheless, this also has its advantage - for urgent orders commission, as a rule, higher. However, it is better not to use this approach with regard to regular customers. Who rarely give urgent orders.

As part of its corporate customer service activities, it is advisable to consider high-ranking individuals, artists and athletes as potential customers, who often travel abroad and need a reliable travel agency. In this light, by providing them with reliable and quality service, a travel company can get them into the ranks of regular customers, which seems very beneficial. In addition, within the initial period of activity, it is possible to provide assistance to large travel agencies that do not cope with their work or serve medium-sized companies that do not have specialized departments for organizing foreign trips.


That's all the nuances that journalists wanted to tell Vse-Sekrety.en. However, if you have unclear points, then boldly voice them in the comments to this post, we will gladly share our opinion on the solution of this or that question.