The idea of organizing your own business in the field of tourism can be a profitable investment. All over the world, the demand for such services is currently growing, and the fact that with a small investment of money you can ultimately make a significant profit attracts novice businessmen to engage in this type of activity. How to open a travel agency from scratch so that it is profitable and quickly recoups the investment - we will analyze in detail all the necessary steps for its establishment and prosperity.
Where to start organizing
So, where to start a tourism business? The first step should be to draw up a business plan, which will contain all the necessary actions for its organization, as well as a calculation of the necessary investments, the projected payback period and the amount of monthly profit.
Step-by-step instructions on how to open a travel agency contains the following points:
- analysis of market saturation and the possibility of opening in a specific region;
- obtaining information about existing competitors, their main advantages and disadvantages;
- registration as an individual entrepreneur or LLC;
- choosing the location of the agency office, drawing up a lease agreement, purchasing premises or deciding to locate the agency itself at home;
- determination of the main types of services provided;
- acquisition of necessary org. equipment and furniture;
- search and hiring of personnel;
- concluding agreements with tour operators;
- organization of advertising;
- opening.
Let's look at the most significant stages of how to open a travel agency from scratch in Russia.
Tourist infrastructure
Registration and paperwork
Registration of a travel agency includes the following steps:
- choice of organizational form (this can be either an individual - an individual entrepreneur, or a legal entity - most often an LLC);
- choosing a suitable company name and legal address;
- the registration process, after which you will be issued a state-issued certificate;
- purchase of a cash register, its registration and registration at the place of provision of services.
If, having asked yourself the question of how to organize a tourism business from scratch, you choose the LLC form of business, then you will need to determine the size of the authorized capital, as well as formalize the founders. The minimum amount of authorized capital must be at least 10 thousand rubles and is subject to distribution among the founders of the LLC.
Room location
How to open a travel agency from scratch in order to attract as many potential buyers as possible? One of the answers to this question is the convenient and advantageous location of your office. The main options that will be most beneficial for you are the following:
- in places with high foot traffic. These could be areas in which organizations are located, other offices - the city center, its busier areas. On the one hand, in such places, renting an office is more expensive than in less crowded places, but then you will have to spend more money on advertising your business;
- inside a shopping center. This option is also very profitable from the point of view of a large flow of people. In addition, it may cost you less than renting a separate building or premises;
- in residential areas. The flow of people in such places is somewhat less, but by renting a room near public transport stops or facing a busy road, it is quite possible to ensure that your company will be visible. Then the number of people willing to use the services will be considerable;
- The most budget-friendly option for office location is to organize it at home. How to open a travel agency at home, is this really possible? Recently, when using the Internet you can get acquainted with the services of various companies and discuss over the phone aspects of what kind of vacation the client prefers, this option is often used by novice businessmen. Of course, for this you still need to allocate a separate room in your house or apartment, equipping it accordingly. As practice shows, this option, with skillfully organized advertising and other marketing moves, can generate income even more than those companies that pay expensive rent for an office in the city center.
Services provided
One of the first and important stages of the process of how to open your own travel agency from scratch is the choice of the type of activity, as well as the range of services provided. The list of possible ones included in the package of tourist services is as follows:
- organizing delivery of the client to a vacation spot (air travel, travel by car, etc.);
- delivery from the place of arrival to the hotel (transfer);
- resolving issues related to hotel accommodation and, in particular, food;
- organization of related services (excursions, additional events);
- delivery of the client to the train station (airport) and back to the place of departure.
The tourism business itself can have the following areas:
- excursion tours;
- tours aimed at recreation or health improvement for children;
- beach holiday;
- organization of treatment (mainly preventive);
- business tours;
- shopping tours;
- educational trips;
- gastronomic tours.
It is worth noting that your future travel agency as a business will have more opportunities for its profitability, the more services you can provide. This is mainly due to the fact that in this way the circle of potential clients increases. At the same time, you should not forget about the quality of your work - positive reviews from people who have used the services of your company can become good advertising in the future.
Having chosen a room for an office location, first of all you will need to start repairing and finishing it (if necessary). At the same time, it is important to remember that the services of travel agencies are mainly used by wealthy people, and comfort and a cozy atmosphere are very important to them. You can add some elements of corporate attributes, photographs of countries and places that your client may visit to the agency’s interior.
From furniture and office equipment you will need the following:
- tables and chairs for company employees;
- computers or laptops;
- printer (this can be a monoblock that combines the functions of a printer, scanner and fax);
- telephone;
- stationery;
- Internet equipment. It is worth noting that in the work of a travel agency, the speed of the Internet is very important, as well as its constant availability, because most of the operations carried out by the company’s employees will be carried out with the help of it;
- furniture for clients. For starters, this could be a comfortable sofa, armchairs and a table.
Hotel in resort
Recruitment
After equipping everything necessary to work in the premises and carry out repairs, you can begin recruiting personnel.
When considering how to become a travel agent at home, you may not even hire employees at first, providing services personally. In this case, you can slightly reduce the cost of purchasing furniture for employees, and, as an option, use what is already in the house, if it is of proper quality and condition.
One of the important aspects of the question of how to become a travel agent from scratch is the selection of personnel who can most advantageously present the services provided by your company and convince the person who comes to you to become a client. In this regard, when selecting employees, the following points should be taken into account:
- if possible, employ people who already have experience in this field - such a person will not need to be additionally trained and explained the principle of work;
- future employees of the company must look neat, communicate politely, competently and correctly;
- employees of your travel agency must be fluent in computer programs and be a confident Internet user.
After selecting employees, it will be necessary to officially employ them by concluding employment contracts with them.
Concluding agreements with tour operators
An equally important point on how to open your own travel agency from scratch is concluding agreements with tour operators.
One of the distinguishing features of a travel agency from a tour operator is that the agency, when providing services and selling ready-made tours to clients, already offers a ready-made package - that is, it cooperates only with the tour operator. The tour operator is in contact with hotels, airports, train stations, excursion bureaus, and in the event of any violation of the contract (provision of inadequate services, discrepancy between the declared service and the actual one, problems with the delivery of clients), it is he who bears legal responsibility.
As a rule, it is better to enter into contracts with several operators who offer trips to different parts of the world and will satisfy any age category of clients and will meet their financial capabilities.
After starting work, when selling a certain tour, you will return its cost to the tour operator, and receive direct profit from the trade margin. The markup in most travel agencies is about 10-15% of the cost of the tour and, as a rule, this is quite enough to recoup the investment and receive a monthly income.
Marketing actions and ways to increase income
Having considered the main points of what is needed to open a travel agency, one cannot fail to mention the need to implement marketing moves that involve advertising and promoting your business. Of these, the following are worth noting:
- advertising in the media - television, radio, print media (you should especially pay attention to popular magazines);
- outdoor advertising. This is, first of all, the design of the facade of your office premises, a bright sign that glows at night, you can also install billboards and banners in other areas of the city;
- Internet advertising. In addition to all the possible options for online advertising, you must create your own website, which will contain all the necessary information for clients - a list of possible tours, their basic conditions, payment, organizational issues. It would be a good idea to separately provide the opportunity to write reviews about the work, because comments from grateful clients will help attract even more people who want to use your services;
- providing regular customers with discounts and bonuses;
- monitoring the quality of services provided and promptly responding to problems that arise to quickly resolve them and, ultimately, provide positive emotions to vacationers.
Depending on the range of services provided, the number of clients, the presence of branches, monthly profit can start from 50 thousand rubles per month, and its upper threshold will depend only on the efforts you make in developing your business.
As practice shows, capital investments in organizing and opening a travel agency pay off in less than one year.
Increasingly, citizens of our country spend their holidays abroad, traveling to different countries. But tourist trips around the country do not stop. , following this trend, is also developing. New agencies, tour operators are appearing, hotels are being built. not a very complicated process. The biggest difficulty is the huge competition. And before joining their close ranks, you need to decide in the role of whom you will act. Currently, the most common types of organizations are: Tour Operator or Travel Agent. So who are they? 
What is a tour operator and travel agent?
A tour operator is a legal entity that is engaged in the formation, promotion and sale of a tourism product, in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation “On the fundamentals of tourism activities in the Russian Federation.” Simply put, it is an organization that prepares and promotes tourism offers. The tour operator will organize meals and hotel accommodation. Provides transportation, excursions, etc.
There are several ways to sell tourism products. For example, using travel agencies. In this case, all responsibility for the quality of the service provided falls on the tour operator.
A travel agency is an organization that promotes and sells the tourism product of a tour operator. In accordance with the law of the Russian Federation “On the fundamentals of tourism activities”. A travel agency can be opened by either a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur. This is an intermediary between tourists and the tour operator, who receives his commission. A travel agent buys a tourism product that is formed and ready for sale from the operator. And offers it to the end consumer. For this sale I receive a monetary reward.
Quite often, a tourism organization combines the functions of a travel agent and a tour operator. For example, a tourism organization creates and offers a tour of Italy, acting as a tour operator. And at the same time, this travel agency acts as a travel agent, implementing a tour to France, formed by another tour operator.
It is important to know that tourism happens:
- entry - travel on the territory of the Russian Federation by people who do not permanently reside in Russia;
- outbound - travel of citizens of the Russian Federation abroad;
- domestic - travel within the Russian Federation by Russian citizens.
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To open and operate a travel agency, special permits are not required by law. Therefore, this type of tourism business, as practice shows, is more widespread. Let's look at the main stages of creating a travel agency (travel agent).
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Business plan
At the first stages of opening any business, it is necessary to draw up a business plan. First you need to decide for what purpose it is being compiled and for whom. For example, to obtain a loan, for a private investor, for yourself. It is necessary to calculate the amount of investment for a year, six months, a month. You can draw up a business plan yourself or order it from a consulting company.
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Choosing a travel agency name
A lot depends on the successful name of the travel company. It helps promote the company’s services on the market, creates an associative range and style associated with the company. A successful name is remembered well and quickly, which is very important when there is a lot of competition.
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Website creation
Nowadays, to organize your business, you need Internet support. Take care of creating your own company website. This service can be ordered from professionals, but it is possible to make a simple website on your own. To do this, you need to choose hosting (the place where your site is “physically” stored) and a domain name. This is the address of your page, which should echo the name of your company. This will make it easier for potential clients to remember and find you.
There are many free and highly detailed website builders available. Choose one and, following the instructions and tips, create your website. To begin with, it is enough to create a one-page website, where there will be information about you, contacts, and a short list of services.
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Selection of tourist destinations
As experts advise, narrowly focused businesses sell their goods and services better. Buyers are more often turning to specialized stores. The same rule applies in the tourism business. It is better to offer specific tours to your clients. For example: “Our agency selects therapeutic tours around Russia using a unique methodology for children and adults.” Instead of the sentence “We will select any tour.” The first option is more informative and understandable.
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How to choose tour operator partners
When signing a cooperation agreement with a tour operator, pay attention to the availability, validity period and amount of financial security. To the number in the Federal Register of Tour Operators. For the duration of work in the tourism business. Pay attention to the number of employees in this company, the presence of diplomas and awards. Find out where the tour operator's office is, its size and presence, availability of management information, etc. There are no exact criteria for selecting the best and most reliable partners. Try to find out as much as possible about them.
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Where does the tourism business begin?
So, where should you start when opening a tourism business:
- office selection. In order to organize a tourism business, you need to find suitable premises. It is worth choosing office space in areas with maximum traffic. In a well-promoted shopping center, in a business center, on the central streets of the city, next to the metro;
- preparation of a business plan;
- recruitment. According to experts, integrity and diligence are the most important criteria in personnel selection. Quite often, aspiring entrepreneurs hire their friends and relatives. Perhaps this is not such a bad choice in the tourism business;
- advertising. Print business cards, advertise on the Internet, post or distribute leaflets. Students can be hired for this work;
- paperwork. Find out what documents you need to prepare to open your own tourism business from the relevant authorities. The main thing is to arrange everything legally.
Tourism is a profitable and promising business sector, which you definitely won’t regret taking up. This business will allow you to learn a lot of useful and important information, meet many interesting and useful people, and also inexpensively travel around the world on “hot” tours. Let's look at how to open a travel agency from scratch and what you will need for this.
Introduction
If you decide to enter the travel business, then you should distinguish between the concepts of a tour operator and a travel agency.
- The tour operator draws up his own route, books transport, hotels and resolves all organizational issues.
- A travel agency sells tours from tour operators, receiving a percentage for it.
A travel company is an excellent and profitable business
You will start your business as a tour operator - this is the easiest and most inexpensive way. A travel agency can sell different tours from different tour operators - usually there are no restrictions on this. Tours can be both international and domestic.
How to open a travel agency
Don't know where to start the opening procedure? From registration with the tax office. You can register as an individual entrepreneur or as an LLC. An individual entrepreneur allows you to save time and simplify the reporting system, but an LLC opens up more opportunities for the client.
Then you will need to come up with a name, preferably directly or indirectly related to travel. Of course, you can name a travel agency after your wife or beloved dog, but this is unlikely to bring him popularity. It's better to choose something thematic. You will also need to choose a premises, hire staff and launch an advertising campaign.
Room
A small room with an area of about 20 square meters with 2-3 employees will suit you as an office - this is quite enough in most cases. It is better to choose an office in a crowded, walkable place in the city center. Be sure to make good repairs in the room, install comfortable furniture, and order a high-quality sign. Travel is booked by wealthy people who value comfort and coziness, so you shouldn’t skimp on comfortable armchairs and sofas.
To equip your office, you only need computer equipment
Equip comfortable desks for your employees, buy computers, chairs, various office supplies, shelving, etc. You will also need a photocopier, printer and fax. Pay special attention to the Internet - the channel must be of high quality and stable.
Last year, more than 50 million Russian tourists traveled around the country and the world. Compared to 2016, outbound tourism has grown by almost a third; many new destinations and routes have been opened in the domestic market. Many aspiring entrepreneurs are interested in where to start a tourism business and how to open an agency from scratch? How much money do you need to invest in the enterprise? How to register? The answers to these questions are in our article.
How to open a tour desk
Pros: This direction requires virtually no investment. Even a student can try himself as a tour guide if he knows the sights of the city, talks captivatingly and easily finds a common language with different people.
Minuses: short season. There are much fewer tourists in winter.
Step 1. Choose a route
It is necessary to carefully consider excursion routes: take tourists around the city or organize off-site excursions. Choose a theme for city routes. For example, “Temples and monasteries”, “Beauty of the city at night”, “Historical places”, etc. Car owners organize individual tours around the city and surrounding area.
In order to open a travel company from scratch and conduct field trips, it is not necessary to buy a bus. Enter into an agreement with the local bus fleet, they will provide transport at the start of the excursion.
In addition to excursions, the entrepreneur conducts hiking trips, takes vacationers fishing or to mushroom and berry places.
Step 2. Organize a company
If you don’t want to get into trouble with the tax authorities, it’s better to immediately open an individual entrepreneur and register with the Federal Tax Service and the Pension Fund.
Next, you have two options: keep your books and submit reports to the tax office yourself, or hire a specialized one. There is quite a wide choice on the market - from single accountants to large holdings. When choosing, you need to focus on the range of services, guarantees and customer reviews. It’s better to contact reliable companies, for example. The cost of such services can be viewed
Develop a price. The cost of tourism business services differs from the route and additional services. If you organize an hour-long walking tour, then its price starts from 150 rubles per person; if a bus trip includes visiting museums, the price will be over 1000 rubles. But part of the profit must be paid for renting buses and tickets to the museum.
As long as you work without assistants, you don’t need an office. Applications are accepted through social networks or a personal website.
Prepare a package of documents:
- Contract for services.
- Reminder for tourists.
- Description of the route.
Step 3. Calculate investments and payback
The minimum investment is 800 rubles for the state fee when registering an individual entrepreneur. The rest depends on the budget: spend money on contextual advertising or promote services for free; rent an office or work from home; buy a car for individual excursions or organize walking routes.
It is beneficial to develop a route and offer it to a travel agency. The company attracts clients, and you only guide the groups along the route.
After you have opened a mini-travel agency, you can calculate your profits. The price of a walking tour is 150 rubles, the average group is 20 people. Income per hour of work is 3000 rubles. You can conduct 3–5 excursions per day and earn up to 15,000.
How to open a travel agency from scratch as a franchise
Pros: a well-promoted brand and a ready-made business plan. Anyone can open it without experience in the travel industry and without knowledge of how to open a travel agency from scratch. The entrepreneur receives from the franchisor partner a ready-made scheme for the company’s operation and assistance during launch.
Minuses: additional costs for lump sum and royalties.
Step 1. Choose a franchise
There are many dummy franchises offered online, so choose your partner carefully.
The selection criteria are presented below.
How long has the company been on the market? Newcomers do not guarantee the viability of the franchise, since they themselves have just opened. To start a tourism business in Russia, it is better to choose a brand that has existed for more than 5 years.
- How many franchise companies have been open and for how long? If the network is developed and franchisees have been working for at least 1 year, you can count on success.
- How much does a franchise cost? The seller usually only names the lump sum fee and royalty. You need to ask what other expenses are ahead and in what amount.
- What support does the franchisor promise? If you don’t know how to open a travel agency from scratch on your own, it’s better to get support for the first 2-3 years.
More than 7.5 million tourists visit St. Petersburg annually
The tourism business today, despite its competitiveness, is a fairly promising area. But how not to get lost among powerful agencies and rating companies, where to start a tourism business? I will answer all these questions further.
Travel agency and tour operator: what is the difference
Before you open your own tourism business, you should know that all companies in this area are divided into two large groups: travel agencies and tour operators.
A tour operator is a company that is directly involved in the development of tours, organization and sales through a network of travel agencies.
Thus, the tour operator himself creates the product, enters into agreements with foreign partners, and thinks through routes and tour details. However, such companies very rarely sell their products independently. This work falls on the shoulders of travel agencies.
Travel agencies are companies that are exclusively engaged in the sale of tours developed by tour operators, while receiving a percentage of each transaction.
It is worth mentioning that it is more profitable to organize trips yourself. But at the same time, there are many more risks in this area. Therefore, to start, people often choose to create travel agencies.
As a rule, a travel agency receives 7-10% of each transaction. However, if sales managers are able to properly advertise the product, then the income can be many times higher. For example, the cost of a tour stated by the operator is $1,500, but the agency sold the same trip for $2,000. Thus, the income from the transaction is 7-10% of the declared value plus $500.
Company registration
So, you have decided on the format of your company. What's next? Further actions for tour operators and travel agencies are slightly different. A travel agency can act as a private entrepreneur or a legal entity (the second option is still preferable).
But the tourism operator must register in the Unified Register and receive a certificate certifying that the company’s services comply with the law and all regulations.
In addition, the tour operator must have financing or a bank guarantee of funds for activities such as domestic, outbound and international tourism.
Also, if you plan to organize international travel, then you will need to regularly make contributions to Tourist Assistance (an organization that provides assistance to tourists who find themselves in difficult situations abroad).
Start-up capital and business plan
Like any other business, tourism also requires a certain starting capital. The main cost items at the initial stage are:
- Renting premises.
- Office equipment.
- Advertising.
- Salaries of company employees.
- Registration of insurance.
- Payment of state fees.
- Payment of utility services.
Also, before starting work, you will need to draw up a business plan, which should include the following points:
- Characteristics of types of activities.
- Organizational and legal form of the company.
- Organizational structure of the company.
- Production plan.
- Financial plan.
- Technical equipment plan.
- Marketing plan.
- Employee salary plan.
- Possible risks.
Find out more about where to start a tourism business:
Search and equipment of premises
The next important stage in opening a tourism business is finding and equipping premises. Remember that the office is the calling card of every travel agency, since this type of activity involves constant work and communication with people.
Your office should be located in a walkable location, close to a metro station or transport stop. Also, there must be parking in front of the entrance. The best option for renting a building is the business center of the city, since that is where most of the target audience is located.
When equipping an office, you should pay great attention to the appearance of the building and outdoor advertising. It is advisable that the agency have its own unique banner above the entrance.
The office must have high-quality renovations, since any agency focuses on wealthy clients. It is necessary to equip tables and sofas for waiting, as well as places for employees. Also, you should purchase powerful computers, printers, a projector and enter into an agreement with a reliable Internet provider.
It is worth noting that most tourists are accustomed to looking for suitable offers via the Internet. Therefore, already at the initial stage it is necessary to start developing and promoting your own website.
Search for colleagues
When looking for employees for a company, be sure to pay attention to the following points:
- availability of specialized education;
- At least one year of experience in the tourism sector;
- knowledge of foreign languages;
- pleasant speech and ability to persuade;
- pleasant appearance;
- responsibility.
You should not hire relatives or acquaintances, since initially it will be very difficult to build business relationships with them.
Advertising
In any case, a new travel agency will need a high-quality advertising company, because not only recognition, but also the image of the enterprise depends on it.
- Advertising on the Internet. First, you need to create your own website and then promote it. This could be SEO promotion or contextual advertising. Also, it is worth paying attention to other ways to attract an audience: working on social networks, working on brand awareness online, reputation management, crowd marketing, working on review sites.
- Signboard. High-quality outdoor advertising is the face of your company. Entrust the creation of your banner to a trusted advertising agency.
- Booklets and catalogues. Such advertising can be distributed not only in the office, but also on the streets. To do this, you will only need to hire several promoters.
- Advertising in the media. This is a fairly expensive type of advertising, but nevertheless very effective. It will allow you to quickly make your brand recognizable and attract potential customers.
When organizing a tourism business, many points need to be taken into account. And it is impossible to consider all of them in one article. Therefore, I would like to give some tips to beginners that will help you not get lost among your competitors.