How to open a travel agency from scratch business. How to open a tourism business
* The calculations use average data for Russia
A fragment of the book by Yulia and Georgy Mokhov “Travel agency: where to start, how to succeed” by the publishing house “Peter. Published with permission from the publisher
Do I have enough money to open a travel agency? Should I risk my last savings or not? How long will it take for investments in the tourism business to pay off? How much will I earn? Create your own travel agency or buy a ready-made one? Or join a franchise network? Is it difficult to make a business plan for a travel agency? What are the requirements for a travel agency office? How many employees will you have to hire? Where to look for footage? Which tour operators to work with? Which countries do you sell tours to? Limit yourself to a narrow specialization or sell everything? Should we open air and railway ticket offices immediately or later? How to attract clients? How much to spend on advertising? Do tourists have many complaints? And still…
SHOULD I OPEN A TRAVEL AGENCY OR NOT?!.
We will try to dispel all your fears and support your desire to open a travel agency. But we guarantee: everything that is written here is a real reflection of the state of affairs in the tourism business, without exaggeration or omission.
Development of a business plan for a travel company.
We offer for your reference a diagram that reflects the main parameters and cost items that can be used when drawing up a business plan for a travel company (agency).
1. Travel agency concept
Kind of activity:
- travel agent;
- tour operator;
- mixed activity.
- sale of air and railway tickets;
- transfer services, ordering limousines;
- visa processing;
- insurance;
- preparation of documents for registration of foreign passports;
- services of an individual guide and accompanying person;
- translation services;
- sale of guidebooks;
- sale of related travel products;
- sale of gift certificates;
- booking and ordering tables in restaurants, tickets for events;
- rental of tourist equipment;
- Car rent.
- by type of tourist destination;
- according to the cost of tours;
- by country;
- by type of tourism.
2. Organizational plan
Travel agency office location:
- center;
- outskirts;
- distance from the metro.
- rent;
- own premises;
- other.
- showcase office on the first line;
- in the business center;
- in the administrative office building;
- in the mall;
- on the first floor of a residential building.
- two jobs, three five jobs;
- one-room, two-room, three-room, more than three rooms;
- free layout (number of meters).
tables with reception places, chairs for employees, chairs for visitors, bedside tables with keys, rack for catalogues, wardrobe, hangers, hanger rack,
a board for information and special offers, a sofa for visitors, a coffee table, a safe, blinds, a mirror, dishes (for employees, for receiving visitors), frames for photographs and permits, plants.
Office equipment (cost calculation):
computers, telephones, fax, printers (minimum 2 pieces), scanner, copier, TV, CD and DVD player for showing films about countries and resorts, air conditioning, water cooler, first aid kit, clock, stationery, wall map of the world or globe.
Office design project:
- zoning of space;
- design of the premises according to the concept of the travel company;
- floor plan.
3. Competitive environment
Competitors in selected tourist destinations.
Competitors within the radius:
Ready ideas for your business
- building;
- district;
- cities;
- countries (if necessary).
4. Production plan
Staff:
- staffing schedule;
- wage formation policy;
- training.
Tour sales technology:
- search and booking of tours;
- scheme of interaction with partners;
- processing payment for tours;
- document flow;
- delivery and issuance of documents.
- by season;
- by directions;
- by country;
- by price;
- by target audience.
Travel agency pricing policy.
Features of the tours sold.
Corporate identity development:
- contractor;
- list of required items;
- concept and functions of the site;
- contractor;
- cost and timing of work.
- signboard;
- pillar;
- signs;
- a sign with operating hours and company details.
- booklet;
- Business Cards;
- letterheads.
- budget size for 3 months, 6 months, 12 months;
- advertising media.
6. Legal aspects of opening a travel company
Legal form of a legal entity.
Tax system.
Drawing up a lease agreement.
Required permits depending on the type of tourism activity.
Trademark registration.
Purchase and registration of cash register equipment (if necessary).
Ordering strict reporting forms “Tourist voucher”.
Maintaining accounting records (independently, with the assistance of an accountant, consulting company).
Legal support of activities
7. Financial plan
Sources of funds.
Amount and duration of investment.
Initial expenses plan.
Fixed expenses plan.
Income plan.
Payback plan.
8. Conclusion
Long-term development plan.
9.Applications
Approximate costs for creating a travel agency in Moscow,
one-time:
Registration of a legal entity and preparation of necessary permits for travel agency activities: 20,000–25,000
Furniture and office preparation for sales: 50,000–100,000
Office equipment and communications 100,000–150,000
Development of corporate identity 15,000–25,000
Website development and registration 20,000–45,000
Trademark registration 50,000-100,000
Employee training 5,000–30,000
Additional possible costs
Ready ideas for your business
- Purchase of a ready-made tourism business, payment of legal services to support the transaction
- Payment for premises selection services
- Payment for recruitment services
- Payment for connection services
- Internet and additional telephone lines
- Payment for services of a consulting company
The cost of tours even in the same hotel category is different, and the choice of tourists does not always fall on the 3* level of accommodation. Therefore, in order to make an income plan, it is necessary to analyze season prices for selected destinations with data from 3*, 4*, 5* hotels and compare them with the expected amount of income
Approximate plan of monthly expenses of a travel company in Moscow (rub.)
Office and infrastructure
Wage
Rent of premises 25 m2 - 50,000
Communication services 3000
Internet 5000
Water (cooler) 500
Stationery 2500
Other administrative expenses 6000 Staff salaries
Advertising budget
- Director 35,000 +%
- Manager 19,000 +%
- Manager 16,000 +%
- Secretary-manager 12,000 +%
- Courier 16,000
- Accountant (outsourcing) 10,000
- Cleaning lady 3000
Unforeseen expenses RUB 10,000.
- Legal subscription service RUB 7,000. months
- Payment for the online booking and tour search system is 1200 rubles/month.
- Refilling cartridges 400 rub./month.
Total 241,500 rub. + percentage of salary
Selecting the status of a travel company. Tour operator or travel agent?
After the abolition of licensing for tour operator and travel agency activities in 2007, a mandatory state procedure was established only for tour operator activities. Any legal entity or individual entrepreneur can engage in travel agency activities. The only thing that determines the status of a travel agent today is the existence of an agreement with the tour operator, according to which the travel agent, on behalf of and at the expense of the tour operator, sells the tourism product generated by the tour operator. At the same time, the travel agent is obliged to comply with a number of requirements established by law, which we will discuss below.
But first of all, it is necessary to find out why it is so important to understand the difference between travel agency activities and tour operators and take the necessary legal actions in a timely manner. The fact is that the law establishes a mandatory requirement - all tour operators registered on the territory of the Russian Federation are required to have financial support. Financial security is a guarantee of the tour operator in case of non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of the contract for the sale of a tour product, insurance of its civil liability to consumer tourists.
From financial support, injured tourists are compensated for the actual damage they suffered, for example, the cost of the tour if it did not take place, or the difference in cost if the vacation time was shortened. Financial security is provided by an insurance company or banker. The law establishes the minimum amount for which an insurance contract or a bank guarantee contract must be concluded; today it is 10,000,000 rubles. for international tourism (entry and exit) and 500,000 rubles. for domestic tourism.
The cost of servicing financial security averages 1–1.5% per year of the amount of security.
Ready ideas for your business
For example, from the minimum amount of financial support for international tourism of 10,000,000 rubles. the cost of insurance compensation will be 100,000–150,000 rubles. This is the amount that will need to be paid annually to the insurance company for the tour operator’s civil liability insurance contract.
The contractual scheme of a travel agent’s work when selling tours looks something like this:
- the tour operator enters into an agency (commission) agreement with the travel agent, according to which the agent is instructed to implement (sell) tours generated by the tour operator for a fee;
- a travel agent attracts a client (tourist) and enters into an agreement with him on the sale of a tourism product, receives the documents necessary to register the tour;
- the travel agent sends a request to the tour operator to book specific travel services for the client (tourist), indicating the dates, number and details of tourists, hotel, level of transportation, excursions and other components of the tour;
- the tour operator confirms the travel agent’s request and issues an invoice for payment;
- the travel agent provides the tour operator with the documents (or information) necessary to process the tour (for example, for a visa);
- the travel agent accepts the final payment from the tourist (if paying in cash, issues a cash receipt or a strict reporting form);
- the travel agent makes payment to the tour operator minus the remuneration due to him (by bank transfer or in cash to the tour operator's cash desk);
- the tour operator issues the travel agent with tour documents necessary for the tourist to travel;
- the travel agent issues the tourist documents for the tour and all the necessary information to the tourist;
- the travel agent reports to the tour operator - sends the agent’s report (act) indicating the amount of the tour sale and the amount of remuneration;
- the tour operator signs the agent's report and issues an invoice for the services provided under the agency agreement.
But it should be borne in mind that the presented scheme reflects only the ideal version of document flow.
In practice, a travel agent may face various surprises; firstly, the tour operator may refuse to enter into an agency agreement with you and will offer a purchase and sale agreement, as a result your legal status will change, it will be necessary to adapt accounting and document flow;
secondly, when making a payment under a tour operator agreement, you suddenly discover that the invoice has been issued for payment to
another company or, making payment through the tour operator’s cash desk, you will be given a cash receipt order for a physical
a person with a “paid” stamp without the organization’s seal.
Travel company staff
The optimal staff for a small travel company looks something like this:
- ¦ leader;
- ¦ manager1;
- ¦ manager2;
- ¦ secretary with an expanded range of responsibilities;
- ¦ courier;
- ¦ accountant and cashier;
- ¦ cleaning lady.
Director.
The head of a travel company is a key figure and resolves a large number of issues, both economic and strategic, but in addition to him, it is advisable to have at least two sales managers.
The manager can also be the chief accountant, cashier, sign documents and register the receipt of funds.
If the head of a travel agency is a hired employee, he must have at least two years of work experience; this is the minimum time during which a specialist can go through all the “seasons” of a travel agency’s work - high, low, “dead” - and learn how to manage a company. If the head - founder of a travel agency has no experience in tourism, this is not a tragedy. It is necessary to invite managers with work experience and, together with them, develop the strategy, assortment, and advertising policy of the company.
Travel company manager.
His responsibilities include: negotiating with clients and partners by phone and in the office, arranging tours with tourists, booking tours and processing documents with tour operators, monitoring the fulfillment of orders, price changes, requirements for documents provided, terms of cooperation, special offers.
A universal manager must maintain and improve his qualifications (master classes, seminars, advertising tours), work at exhibitions and workshops. Requirements for managers: higher education, experience in tourism, absence of bad habits, presentable appearance, competent Russian speech, communication skills , initiative, ability to resolve conflict situations, responsibility.
A manager without work experience should at least strive to work in tourism and have a specialized secondary or higher (incomplete higher) education, since this significantly affects the general level of culture. On
teaching someone who strives for knowledge is a rewarding task, but find out the long-term plans of this candidate so that
the invested effort and money were not wasted - perhaps he will use the knowledge gained in another travel agency.
Travel agency secretary
receives incoming calls, distributes them according to the specialization of managers, answers questions of a general nature (“How can I get to you?”, “What time do you work until?”), ensures timely ordering of the necessary office supplies, household goods, and monitors the courier’s work schedule , carries out instructions from the manager, receives visitors and guests of the office. You must understand that sometimes it is very difficult to do without the help of a secretary, especially in the high season - in the summer, when the phone is ringing at the same time and the client is sitting in the chair.
Secretaries are also tasked with filling out questionnaires, recording and registering incoming and outgoing mail, and responding to corporate emails, ICQ, and Skype.
As a rule, a secretary is hired after several months of starting a travel company, when the phone is constantly ringing and clients demanding attention come to the office.
Courier
A very important and responsible position. With the strength (legs) of this person, money, passports, documents must get to the tour operator. Therefore, when choosing a candidate for this position, follow a simple rule: the person must be checked in all possible ways - call the previous place of work, confirm the correspondence of the place of registration and place of residence, call the home phone and talk with relatives, ask for recommendations. These measures are not unnecessary. The problems that may arise due to the actions of the courier are, without exaggeration, catastrophic - loss of foreign passports and documents, theft of funds that the courier transports daily. The best option is a relative or acquaintance, but, unfortunately, such candidates are not always found.
Accountant-cashier,
certainly a necessary specialist, but the cost of his services is too high for a small travel agency (in Moscow from 30,000 rubles). Therefore, most travel agencies use the services of law firms or an external accountant. Such a personnel solution allows you to reduce accounting costs by at least three times.
Remuneration and bonus schemes in the tourism business
In the tourism business there is a general trend towards increasing wages. This is due to the existing personnel “hunger”. Specialists with experience move to another company, where they offer a slightly higher salary for the same full-time position, and this can happen every six months.
Options for calculating salaries for a tourism manager
The tour is considered sold when 100% payment is made.
1. Interest-free system: salary 22,000–30,000 rub.
2. Salary + interest:
Salary 10,000–15,000 rub. + 10% of tours sold by the manager.
Salary 15,000 + 10% after the implementation of tours for more than 150,000 rubles.
Salary 15,000 + 10% of revenue from sold tours, divided among all managers.
Salary 18,000–20,000 rub. + 5% of tours sold by the manager.
Salary 18,000–20,000 rub. + 10% of all tours sold, divided between all managers.
3. Planned system: fixed salary is paid when the plan is fulfilled; for example, from 50,000 rub. (this refers to the company's income, not the total cost of the tours). If the plan is exceeded by more than 50,000 rubles. + 10%, more than 100,000 rub. + 15%, over 250,000 + 20%.
During the low season (January, February, May, June) the plan is 50%. In this case, the previous fixed salary is paid.
If the plan is not met, with the exception of the low season, there is a system of fines:
- ¦ the first month - no penalties, an analysis of the reasons associated with the decrease in sales is required;
- ¦ second month and beyond: 40,000–49,000 rubles. – 10% is withheld from the fixed payment (30,000–39,000 rubles – 20%; 20,000–29,000 rubles – 30%).
In the first months after the opening of a travel agency office, a planned payroll system, as a rule, is not used.
Options for calculating wages for a travel company courier
1. Salary 12,000–15,000 rubles, payment for a travel ticket, mobile phone, working hours: Monday-Friday.
2. Salary 15,000–20,000 rubles, payment for a travel ticket, mobile phone, working hours: Monday - Saturday.
During the high season and increased sales volumes, it is customary to give couriers a bonus of 20–30% of their salary. The courier is an important employee of the travel agency, so it is better to pay extra on time, issue bonuses and work calmly.
On the market you can find offers from courier companies that deliver documents anywhere
city, they enter into a formal agreement and bear full financial responsibility for the funds and documents in the parcel.
Options for calculating the salary of a director of a travel company
1. Salary from 40,000 rubles.
2. Salary 18,000–20,000 rub. + 1–5% of monthly income
agency after deducting expenses.
3. 12,000–15,000 rub. + 5–10% of monthly income after deducting expenses.
This was just a small fragment of the book by Yulia and Georgy Mokhov, “Travel Agency: Where to Start, How to Succeed,” published by Peter Publishing House.
In the guide itself you will find detailed advice on choosing a tour operator, organizing document flow, taxation, recommendations for promotion, working with the client base and many valuable links to specialized Internet resources for tourism industry practitioners.
356 people are studying this business today.
In 30 days, this business was viewed 32,355 times.
Calculator for calculating the profitability of this business
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.
Who among us would not like to see the world and visit the most remote and exotic corners of the earth? The love of travel is not alien to anyone. This is probably why, even in the most economically unstable times, most people still had the opportunity and financial means for a long-awaited trip. Thanks to this, you can organize for yourself a reliable and very profitable way of earning money - opening a travel agency from scratch. We will tell you how to do this below, providing step-by-step instructions with useful tips.
Where to begin?
The significant advantages of the type of business associated with tourism are relatively low investments, as well as the absence of the need for special education. By not requiring special permits, you can avoid many of the barriers to opening a travel agency. However, it is worth noting that competition in this area is still quite high, and the profit you will receive depends on the economic situation in the country. Nevertheless, opening a travel agency from scratch even during an economic crisis is quite possible.
In order to understand in detail the legal side of the issue, you should refer to Law No. 132-FZ of November 24, 1996 “On the fundamentals of tourism activities in the Russian Federation.” Depending on the specifics of your activity, external and internal tourism differs. Services related to this industry are provided by tour operators and travel agents. Let us consider in more detail how these concepts differ.
The responsibilities of tour operators include independent development, promotion and subsequent implementation of tours. Thus, using its services, a tourist can reach his destination and return home safely without experiencing any inconvenience during the trip. That is why, in order to start a professional activity, they will be required to have insurance or a guarantee from the bank. Tour operators must be included in the Unified Federal Register and also belong to the necessary associations.
In turn, travel agents are a kind of connecting link, an intermediary between the tour operator and the client. They sell tours; Moreover, their earnings consist of commission payments (from 5 to 16% of the cost of each tour).
The travel agent must also:
- Inform clients about the services provided.
- Select tours depending on the client’s wishes.
- Provide clients with all necessary documents.
- Guarantee the quality of all services provided.
Depending on the size of the start-up capital and the plans of the entrepreneur, travel agencies can exist in various forms.
To open a travel company from scratch, we will need to rent an office, as well as hire all the necessary staff. Despite the fact that this method is the most expensive, it will provide you with maximum financial independence.
The easiest way is to open a travel agency at home. In order to start this type of business, you only need a phone, a computer, Internet access and a printer. After you register an individual entrepreneur, you can start promoting your services using the media. In addition, you can organize meetings with interested parties both at home and on neutral territory (for example, in a cafe). This method of opening a travel agency is quite risky, but it is perfect for people who have a wide circle of friends and considerable professional experience.
People have different ideas about vacation: for some, the ideal option would be a week spent on a tropical beach, others prefer traveling and sightseeing, and still others cannot imagine leisure without hiking and rafting on mountain rivers. In all this diversity there is one common feature: when going on vacation, everyone tries to change the environment and spend time away from home.
Given this demand for tourist travel, many entrepreneurs are thinking about how to open a travel agency from scratch: step-by-step instructions in this case suggest two possible ways to create and develop a business. In the first case, an entrepreneur can focus on the mass sale of popular tours and take part in active competition, while in the second, the emphasis is on expensive individual and exotic tours. Considering that hundreds and thousands of destinations are currently available to consumers both within the country and abroad, it can be assumed that anyone who takes a sufficiently balanced and responsible approach to creating their own travel company can find and occupy their own unique niche in this market.
Features of the tourism business
Before opening a travel agency in Russia, an entrepreneur should consider the features of this business, get an idea of the structure of the tourism services market and assess the state of affairs in the industry, which today is determined by the following factors:- In popular areas, agencies offer similar or identical products, thereby creating a high level of competition;
- Independent companies dominate the market - despite the large number of offers, no more than 8–10% of entrepreneurs want to open a franchise travel agency;
- About 30% of newly created entities close during the first year of operation;
- Market leaders use dumping in competition, artificially lowering prices for popular tours;
- Business is subject to both positive and negative external influences - championships, festivals and public holidays attract the attention of tourists, while natural disasters, political and military actions, and terrorist threats cause a significant decrease in demand.
Travel company formats
Taking into account the size of the start-up capital and his own ambitions, an entrepreneur can open a travel agency in 2018 from scratch in one of the following formats:
- Independent company. This option is more suitable for specialists who have personal connections, experience in the industry and contacts with tour operators. Among what is needed to open a travel company are registration of SPD, renting an office, purchasing equipment and recruiting personnel;
- Home agency. For entrepreneurs who do not have the required start-up capital, this option is preferable, since you can open a travel agency at home with minimal investment: all you need is a computer, a printer and a telephone. The home agency format is also not suitable for beginners, since it presupposes the presence of its own client base and a wide circle of contacts. How to open a travel agency at home: you need to register an individual entrepreneur, ensure a presence on the Internet and social networks and organize a platform for meeting clients in a nearby cafe;
- Internet agency. Such a sales channel can be either additional for an independent company or the main one for a home-based business format. To open a travel agency in 2018, you need to develop an online store, attract programmers to organize access to the offers of tour operators, connect payment systems and think over a mechanism for providing online consultations.
Purchasing a franchise. For beginners who do not have sufficient experience, if they have the required amount of starting capital, it is easier to buy a ready-made business model and open a franchise travel agency, since network agencies usually provide their partners with:
- Software, systems for viewing and booking tours;
- Training;
- The opportunity to open a travel agency from scratch without experience using a well-known brand and recognizable corporate identity;
- Legal and advertising support;
- Increased commission rate;
- Support in resolving conflicts with tour operators.
Franchises costing from 150 to 450 thousand rubles are available on the market. It should be noted that the companies offering them have certain requirements for office space, interior design, and stipulate a mandatory sales plan: such factors must be taken into account in order to understand whether it is worth opening a travel agency in this way.
Choosing a tour operator
An entrepreneur considering how to open a travel agency should also understand the technologies for creating and selling tourism products. In fact, the tasks of travel agencies are limited to finding buyers and selling ready-made tours, which are developed by larger companies - tour operators. They are the ones who form tourist packages, which include:
- Visa support and paperwork;
- Delivery of tourists to their holiday destination by plane, train or bus;
- Transfer (transportation of clients from the airport to the hotel and back);
- Accommodation and meals;
- Health insurance.
When concluding contracts with one or more tour operators, the agency’s income will be generated from a commission of 9–12% of the cost of each tour sold, which the product supplier pays to intermediaries. The interest rate is revised twice a year, thanks to which large travel agencies that sell a large number of vouchers achieve an increase in the amount of deductions to 15%.
How to open your own travel agency, where to start? First of all, you need to choose 8-10 reliable tour operators. Half of them should sell travel packages that correspond to the company’s profile (for example, to Turkey or Egypt), and the rest should close other destinations, including individual programs and tours to exotic countries; This division allows us to offer customers interesting products even after the end of the tourist season. When choosing operators, it is recommended to pay attention to the following factors:
- Duration of existence and active work;
- Availability of positive and negative customer reviews;
- Financial support of the operator and the amount of the insurance contract;
- Priority areas of work;
- Availability of purchased rooms in popular hotels;
- The presence of branches nearby, which significantly simplifies the document flow and the procedure for obtaining visas for tourists.
Advantages and disadvantages
Is it worth opening a travel agency in 2018? To answer this question, an entrepreneur must carefully weigh all the advantages and disadvantages of this type of activity. The positive aspects of the tourism business include:
- A wide selection of tour operators offering favorable terms of cooperation;
- Loyal requirements for the amount of starting capital, the opportunity to open a travel agency from scratch at home if there is a shortage of funds;
- Simple company registration process, no licensing;
- The development of the tourism industry in Russia, the emergence of many budget and exotic tours within the country (for example, to Karelia or Kamchatka);
- Forming the belief among potential buyers that they should take a vacation every year, if possible, away from home or abroad;
- The opportunity to cooperate not only with private consumers, but also with corporate customers.
Speaking about whether it is profitable to open a travel agency, it should be taken into account that today the market is 85–90% full, as a result of which only companies offering non-standard services and opening new destinations survive. Thus, in addition to the high level of competition, the disadvantages of the tourism business include:
- Unpredictability of demand and the impossibility of accurately forecasting profits;
- Exposure to economic and political factors;
- Seasonality (between November and March, sales drop by 40–50%).
Registration of activities
Business in the tourism sector without legalization of the enterprise is not only illegal, but also virtually impossible: tour operators will simply refuse to enter into cooperation agreements with private individuals. Therefore, before opening a travel company, you need to select one of the available organizational and legal forms (individual entrepreneur or LLC) and submit an application for registration to the appropriate authority, indicating the desired taxation system. Depending on the expected profit structure of the company, the simplified tax system at a rate of 6% (income) or 15% (income minus expenses) is preferable.Obtaining a license at the moment is not what is needed to open a travel agency: only the activities of tour operators are regulated by the state. However, the owner of an intermediary agency, in order to increase consumer loyalty, can also officially confirm his status: to do this, he should submit an application to Rostourism, attaching documents on financial security of responsibility. In addition, the staff of the licensed company must consist of employees with secondary specialized or higher education in the field of tourism, and the manager will additionally be required to have at least three years of work experience in the industry.
Selecting a location
Experienced entrepreneurs consider finding suitable premises one of the most important tasks in the tourism business: when considering what it takes to open a travel agency, you should take into account not only the format, but also the target audience of the agency. When selling exclusive services, the company is located in a business district in a building with convenient parking, while when selling mass tours, priority is given to places where people with average incomes gather - central streets, shopping or entertainment centers, bus stops and metro stations. Before opening a travel agency in a chosen location, it is advisable to make sure that it is possible to place a sign that can be seen from afar, increasing the flow of clients by 25–30%.
In the city center, a rented space of 20–25 m² on the ground floor of a residential or administrative building is used as an office: such a location will help improve the agency’s status in the eyes of clients. Other advantages of this option include high cross-country ability and transport accessibility, while disadvantages include a possible lack of parking and increased rent.
When considering how to open a travel company from scratch in a business center, one should mention as a positive aspect the presence of ready-made offices with renovations, connected utilities, communication channels and maintenance, including cleaning and security. The disadvantages of this location are the presence of an access system and the impossibility of placing a sign on the facade of the building.
In shopping centers you can also find a suitable place to open a travel agency: what needs to be done first of all is to assess the traffic and purchasing power of visitors in order to select the most popular offers. There are two main disadvantages in this case: high rents and a shortage of free space in popular shopping complexes.
In a densely populated residential area, the number of potential clients is most often limited by the walking distance of the office. When calculating how much it costs to open a travel agency from scratch, you need to take into account the relatively low rent and the possibility of purchasing an apartment on the ground floor with its subsequent transfer to non-residential use. In the absence of direct competition, the main task of the company is to regularly inform local residents about popular offers by posting notices and placing advertisements in mailboxes.
Room and interior equipment
After concluding a lease agreement, the premises need to be renovated, manager workplaces must be equipped with tables and computers, and the waiting area for visitors must be equipped with comfortable sofas, coffee tables, a water cooler or a coffee machine. General costs for preparing the premises include:Preparing the premises
| Expense item | price, rub. | Qty | Cost, rub. |
| Rental during renovation | 1200 | 25 m² | 30 000 |
| Office design project | 1500 | 25 m² | 37 500 |
| Repair work | 2 000 | 25 m² | 50 000 |
| Construction materials | 1 500 | 25 m² | 37 500 |
| Plumbing | 7 000 | 1 | 7 000 |
| Lighting | 1 500 | 6 | 9 000 |
| Air conditioner | 25 000 | 1 | 25 000 |
| Illuminated sign | 25 000 | 1 | 25 000 |
| Total: | 221 000 | ||
It is better to entrust the development of a unified corporate style for signage, exterior and interior design of the office to a designer: when calculating how much it costs to open a travel agency, you should take into account such design costs. Geographic maps, souvenirs from different countries, exotic masks, globes, aquariums with bright tropical fish are used as additional decorative elements: the visitor should understand at first glance that this is where a travel company is located.
When choosing furniture, you can choose one of the standard options or order the production of cabinets, tables and shelving in a workshop: the difference in price will be insignificant. Before opening a travel agency from scratch, you additionally need to purchase:
Equipment
| Name | price, rub. | Qty | Cost, rub. |
| Furniture | |||
| Work desk | 15 000 | 3 | 45 000 |
| Worker's chair | 3 000 | 3 | 9 000 |
| Chair for client | 1 000 | 6 | 6 000 |
| Corner sofa | 28 000 | 1 | 28 000 |
| Coffee table | 5 000 | 1 | 5 000 |
| Rack | 5 000 | 2 | 10 000 |
| Filing Cabinets | 8 000 | 1 | 8 000 |
| Safe | 12 000 | 1 | 12 000 |
| Information board | 4 000 | 2 | 8 000 |
| Hanger | 4 000 | 1 | 4 000 |
| Office equipment | |||
| Computer | 18 000 | 3 | 54 000 |
| Specialized software | 9 000 | 1 | 9 000 |
| Leased line | 2 000 | 1 | 2 000 |
| Office network with switch | 10 000 | 1 | 10 000 |
| Phone line | 6 000 | 2 | 12 000 |
| Office mini-PBX | 5 000 | 1 | 5 000 |
| MFP network | 15 000 | 1 | 15 000 |
| Telephone set | 2 000 | 2 | 4 000 |
| LCD TV for presentations | 18 000 | 1 | 18 000 |
| Promotional Products | |||
| World map 150x200 cm | 4 500 | 1 | 4 500 |
| Globe 40 cm | 5 000 | 1 | 5 000 |
| Catalogs and advertising | 15 000 | 1 | 15 000 |
| Shelves for souvenirs | 1 500 | 4 | 6 000 |
| Stationery | 10 000 | 1 | 10 000 |
| other expenses | 20 000 | 1 | 20 000 |
| Total: | 324 500 | ||
Before opening a travel agency, the business plan should also be supplemented with the costs of purchasing specialized software that automates the company’s work and provides quick viewing of offers from all tour operators: a manager who manually opens dozens of sites is unlikely to be able to quickly serve the client. The price for the program is 8–9 thousand rubles, and the subscription fee for access to the tour selection system is 2100 rubles per month.
Staff
You can open a travel agency on your own from scratch without work experience only in a home format - in all other cases, the company requires sales managers. A novice entrepreneur is unlikely to be able to lure experienced workers from other companies, so it is better to invite young specialists to work and train them in the future in a year to get a professional team.
To get acquainted with the product, employees are regularly sent on short familiarization tours, compensating them for expenses after selling a certain number of trips to these destinations. It is logical to assume that an employee who has seen the resort and hotel with his own eyes is able to talk about it much more colorfully and convince even a skeptical client.
The director of the company (who is also the owner) can perform administrative functions, do advertising, search for new partners and replace managers during their absence. It is not advisable to hire an accountant, system administrator and a full-time cleaner: visiting specialists can handle a small amount of work. When calculating how much it costs to open a travel agency, you need to provide for labor-related expenses:
Agency staff
Financial investments
When considering how to open a travel agency, where to start the company’s activities, you should understand that without detailed cost planning, the chances of business success remain small. Investments in a travel agency include:
Initial costs
The amount of current expenses depends on many factors: the motivation scheme for managers, the format of the advertising campaign, the taxation system and the intensity of use of communication channels (with per-minute payment for telephone calls and traffic limitation by the Internet provider):
Approximate running costs
Profit and payback periods
Video on the topic Video on the topic
“I want to open a travel agency, what kind of profit can I expect?” Beginning entrepreneurs are primarily interested in the answer to this question. Meanwhile, the income of a travel company can be calculated based on the average cost of tours sold to typical representatives of the target audience. For example, in a large city, the main consumers (75% of sales) will be single and family tourists, who mainly buy trips to Turkey, Greece, Spain and Egypt at a price of 35–55 thousand rubles per person. The remaining 25% is the budget corporate segment, as well as expensive tours to tropical countries and island resorts.
When learning how to open a travel agency from scratch in Russia, you need to understand that at first a large influx of visitors is not expected: the newly created agency will conclude 45–60 contracts in the summer months and 25–30 in the winter months. By the next season, satisfied customers will return, which will lead to an annual increase in the number of orders by 1.5–2 times.
So, when selling 50 vouchers per month with a commission of 4 thousand rubles for each, the agency’s income will be 200 thousand rubles. Considering current expenses of 154,600 rubles, you can expect a monthly net profit of 45,400 rubles. Thus, with a profitability of 29%, the payback period for the business will reach 12–13 months.
An entrepreneur interested in how to open a travel agency from scratch without work experience should be aware that even with a timely launch of the business and an active advertising campaign, the likelihood that the company will not make a profit in the first months is quite high. Therefore, it is recommended to create some financial reserve to ensure the functioning of the agency, including in the off-season. In addition, you can use additional sources of income:
Opening a travel agency is not as difficult as opening a car dealership or an insurance company. But to withstand the crazy pace of the market and oppose yourself to thousands of competitors is not an easy task.
The tourism business is very attractive for budding entrepreneurs, because it does not require large financial investments, and the demand for tours is always high. But only a few, the most prepared, manage to avoid the pitfalls of which there are a great many in the “leisure industry”.
Today tourism is widespread; according to forecasts, the number of travelers will only grow every year. The number of travel agencies is increasing, new hotels and restaurants are being built, new airports are opening, and the tourism infrastructure is developing rapidly. The tourism business is experiencing a significant boom, and for many businessmen there is a real opportunity to become a participant in this interesting business.
So, let's look step by step at how to open a travel agency from scratch as a novice entrepreneur.
Before deciding to open a business, you need to at least generally imagine the state of affairs in the industry in which you plan to work.
So, what are the characteristics of the tourism business today:
- The average market growth dynamics over 10 years is 5.8% per year.
- The retail market (travel agents) is poorly consolidated; independent agencies dominate the market; large chains account for no more than 8-10% of the market volume.
- Competition in the retail (travel agency) market is very high.
- A large percentage of new travel agencies close without even one year of operation. The average rotation in the small tourism industry is 30% per year. That is, out of 100 agencies created at the beginning of the year, no more than 70 firms survive until the end of the first summer season.
- Tourism is subject to dumping, that is, an artificial reduction in the price of supply on “last minute” destinations; even in the high season, you can find tours and air tickets significantly lower than the average price.
- The tourism business is highly susceptible to external influences, be it bad weather, natural disasters, strikes, political instability or terrorist attacks. Each such event forces travel companies to react quickly and take emergency measures to protect their clients and not suffer financially themselves. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. At the same time, every event in the world can become a reason for a tourism boom. Sports competitions, festivals, exhibitions, concerts, public holidays, opening of new hotels and resorts - you can’t count everything. Therefore, the tourism industry has the opportunity to constantly develop, and its participants make a profit through the skillful use of tourism resources.
Where to begin
At the planning stage of the company's activities, it is necessary to determine the target audience of buyers. This is necessary to create a project concept, since the characteristics and preferences of your potential buyers will influence the choice of office location, the range of tours, very likely the name of the travel agency, and then the means and methods of promoting services.
Business plan
Then you need to write . What should you pay special attention to when drawing up a business plan?
- Do not overestimate the number of tourists - there may be fewer of them than you expect.
- Set aside as much as possible for unexpected expenses; they may be more than you expect.
- When calculating income, take into account possible discounts for clients, which are deducted from the agency fee.
- Do not underestimate the figures associated with organizing the work of a travel agency, set prices slightly above average. By following these simple rules, you will avoid problems associated with a lack of funding or an increase in the expected payback period of the project.
Company name
The next stage is the name of the future travel agency. The company name must reflect the essence of its activities and be unique. It should also be clear to your customers and easy to remember.
Domain and website
Having chosen a name for a travel company, you need to choose the most sonorous and easy-to-remember name (domain) of the site. As a rule, the domain matches the name of the company or reflects the specifics of the activity. If the company name is long, more than 8-10 characters, then abbreviations are used, they are easier to remember and there is less chance of making a mistake when typing the address on a computer. If you are registering a domain consisting of two words, we recommend paying for two domains, with and without a hyphen, this will reduce the number of errors and protect you from competitors.
When ordering a website, do not make quick decisions - a website is not made in one day. First, decide what functions it will perform: a simple business card or an information resource with the ability to search and order tours, with online modules (airport displays, exchange rates, world weather), a regional geography block, a photo gallery, maps and diagrams of resorts, catalogs hotels, etc.
Selecting the main tourist destinations for sale
How to choose which tours your agency will sell? Here are a few examples of how the first tourist destinations for work are determined in practice.
- Your project already implies certain tourist destinations based on the name of the company (TA “Africa Safari”).
- You hire managers with experience in certain travel destinations and make them your main ones.
- You have personally visited some countries, have an idea about them and can successfully sell tours.
- By a strong-willed decision, you choose countries that you think are interesting and carefully prepare for selling tours.
- Nothing comes to your mind, you don’t know which countries to sell tours to. Pay attention to the seasons and seasons; they determine the sales of certain destinations and the preferences of your first customers.
- In addition to targeting countries, you can choose types of tourism, such as beach holidays, medical tours, children's holidays, active tourism, eco-tourism, etc.
- Study demand and fashion trends in tourism using open sources.
There is another approach: the more destinations you offer to clients, the more tourists you can attract. But statistics and surveys show that consumers give preference to companies that specialize in a certain destination, and travel agencies that can tell in detail about the chosen vacation spot. If you are a multidisciplinary company, you will have to promote each area separately.
Selection of tour operators
To start operating a travel agency, you need to select tour operator partners. It is advisable for each tourist destination to have signed agreements with at least three tour operators, since not always one operator will have confirmation of all hotels and arrival dates that suit tourists.
How to choose a tour operator:
- make a list of tour operators for a specific tourist destination, using professional ratings, the press, travel guides and other specialized publications, the Internet (unfortunately, the frequency of mentioning a tour operator in ratings, reviews, articles is often due to financial investments in the operator’s image and does not always correspond to the quality of the product offered) ;
- get acquainted with the services of tour operators, price offers, conditions of work with agencies through Internet sites, tour operator catalogs;
- If possible, make inquiries about the quality of work using recommendations from colleagues, professional forums and reviews of tourists from travel agencies on the Internet.
Choosing premises for a travel agency office
Finding and choosing premises for a travel company is one of the important issues in establishing a business. First of all, you need to decide what kind of office you need for your project - its size, location, equipment.
What types of travel company offices are there:
- first line of houses, second line of houses, inside a residential complex;
- in a business center, administrative or office building;
- in a specialized business center for tourism;
- in a residential building;
- in a shopping center, hypermarket;
- in the lobby of the hotel complex;
- in the building of train stations and airports;
- in the building of professional institutions: medical centers, fitness clubs, educational institutions, etc.;
- within walking distance, transport accessibility from the metro.
After the office has been found and the documents have been properly completed, it is necessary to prepare it for the sale of tours: organize and equip workplaces, think over comfortable places for visitors, arrange it so that every client who comes into the office understands that this is a travel agency.
Agency registration
Carrying out business activities in the field of tourism without registering a legal entity or registering a citizen as an individual entrepreneur is illegal. Therefore, it will be necessary to register an LLC or individual entrepreneur.
Unfortunately, it is common among entrepreneurs to treat constituent documents as some kind of insignificant formality. Meanwhile, this is a very dangerous misconception. Constituent documents are, first of all, the order that defines the relationship of the founders of the company with each other and with its hired management. Formally drawn up, so-called standard, constituent documents can lead to serious conflicts between business partners and the management of the company or can protect the interests of the founders, protect the organization from a hostile takeover and solve many other problems.
Also, depending on the country in which you will open a travel agency, it may be necessary to obtain a special license for this type of activity. In Russia, the law does not provide for mandatory licensing for the activities of a travel agent.
Before a travel agency starts operating, it is necessary to choose a tax regime. To keep records, you need to use the services of a professional accountant; it is very difficult to understand all the intricacies of tax legislation on your own. While your company has not yet developed enough, you can hire a “coming” accountant, but when the number of transactions exceeds 100-200 per month, it is better to hire a permanent employee or get a subscription accounting service.
Staff
The minimum staff of a travel agency, as a rule, consists of: a manager who is involved in sales, a manager and a courier. In this case, accounting is carried out by a law firm or a visiting accountant. This arrangement of personnel is very common in travel agencies. What are the disadvantages of this option? If for some reason the director or manager does not come to work, one employee will not be able to cope or will work to the detriment of the quality of the services provided. This option can be “saved” if you hire a second manager without work experience or a student at a tourism university on a part-time basis.
The optimal staff of a small travel company looks something like this: a director, two managers, a secretary with an extended range of responsibilities, a courier, an accountant-cashier, and a cleaner.
In the tourism business there is a general trend towards increasing wages. This is due to the existing personnel “hunger”. Specialists with experience move to another company, where they offer a slightly higher salary for the same full-time position, and this can happen every six months. The lack of qualified specialists leads to staff turnover and salary increases in order to lure employees away.
Professional universities do not train personnel as well as the market requires, so managers without experience have to be trained on the job. At the same time, managers with work experience “become more expensive” every month and, unfortunately, not always justifiably.
There is no standard generally accepted remuneration scheme for travel agencies. Each agency develops its own system of bonuses, fines, mandatory sales volumes and the number of tours sold and, based on these data, calculates employee salaries.
Advertising
To start operating a travel company, you must have a minimum set of promotional materials that are issued to potential clients and business partners and help in the implementation of tours.
A travel agency can do without outdoor advertising, but if there is such an opportunity, be sure to use it. Outdoor advertising attracts tourist clients from the street, from nearby offices and houses, who learn about the travel agency after seeing an attractive sign. As a rule, travel companies use the following outdoor advertising media: a sign, an information board on the front door, a sign on a roadside pole, a floor pillar, advertising banners in windows, advertising on transport.
Now you know how to open a travel agency from scratch and what first steps you need to take. Start making your dream come true and build a successful business!
