Almost every aspiring businessman, when choosing the industry to which he would like to devote his life, wonders why not open his own travel agency.
Indeed, why not? Every person in his life wants to visit a different country, get to know its inhabitants, their customs, learn something new about culture, just relax and have fun. For this, a person goes to a travel agency.
What methods can be used to open a travel agency?
Russians often relax in Turkey, Egypt, Greece, the UAE. Demand for Thailand, the Dominican Republic and India is growing. Riots in some countries do not scare people. They are happy to buy packages that are cheaper due to these problems.
For many Russians, it has become a tradition to celebrate family holidays in other countries. Based on this, opening your own travel agency is a good idea, unless, of course, you count huge competition in the market. Therefore, it will take a lot of time, effort to occupy its niche in this business and win its customers.
There are several ways to open a travel agency in Russia:
- Buy a ready-made business.
- Open a travel agency from scratch.
- Open a franchise travel agency.
We open a travel agency on our own. And again a business plan
So, we will understand. You firmly decided that you want to open a travel agency from scratch, but do not know where to start. The first step is to develop a business plan. This is the first document of the future travel agency. It will be necessary to indicate in it how much finance will be spent on opening:
- registration as a legal entity;
- renting or buying a room for a travel agency;
- purchase of necessary equipment, furniture;
- design;
- staff salary;
- installation of the necessary licensed programs for work in the tourism sector;
- advertising.
This analysis will help answer the question of how much it costs to open a travel agency. Next, it will be necessary to determine the tour operator - a direct provider of travel services.
This opens a nuance about how the travel agency works. After all, in fact, this is an intermediary between the tour operator and the client. The first form a travel package. Travel agencies, being their partners, provide the client with an already formed proposal.
By the way, many people are very mistaken in thinking that buying a tour directly from a tour operator will be much cheaper. Tour operators do not work directly with clients. Even if you call the number indicated on the company’s website, they will still be transferred to a travel agency there. It is more convenient for the tour operator, since it receives the necessary number of clients from such companies, and often working with one from the outside is simply unprofitable and once.
A mandatory point in the business plan is the analysis of the main competitors. After analyzing the market, you will draw a conclusion about the strengths and weaknesses of your business and decide what special you can offer customers, which other companies do not have. At the end of the business plan, assess the risk, your physical strength, since opening a travel agency from scratch is not only a costly business, but also physically difficult. Get ready for the fact that at first the business will bring a small income and take a lot of moral strength and nerves.Well, and, of course, decide how long the company should pay off.
Procedure before opening a travel agency
The business plan is written, the determination to open a travel agency from scratch has not left you. So, we are going to register as a legal entity with the Federal Tax Service. Before going to the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate, it’s worth collecting the necessary documents for opening a travel agency and deciding on the organizational form of doing business.
It is better to dwell on a limited liability company (LLC), since in case of a bad outcome the business owner risks his authorized capital (10,000), and, for example, the entrepreneur in this case bears the risk of losing all his property.
It is also worth immediately determining the location of the travel agency (the tax office will need to provide a legal address, for this it is necessary to choose a suitable room and conclude a lease agreement with the landlord or buy an area) and the name.
How to call a travel agency - it's up to you. It all depends on the imagination. But remember that "what you call a ship ...". If nothing comes to mind, give your relatives and friends a creative assignment on the topic “What should I call a travel agency” - let them think.
In the meantime, prepare the Charter (there is a standard form), decide on those people who will manage the travel agency (one or more founders), select the appropriate OKVED codes that will be suitable for the activities of the travel agency (from the general list that can be taken from the tax organization) , solve the issue with the authorized capital (what will be its size).
The minimum amount of authorized capital is 10,000 rubles. After everything is ready, go to the tax office and register your future organization. In this case, the company is assigned a TIN and PSRN. Next is the print. After this, the travel agency needs to be registered in the funds, open a bank account and hire an accountant to submit monthly and quarterly reports. After all this, you will have in your hands a legitimate item for making money, in which now you will have to invest all your soul and strength.
Preparation for the opening
Now it will be necessary to solve such organizational issues: the design of the room, a sign with the name and schedule, the purchase of furniture and equipment. Design should not be aggressive, not depressing, not poisonous. The client should feel comfortable, the atmosphere should be soothing, but at the same time encouraging the person to buy the service. Therefore, if you like black, poisonous yellow or green colors - most likely, they will need to be abandoned. Good options are blue and soft yellow.
It will be useful to post photos with countries on the walls. In cold weather, let it be warm places, and in hot weather, those where it is cool, maybe it snows. But the sign, on the contrary, should attract the attention of people. It should be clearly visible, and the name of the travel agency should be easy to read. Furniture must be not only beautiful, but also comfortable.
A good manager worth its weight in gold
In just opening a travel agency, you should not take specialists without experience in the tourism sector. More time will be spent on training such personnel. Looking for a super professional is also not worth it. At the initial stage, when the travel agency will not receive large profits, there will simply be nothing to pay to such a specialist.
Still, a good employee with experience for a reasonable salary can be found. He will improve with the company, have a small customer base and develop a new one. It would be useful for the director of such a company to know how everything works from the inside out. Since, besides the leader, there will most likely be nobody to control this process at the initial stage.
The accountant is the main person in the company. Of course, after the director!
You cannot save on an accountant.It is better to find an excellent specialist with experience and pay him a decent salary, than then pay fines to the tax due to the inexperience of the employee. The accountant will have to submit monthly, quarterly and annual reports, conduct financial business of the company.
Advertising
This item should answer the question how to attract customers to a travel agency. Everything is simple here - tell about your business to everyone you know: relatives, friends, acquaintances. They, in turn, will tell all their relatives, friends, acquaintances. That is, at the stage of discovery and development, nothing is better than the so-called Word of mouth have not yet come up with. Usually, these are the first customers.
Advertise a travel agency on social networks: a modern person spends a huge amount of time on the Internet, on his pages. A good option is to place ads in newspapers, which all residents receive in their boxes for free. Advertising there is inexpensive and effective.
A less costly way - leaflets that need to be handed out in crowded places - these are large shopping centers, subways, train stations, airports. In the future, information about the travel agency can be placed on local channels, city extensions, on banners. You can try the option of advertising on the Internet at some frequently visited sites where people view mail or watch videos. There are a lot of options, you will need to choose the most working of them and effective.
Work with basic documents
By the way, the main document flow in a travel agency will fall on the shoulders of the manager. Tourists feel relaxed and pay for packages with ease when they see paper they understand. All documents are issued in duplicate. One of them is given to the client, the second remains in the travel agency.
After the manager, together with the tourist, has chosen a suitable tour, he sends a request to the tour operator for this package. This, as a rule, is done in three ways: by e-mail, by fax or by booking a tour on the supplier’s website. There is a certain application form for the tour, which each tour operator has his own. It is better not to retreat from this sample.
If at the time of application the tour has not yet been sold, the tour operator will send a written confirmation to the agency. This document indicates the complete information about the package, the due date, the data for whom the tour is being drawn up. Confirmation is often in free form and in English.
By the way, the relations of a travel agency and a tour operator are regulated by contracts. Usually, these are three documents: agency, sales agreement, as well as pseudo-agent. Different tour operators use different types of contracts. It all depends on how things are going with him in a given period of time and what kind is favorable at this moment.
Agency contract used by the tour operator when he has problems selling tours. In this case, the travel agency receives a reward for packages sold - from 8% to 15% of its value. This type of contract is very beneficial for the business owner.
A sales agreement is offered to a travel agency when the tour operator sells well and does not need to pay for the sale of its tours.
Letter of guarantee - a document that is sent by fax to the address of the tour operator on behalf of the director, accountant with the seal of the travel agency. It will be sent when there is a danger that payment for the tour may not be completed on time and the package will be canceled.
There are other internal documents of a travel agency. These papers relate to the life of the office, as well as the reports of managers on sold tours.
The pseudo-agent agreement on the website of tour operators looks like an agent. To understand how these two types of documents differ, you need to understand them well. Pseudo-agent is a contract by which some tour operators want to deceive travel agencies that do not want to resell tours.
Are software tools important for the quality work of a travel agency?
When you open your own travel agency, do not forget about the software. At first, while very few people know about the organization, you can get by with simple applications. But over time, you still have to purchase specialized software.
According to professionals, the installation of all necessary programs will cost an average of 60 thousand rubles. Even the most minimal funds, which will still be required, will cost 8 thousand rubles. But all these expenses will instantly pay off, as they greatly simplify the entire work of a travel agency.
Therefore, in order to increase the profitability of the business, you will need to purchase and install such programs that can rationalize all trips to resorts and excursions, as well as everything that is somehow connected with the activities of the tourism agency. Among such tools, it is worth highlighting software such as "Tour Search" for managers and "Master Agent". In addition, you will need to configure the network and connect to the Internet. But this is only the basic complex that will be needed in an agency of any size.
Franchising: is it worth it?
Next, consider how to open your franchise travel agency.
A franchise is a type of market relationship when one side transfers for a certain fee for an agreed period or indefinitely the other side the right to provide services on its behalf. This is not so rare and is in demand, especially when you take into account competition, the high cost of opening from scratch. In addition, large tour operators are not very much and go on rapprochement with new companies.
It should be borne in mind that buying a travel agency for a franchise may not save you from ruin. This method has both pros and cons. By opening a franchise agency, you will get a well-known brand that customers will go for.
Most likely, on the website of a travel agency or tour operator (a tour operator can also create its own network of travel agencies operating under a franchise) there will be information about your agency, you will be provided with the necessary advertising products, there will be an opportunity for managers to go on an advertising tour, study for free, etc.
In its advertising, on a signboard and when talking with tourists, it will be possible to use the name of this brand. This is a very significant plus, since several tasks are being solved: it will not be necessary to prove that you can trust your travel agency (the famous name will do everything by itself), you can relax and not think that there will be no clients.
Tourists will go to a recognizable name. But this does not mean that you can do nothing and wait for a well-known brand to do everything for you.
Is it profitable to open a franchise travel agency? Of course, there are many pluses, but it is not cheap, and there are disadvantages. The owner will dictate his terms, starting with the location of the office and ending with control over telephone conversations. You will have to maintain a unified style in the design of the premises, and in the clothes of employees, to pass certification.
Many franchise travel agencies are not allowed to develop. Therefore, before deciding on such an enterprise, weigh the pros and cons, read reviews about the seller, his history (year of creation, managers, whether he worked continuously, as far as the brand is recognized). Opening an agency from scratch is, of course, harder. But the conditions for acquiring and working on a franchise can be different and not always profitable. Therefore, before making any decision, you need to seriously study this issue.
What costs are expected?
In order to open a travel agency, you will need to first make a cost calculation. It is difficult to give specific figures, since a lot will depend directly on the capabilities and preferences of the entrepreneur. However, the main factors that require the greatest investment of money should be cited.
- Office. Costs can be both large and not too much.You can save on travel agency if the office is rented in a not too expensive area. On average, renting a room can cost 50 thousand rubles. Taking into account the connection of communication tools, such as the Internet and telephone, as well as various administrative expenses, this amount grows to 70 thousand rubles.
- Staff. In this case, it is better not to save, as the reputation of the company depends on the professionalism of employees. On average, up to 110 thousand rubles can go to pay wages to employees.
- Advertising. It is necessary to make sure that as many people as possible know about the travel agency. And save in this case is not necessary. An advertisement will have to spend an amount equal to, on average, 50 thousand rubles.
All of these factors are the most expensive. But this does not mean that you can forget about other aspects that will also require costs. For example, installing all the necessary programs. As already mentioned, this can cost 60 thousand rubles. If you take into account unforeseen expenses, booking tours and excursions, as well as planned expenses, then the minimum amount of initial capital starts from 300 thousand rubles.
Still full of determination?
So, in fact, opening your travel agency is not very easy. This article should help answer many questions, one of which (perhaps the most important): how to organize a travel agency?
Two opening methods have been considered. There is also a third option: buy a ready-made business. This method is the most risky. From the outside of the finished business, everything can look positive and without problems, but inside there will be a complete mess and ruin.
It is very difficult to answer the question of whether it is profitable to open a travel agency, as this depends on many factors. There are those who say that this is a disadvantageous and ungrateful business. You invest a lot of effort and money, and zero profit. There are those who receive income that is enough for a private helicopter and a small island in the ocean.
For each person this answer will be different, the main thing is what kind of potential the entrepreneur has, whether he is ready to go to the end and not give up at the first failure. And they will certainly be. You need to be prepared for this, in no case to step back from your goal and love what you are doing. And then any business will be profitable. And do not expect that the profitability of a travel agency (its profitability) will be high at first - they will still need to be worked on.
