How to open your own travel agency from scratch: step-by-step instructions

Why do you need a travel agent?

Thanks to the widespread use of the Internet, travelers have the opportunity to reserve all the necessary services online - from transfers and hotel rooms to excursions and tickets to concerts in other countries. But despite the availability of various services, planning a vacation can still be a difficult task even for an experienced tourist. Therefore, most clients prefer to use the services of travel agents.

A travel agent is an intermediary working in the tourism market as an independent seller of travel packages. Unlike a travel agency, it does not need an office or hired employees. He does all the work at home and meets clients on their premises.

Taking into account this circumstance, the question becomes logical: why is it more profitable for people to cooperate with an agent than with the nearest travel agency? There are several reasons for this:

• The manager must serve all clients who come to the office, so he works with each of them for only a few minutes. There are no time restrictions for a travel agent;
• Trying to fulfill the sales plan, the manager sells the most expensive tours. For an agent, it is more important to organize a great vacation so that the client comes again;
• Agencies sometimes close suddenly or disappear with clients' money. The travel agent transfers the payment directly to the operator - a reliable company with a good reputation;
• Companies, as a rule, sell tours from only one operator, so their choice is limited. The agent has dozens of partners and hundreds of different products;
• Rent, salaries and other costs force agencies to raise prices. A travel agent can sell a tour at a good discount if he likes the client;
• Firms work on a schedule, with days off and lunch. A travel agent is a free specialist who can arrange a meeting at any time convenient for the client.

What does success depend on?

How to become a successful tour operator? Only if there are distribution channels does a tour operator have the opportunity to become successful and prosperous. When choosing a tour operator, travel agents usually pay attention to its product range and pricing policy. The following criteria are very important:

• reliability;
• commercial flexibility;
• safety;
• comfortable relationships with partners, etc.

Now many travel agencies have already chosen tour operators, overcoming this inertia is becoming an increasingly difficult task. The website of a travel company should reflect as much as possible the structure of the product offered, its scale and competitiveness.

After all, he is the main working tool and at the same time the face of the company. The tour operator needs to book tours online, which can only be done with a well-functioning system. Such a system requires significant investment and is only available to companies with large financial resources. The timing and amount of prepayment often depend on the relationship with the receiving party. Here, mastery of negotiation skills will be an excellent quality. New hotels usually reduce the price slightly to increase the flow of visitors, but only prepayment will provide the greatest opportunities.

Features of a travel agent business

The idea of ​​transferring the retail distribution of tourism products to private intermediaries is not new. The Workle service has been operating online for several years, with the help of which freelancers earn money by selecting loans, concluding insurance contracts and selling travel vouchers. But during the crisis, tour operators had to reduce the number of branches. Many of them are faced with the need to develop new channels for selling tours. Therefore, the idea of ​​​​how to become a travel agent at home began to look quite attractive for beginning entrepreneurs. Of course, this business format is very convenient: the agent does not need to find and rent premises, buy office equipment, or hire managers. But on the other hand, the intermediary loses the opportunity to invite clients to the office. For some businessmen, the lack of a reason to impress a guest with luxurious renovations and furniture may seem like a significant drawback, although in reality this is not the case.

After all, potential clients, as a rule, are at work during the day, and therefore can only allocate time to discuss the details of the tour in the evening or on weekends. Most often, they study different offers on the Internet, and then call agencies and find out the best price for the selected product. Thus, maintaining an office does little to help increase sales.

Unlike managers, an independent specialist is not tied to a workplace. Without any problems, he can take a laptop for presentations, an agreement form, a terminal for accepting payments and come to the place designated by the client. Since a visit to the customer is still rare among the services of travel agents, this will be an advantage: the consumer will feel obliged to the specialist who spent time and money traveling to him, and therefore will not refuse the offer so easily.

Consequently, in the absence of an office, the likelihood of a successful transaction even increases. Moreover, the potential client will appreciate the attentive attitude towards his wishes and, if the vacation goes well, he will contact the travel agent again in the future.

Summary

For information about what a resume should contain, read the article Structure of a Business Plan Summary.

Goal: opening a travel agency in the city of Orenburg.

Objectives: opening a travel agency aimed at people with average incomes and people with above-average incomes.

Initiator of the project

The initiator of the project is a person who previously worked as a manager in a travel agency and knows the work in it, the operators with whom it will be possible to work. The decision to open your own travel agency is associated with the desire to work for yourself and earn more income than when working as a manager in this field. To attract clients, in addition to marketing activities, tourism operators will be selected that have been verified during the work by an employee, have high quality of services provided and low prices.

Investment costs

The amount of investment expenses is 965,500 rubles: 557,500 thousand rubles of loan funds and 433 thousand of their own, which are invested during the period of unprofitable activities (to maintain activities until the enterprise reaches the break-even point). The loan will be taken from the bank at 17% per annum for five years and with the involvement of guarantors.

Investment costs include:

• Registration of a Limited Liability Company with opening an account and creating a seal – 18 thousand rubles;
• Concluding a lease agreement and paying a security deposit – 40 thousand rubles;
• Finishing the premises - 30 thousand rubles;
• Entrance decoration (sign, banner) – 55 thousand rubles;
• Purchase of equipment and office equipment, delivery, assembly and installation – 64 thousand rubles;
• Creation of an advertising website – 15 thousand rubles.

In general, investment investments will amount to 222 thousand rubles. The remaining funds will be used to support the business in the initial period.

The office will be rented near the center, it has a renovation and a separate entrance, which reduces the cost of renovation and decoration of the work space.

Project financing

The bulk of the funds will be used to decorate the premises and purchase equipment necessary for work, as well as to maintain the business at first, when the activity has not yet reached 100%, and the costs must be paid. In total, you will need 557.5 thousand rubles of credit funds, which are taken from the bank at 17% per annum for five years. You will have to invest 408 thousand of your own funds.

Project payback indicators

After carrying out all the calculations of the business plan for opening a travel agency, the following performance indicators were obtained:

• NPV – 3,699 thousand rubles;
• IRR –222%;
• simple payback period – 1.25 years;
• discounted payback period – 1.33 years;
• discount rate is 13.58%.

Suppliers and contractors

No renovation of the premises is required, you just need to arrange it in accordance with the implementation of tourism activities. Equipment is purchased: two used computers, two multifunctional devices for printing contracts, scanning and photocopying client documents.

Equipment, furniture, appliances, their delivery and assembly will be carried out with the help of hired workers found on the Internet.

Equipment and furniture were found on the Internet, which significantly reduced investment costs; their quality and appearance did not differ from those purchased in a store.

Services

The travel agency will offer its clients the following services:

• International tours to Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, Europe and other countries. Visas are processed for clients, if necessary.
• Internal tours to Crimea, Sochi, Altai and other places of interest to clients.

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Advantages and disadvantages of business

Many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that business in the tourism industry is an exciting and easy way to make money. Indeed, it has a number of positive characteristics:

• The organization of tourism in itself is very interesting. You can learn something new every day, explore the world, communicate with people;
• There are no restrictions on gender, education, age, or social status in this type of activity. Anyone can be puzzled by how to become a travel agent from scratch;
• The job involves frequent travel. In this case, you can take advantage of last minute travel packages, get a partner discount from the operator, or go on a promotional tour;
• An agent can cooperate with several operators at once, thereby expanding the range of tours available to clients to hundreds and thousands of offers;
• The business has development potential. If you collect a large client base, you can think about how to open a travel agency from scratch;
• A travel agent works in comfortable conditions. He does not need to engage in physical labor, constantly be on his feet, freeze or suffer from heat;
• If you provide yourself with orders, then from May to September you can earn a lot of money. However, even in winter there is a demand for ski tours.

To be fair, it should be noted that in his work, a travel agent encounters not only positive aspects. Business also has some difficulties:

1. The responsibility of tour operators and travel agents for the safety of the client is very high. Any trouble is a blow not only to your reputation, but also to your wallet;
2. This work is often accompanied by force majeure: flights are delayed, natural disasters occur at resorts, problems arise at customs;
3. The human factor cannot be ruled out. 5% of tourists are brawlers who start conflicts over any trifles and harass the agent with nagging;
4. A specialist in demand may forget about a normal schedule. He will have to communicate with customers and solve their problems from morning to evening;
5. Competing companies are on every corner today. If you don’t know how to become a good travel agent, then you can lose the fight for the client;
6. Seasonality of business is not only an advantage, but also a disadvantage. For several months a year, the agent will have to work “to zero” or, in general, sit idle.

Travel agent services

The range of tourism products includes tens of thousands of tours to different countries with different durations and different programs. A novice entrepreneur without experience is unlikely to be able to work effectively in all directions. Therefore, before you start working as a travel agent, you need to choose several popular resort regions on the local market - Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, Montenegro. In general, you can offer your clients tours:

1. Internal. Involves traveling within the country. They are usually inexpensive and are not in high demand, and therefore bring little profit;
2. Traveling. As part of these tours, clients visit other states. Among such products there are both affordable and very expensive (India, Cuba, Hawaii);
3. Entry. Includes organizing holidays for foreign citizens in Russia. Clients are provided with a guide and translator and booked rooms in the best hotels.

Of course, for each product sold, the entrepreneur must provide customers with full information and service support. Thus, the basic set of services of travel agents and tour operators should include:

• Explaining to the client the characteristics of certain tours, assistance in selecting a product taking into account the wishes and financial capabilities of the customer;
• Providing information about the selected country in terms of its social, cultural, culinary, ethnic and religious characteristics;
• Search for the most inexpensive products from among those whose quality and level of comfort are not lower than those specified by the client;
• Reserving a tour at all stages of its implementation - from booking hotel rooms to purchasing flight tickets and ordering a taxi;
• Processing client documents, obtaining a visa and insurance policy, paying all related taxes and duties;
• Accompanying the customer until he returns from travel, resolving unforeseen problems at the vacation spot and during transportation;
• Providing maps, guides, phrase books, booklets and other materials that will help clients understand an unfamiliar country.

Most companies and agents are limited to this list. However, in a competitive environment, it is difficult to surprise customers with simply high-quality service, and therefore an entrepreneur should think about introducing additional services, which can be either paid or free. For example:

1. Delivery of the customer from home to the airport. You can order a taxi or allocate your car: in any case, the service will increase the loyalty of tourists;
2. Delivery of documents in person or by courier service. The service will certainly appeal to busy people and residents of remote areas who buy a tour in the city center;
3. Assistance in obtaining a passport. Not everyone will be able to fill out the form at the Federal Migration Service on the first try, and standing in queues is not always convenient for clients;
4. Hotel booking confirmation via SMS, Viber, WhatsApp. A fairly simple service that reassures customers before their trip;
5. Car rent. Not every tourist is ready to stay in a hotel for the entire vacation or is able to find a car rental office in a foreign country on their own;
6. Ticket reservation. Sometimes citizens travel abroad for concerts and sporting competitions. You can help them if you negotiate with online cash registers;
7. Provision of foreign SIM cards. Using cellular services while roaming is expensive, especially if you need to connect to the Internet.

How to become a travel agent?

Strictly speaking, to sell tourism products created by an operator, no certificates or diplomas are needed: the law does not oblige entrepreneurs to have specialized education and special training. But this does not mean that it is possible to engage in such activities without obtaining additional knowledge about the rules and features of organizing citizens’ recreation. How to become a travel agent from scratch in Russia:

• Tourism managers are trained in universities. Of course, you will have to spend several years, but you can gain a huge amount of theoretical and practical knowledge;
• After school you can go to college. Here, in just two years, they will tell you what the work of a travel agent is and how to become a sought-after specialist;
• Travel schools and academies often conduct distance or face-to-face courses lasting a couple of months. They tell only the most important things;
• Finally, you can meet with the director of some tour. It is easiest to study the industry in practice.

How to choose tour operators

There are two types of companies in the tourism market - travel agents and tour operators: the difference between them is that the latter are essentially manufacturers.
Representatives of a tour operator come to a country and begin to develop it, checking hotels, studying transport and excursion routes. They then enter into agreements with local service providers, make prepayments, reserve rooms and flights, and receive volume discounts. By collecting these services into packages, operators receive ready-made tourism products - tours. As a rule, they include transportation of clients, hotel rooms, meals, insurance, a certain set of excursions and entertainment. Therefore, a tourist does not need to waste time planning a trip: he simply buys a tour and goes on vacation.

But a tour operator is a wholesaler. He books entire flights and rents hotel floors without wasting money on small items. The intermediary between him and the consumer is the travel agent. Although the operator remains the service provider, it is the agent who sells the tour on his own behalf and accepts money from the customer. For this work, he receives a commission from the supplier - a certain percentage of the cost of the tour.

To start working, you need to formalize the relationship between a tour operator and a travel agent in the form of an agreement. Agents try to cooperate with different partners, which allows them to include different trips at different prices in their range. You need to choose tour operators carefully so as not to spoil your reputation and the client’s mood. The key factors in this matter are:

• Operator pricing policy. Some manufacturers increase the cost of tours by including optional services and additional insurance;
• Amount of agency fee. Why would an agent sell complex, expensive tours if they bring him a pittance of profit?
• Convenient interaction between tour operator and travel agent. It is much more convenient to work with a supplier if he has online access to a database with a booking function;
• Brand popularity. It can be assumed that a well-known company will not book rooms in third-rate hotels for the sake of profit;
• Product range. If the operator has a large selection of different types of tours, then it is much easier for the agent to search for a package suitable for the client in one place;
• Duration of existence. A company that provides low-quality tours and causes dissatisfaction with customers is unlikely to last in the market for many years;
• Organization of reception. Some operators open representative offices in the places where they send clients. This helps to quickly solve possible problems;
• Contracts with carriers. If an operator has agreements with several airlines, it can quickly transfer customers if a flight is delayed.

How much can you earn from tourism?

Our organization will be engaged in the selection and sale (resale) of tours from the country's leading tour operators. The main income of a travel agency will consist of commissions earned from the sale of tours. According to the agency agreement, the tour operator will pay from 10 to 14% of the tour cost. The percentage depends on the volume of tourists sent during the season. The more tourists a travel agency sends, the higher the reward percentage will be. The main directions in which it is planned to sell tours:

• Europe (Germany, Great Britain, France, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, etc.)
• Dominican Republic
• Tunisia
• India
• Bali
• Thailand
• Costa Rica
• Cyprus
• China
• Russia (Sochi, Crimea, Anapa)

According to preliminary calculations, in the first month of operation (May) about 30 tours will be sold (an average of 1 tour per day). With an average price of a trip of 50,000 rubles. and 10% commission, income from one sale will be 5,000 rubles, and total revenue per month: 150,000 rubles. With the growing popularity of the organization (regular customers), monthly income in the first year of operation will increase by an average of 10%. As the number of sales increases, the percentage of commissions will also increase. Thus, in the first year of operation it is planned to earn about 3,500,000 rubles.

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The most important qualities of a travel agent

An agent's job is 90% communicating with people. Entrepreneurs who know how to become an insurance broker are well aware of the complexity of such a business. As a rule, it is easier to engage in such activities for people who have a certain set of personal qualities. Among them:

• Ability to feel clients. Many citizens, when choosing a tour, follow fashion or do not fully understand what they need. The agent must help them figure it out;
• Sociability, eloquence. Selecting a tour is always a sale. If an agent does not know how to establish contact and persuade, he will not achieve success;
• Coolness. A travel agent will face various challenges. In all situations, he must remain calm and quickly make the right decisions;
• Ability to establish connections. Without a large customer base, there will be no sales. Therefore, the agent must constantly be in society, come into contact with people;
• Organized. Without it, the travel agent will not have time to solve all the problems - develop the business, control the situation on tours, meet new customers;
• Good memory. It is useful for an entrepreneur to remember not only all the features of tours, but also the preferences of clients and the history of their travels.

Risk analysis

As a result of calculations for a travel agency, indicators were obtained that guarantee a good income. But there is a possibility that situations will arise that were not provided for in this business plan. Let's look at them:

1. Falling incomes of the population. This development may reduce the number of clients, but there will still be people with above-average incomes who can afford a vacation. This situation will lead to a reorientation towards such clients, and the cost of tours will increase.
2. Increase in prices for tourist operators due to the fall in the ruble exchange rate. This situation will lead to an increase in the cost of tours. But, as in the previous point, there will be people who will go on vacation. There will be increased competition between travel agencies as the total number of potential clients will decrease. Therefore, it is important to inform in every possible way about your activities and cooperate only with trusted operators in order to earn yourself the status of a reliable company.

Travel agent skills

In some materials on the topic “How I became a travel agent,” the authors claim that without certain skills and knowledge, their path to success in business would have been much more difficult. So, an entrepreneur will definitely need:

1. Salesmanship. Without identifying needs and overcoming objections, no amount of erudition will help the client realize a tourism product;
2. Travel experience. It is impossible to talk captivatingly about the sights of distant countries if information about them is obtained from a booklet;
3. Foreign language skills. It is believed that to work, a travel agent must know at least English in order to communicate with the receiving party;
4. Legal training. Claims in the tourism business are inevitable. The agent must know the laws in order to reasonably defend his position;
5. Knowledge of bureaucratic details. This includes a list of documents for obtaining a visa, rules for clearing customs, a list of items permitted for import;
6. Knowledge of the rules for organizing document flow and maintaining accounting reports. Working as a travel agent involves preparing many documents and contracts;
7. Understanding the principles of interaction between an agent and a tour operator. An entrepreneur must know how to receive a commission, how to avoid sanctions and fines;
8. Knowledge of the basics of hotel service. These are the rules of check-in and check-out from the hotel, the procedure for providing services, catering;
9. Knowledge of geography. It is important for the agent to know where this or that resort is located, what the climate is there, what currency is used, what language is spoken;
10. Computer skills. In the process of work, you have to use not only standard programs, but also special software from tour operators.

Business documentation

Listing everything that is needed to become a travel agent, one cannot fail to mention such an important condition as legalization of activities. To regularly sell tours, you must enter into a civil contract with the tour operator or become an individual entrepreneur. The intermediary does not need any licenses, and therefore you can begin work immediately after receiving individual entrepreneur documents with the appropriate OKVED codes:

OKVED codes for travel agents

Since it is officially impossible to work as a travel agent from home without regularly paying taxes, it is necessary to consider ways to minimize such deductions.
This business is characterized by high margins, so it is most profitable for an entrepreneur to use the simplified tax system at a rate of 6% of revenue; Next, it is advisable to open two bank accounts. The first will be used for current payments, and the second - for transactions with client money and mutual settlements with the tour operator when booking tours;

Finally, the entrepreneur must develop a client agreement template. This document should list all the nuances of the transaction - the timing and procedure for making payment, the start and end dates of the tour, the list of services provided, their prices. If a travel agent enters into an agreement on his own behalf, he is obliged to identify himself in the agreement as an intermediary and indicate the contact details of the tour operator as the supplier of the product.

Step-by-step plan for opening a travel agency

1. Marketing research of the city's tourism services market
2. Finding a suitable premises (office)
3. Registration of a legal entity (LLC)
4. Concluding agency agreements with tour operators
5. Office arrangement, purchase of furniture and equipment
6. Website creation
7. Recruitment and training of personnel
8. Advertising, promotion of services

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How can a travel agent attract clients?

The absence of an office reduces the entrepreneur’s costs, but increases the requirements for the quality and intensity of advertising. To save money on this article, at first you can work with friends and use the potential of word of mouth, but it is difficult to get a decent income from such sales. The activities of a tour operator and travel agent should involve the use of the following promotion channels:

1. Print advertising should be given to local newspapers with advertisements, glossy magazines and other publications that are interesting to potential clients;
2. You can distribute flyers and booklets in large shopping centers visited by people with middle and high incomes;
3. The agent's website should be equipped with pictures and descriptions for each direction. You can place a form here for feedback or tour booking;
4. In addition to the website, you can create selling one-page pages for popular types of tours. They work well because the client does not get lost in the variety of tours;
5. The website and landing pages must be optimized for search engines. The higher they appear for key queries, the more clients they will bring;
6. You can also bring customers to the site with contextual advertising. It is effective because it catches the eye of a user who is already interested in the tour;
7. You should publish articles and reviews on various websites and forums about travel and recreation, demonstrating your professionalism to readers;
8. Communities on social networks can be used in the same way as a website - publish here photos and descriptions of tours, last minute offers, hold competitions and promotions;
9. Instagram deserves special mention. This network is convenient for posting colorful pictures and showing all the interesting places available for visiting;
10. Finally, a video channel with videos about travel and attractions can bring certain benefits. Here you can use ready-made operator materials.

How much do you need to invest in your business?

Many beginners believe that independent mediation in the tourism business does not require any expenses at all, except for the fee for registering an individual entrepreneur. But this opinion is erroneous, since it is impossible to start working as a travel agent at home without purchasing a minimum set of office equipment and advertising. It is also possible that an entrepreneur will need furniture to furnish his workplace:

Investments in tourism business

As you can see, the investments are quite significant. If a beginner is not sure that he can recoup them in a reasonable time, he should think about where it is profitable for an individual to invest money without risks in order to receive passive income. Moreover, a novice travel agent will not only have to spend money at the start, but also pay monthly for travel, communications and advertising:

Travel agent monthly expenses

Production plan

The first thing you need to do is find an office to house the organization. Large areas are not required for the full functioning of a business. Therefore, preference will be given to premises with an area of ​​25 to 35 square meters. m. with ready renovation. This area will be enough to accommodate three workplaces. At this stage, the main costs will be associated with the purchase of office furniture (tables, chairs, soft sofa for clients), office equipment and consumables. The rent for the premises will be about 25,000 rubles. per month.

Travel agent profit

As noted above, tour operators and travel agents are in close communication with each other. The former develop tours, and the latter sell them to clients for a fee. The size of this commission is usually in the range of 8–11% of the transaction amount. However, in some cases, a particularly loyal or successful agent may receive 13–15%. The cost of tours in the most popular destinations is given below:

Travel agent income

Unfortunately, working as a travel agent without experience will not bring huge profits at first. To do this, you need a client base that is formed over months and even years. But if, thanks to a wide circle of acquaintances, an entrepreneur can sell at least one tour daily during the season with an average commission of 4,400 rubles, then in a month, excluding weekends, he will earn 96,800 rubles:

Opening a travel agency - where to start?

The significant advantages of business in this niche are relatively low investments, as well as the absence of the need for special education. But competition in this area is quite high, and the amount of profit will depend on the economic situation in the country: during a crisis, a business may turn out to be unprofitable. Another disadvantage of this line of business is seasonality: the main sales will be in the summer and during the holidays.

The legal side of the issue is spelled out in Law No. 132-FZ of November 24, 1996 “On the fundamentals of tourism activities in the Russian Federation.” Travel organizing services in Russia are provided by tour operators and travel agents.

The responsibilities of tour operators (TOs) include independent development, promotion and subsequent implementation of tours. To start maintenance, insurance or a guarantee from a bank is required. Tour operators must be included in the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators.

TO is a large organization, the opening of which requires experience and connections in the tourism business, as well as impressive start-up capital. This is not a business for beginners. In this article we will consider the option of opening a travel agency - it is much easier and cheaper to start it.

Travel agents are a link, an intermediary between the tour operator and the client. They only sell ready-made tours, and their earnings come from commission payments (from 5 to 16% of the cost of each tour).

The travel agent must:

1. Inform clients about the services provided.
2. Select tours depending on the client’s wishes.
3. Provide clients with all necessary documents.
4. Guarantee the quality of all services provided.

Profitability of travel agent business