How to organize a tourism business in your region. How to start a travel business: revealing the secrets. Estimated running costs

Tourism is developing in our country at a tremendous speed. This is a fairly lucrative industry that is ideal for where to start a travel business, and how to make it successful, you will learn in this article.

Business registration

Tourist activities are not subject to licensing; both legal entities and private entrepreneurs can be engaged in it. Before starting a tourism business from scratch, you should complete all legal steps established by law.

The tour operator must have financial security or a bank guarantee:

International tourism - 30 million rubles;
Inbound tourism - 10 million rubles;
Domestic tourism - 500 thousand rubles;

It is not at all necessary to have such an amount in a bank account. It is enough just to insure your activities. The cost of the insurance policy is 0.4% of the total amount. The tour operator must be registered in the Unified Federal Register.

In addition, you need to obtain a certification certificate, which is a confirmation that all services provided by your company meet the established standards. The more various diplomas and certificates in your office, the more clients will trust you. These can be diplomas issued for charity, or for participating in various advertising campaigns.

Start-up capital

If you do not have the funds to invest in the business, at first you may not need to rent an office space. It is enough to have many acquaintances and friends, a telephone and a computer with Internet access. Sell \u200b\u200btours that are offered by major travel companies and get a commission from it. Collect the earned money to accumulate start-up capital.

In addition, you can get a loan from a bank against collateral. Investors should not be relied upon, as they are reluctant to invest in tourism.

For a business to develop, it is necessary to invest a certain amount of money in it.

Scheme: travel agency business plan

Main expense items:

Office rent;
Employee salary;
Advertising.

You will spend 6-12 thousand rubles on the registration of a tourist business. If you want to avoid problems associated with paperwork, you can purchase a ready-made business. An operating travel agency costs 1-1.5 million rubles. For this money, you will receive a well-established business with advertising, an accumulated client base and an office. But this option is suitable for entrepreneurs with a fairly serious capital. And, as a rule, no one will sell a profitable business, so be careful before buying.

In general, a small start-up capital is needed to organize a tourism business. Anyone can open such a case.

Premises

For an office, you can rent a small room, no more than 20 sq. meters. It should be located in an area with good transport accessibility, developed infrastructure and convenient parking. The best place for the development of tourism business is the city center. There are usually many potential customers there.

Pay special attention to the sign. It should be bright and attractive. You can use three-dimensional letters or a luminous box for this.

Equipment

Try to make a good renovation in the office space, as your future clients are wealthy people who are used to comfort. Place a sofa and a small table in the client's corner. The interior of the room can be decorated in a corporate style and add some tourist paraphernalia. Prepare workplaces for employees.

For this you will need:

Chairs;
Tables;
Telephones;
Computers;
Office equipment.

Choose a good internet provider as your business success depends a lot on it. A slow connection or a disconnected connection can be the reason why the client will refuse your services.

Employee selection criteria

Don't hire your friends or relatives. It is quite difficult to translate friendly relations into business ones. Hire staff to meet your requirements.

Travel agency staff must know foreign languages \u200b\u200band have experience in this field.

Pay special attention to the personal qualities of applicants:

Conversation style;
Ability to express thoughts correctly;
Ability to highlight important points;
Serious attitude to work;
Ability to communicate with strangers and find common ground with the most demanding clients.

Having these qualities is much more important than experience in the travel business, as employees will communicate directly with clients.

At the start, it is enough to hire 2-3 managers who will find clients and serve them. You will have to spend as much on their salary as on renting an office. To increase productivity, incentivize employees with bonuses and free vacations.

There is a high level of competition in the tourism market in our country. Therefore, if you decide to open a travel business and want to stay afloat, you must adhere to simple rules:

First of all, develop a competent travel agency business plan. Remember that your competitors will be large companies that have been in the market for a long time. If you do not have experience in this field, you can complete special courses and work for some time as a tourism manager. This will give you an idea of \u200b\u200bhow travel agencies work;
Decide on a direction of activity. Work in the area in which you are most competent. For example, if you have been organizing tours to Europe, you can continue to work in this direction;
Create connections. Your task is to convey to potential clients that they can fully rely on your agency. Thanks to this, you will save customers time and money that would have to be spent on advertising.

Profit

To understand whether the tourism business is profitable, you need to figure out how much income such a company receives. The profit of a travel agency is the difference between the cost of the tour from the tour operator and the price at which it was sold to the client.

How to create a profitable travel company in Russia

Additional income can be obtained from providing advice to clients, as well as from the sale of air tickets. If we talk about the commission that the travel agency receives from the sale of the voucher, then in small companies it is 10-15% of the tour cost, and for well-known tour operators - 18-20%. It follows from this that the profitability of this business is very significant. If you sell about 3 vouchers a day, you can earn about 150 thousand rubles a month.

Franchise travel agency

It should be noted that the tourism business in Russia is subject to serious risks. Many start-up companies end in the first month of operation. To avoid this, one can purchase a franchise from a reputable travel company. An aspiring entrepreneur can use her brand, management model, and business practices. But you will have to pay a certain amount for this. According to experts, it is much more profitable to acquire a franchise than to cover losses arising as a result of independent activities.

conclusions

Now you know how to organize a travel business and get started. It is up to you to do this business, or refuse it. Modern people pay special attention to the quality of recreation, so a travel agency is a fairly promising area of \u200b\u200bactivity. The most important thing is to competently organize the work and prevent possible risks.

People have different ideas about vacation: for some, a week spent on a tropical beach would be an ideal option, others prefer travel and sightseeing, and others cannot imagine leisure without hiking and rafting on mountain rivers. In all this diversity, there is one thing in common: 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 travel packages 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 the consumer both within the country and abroad, it can be assumed that anyone who is sufficiently balanced and responsible to create 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 \u200b\u200bthe structure of the tourist services market and assess the state of affairs in the industry, which is currently determined by the following factors:

On popular destinations, agencies offer similar or identical products, thereby creating a high level of competition;
The market is dominated by independent companies - despite the large number of offers, no more than 8-10% of entrepreneurs seek to open a travel agency by franchise;
About 30% of newly created entities are closed during the first year of operation;
Competitive market leaders use dumping, artificially lowering prices for popular tours;
Business is subject to both positive and negative external influences - championships, festivals and mass holidays attract the attention of tourists, while natural disasters, political and military actions, 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 2020 from scratch in one of the following formats:

Independent company. This option is more suitable for professionals with personal connections, industry experience and contacts with tour operators. Among the things that are needed to open a travel agency are SPD registration, office rent, purchase of equipment and staff recruitment;
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: it is enough to have a computer, printer and phone to work. The home agency format is also not suitable for beginners, since it requires its own client base and an extensive social circle. 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 with clients in the nearest cafe;
Internet agency. Such a sales channel can be either additional for an independent firm or the main one for a home business format. To open a travel agency in 2020, you need to develop an online store, involve programmers to organize access to the offers of tour operators, connect payment systems and think over a mechanism for providing online consultations.

Purchase of a franchise. For beginners who do not have sufficient experience, if there is a start-up capital of the required size, it is easier to buy a ready-made business model and open a travel agency for a franchise, 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 are available on the market, costing from 150 to 450 thousand rubles 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 travel packages that include:

Visa support and paperwork;
Delivery of tourists to the place of rest by airplanes, trains or buses;
Transfer (transportation of clients from the airport to the hotel and back);
Accommodation and meals;
Health insurance.

When concluding agreements with one or more tour operators, the agency's income will be formed from a commission of 9-12% of the value of each sold tour, which the product supplier pays to intermediaries. The interest rate is revised twice a year, due to which large travel agencies that sell a large number of vouchers are seeking to increase 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 vouchers corresponding to the profile of the company (for example, to Turkey or Egypt), and the rest should close other directions, including individual programs and tours to exotic countries; this separation 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 redeemed rooms in popular hotels;
The presence of branches nearby, which greatly simplifies the paperwork and visa procedure for tourists.

Advantages and disadvantages

Should you open a travel agency in 2020? To answer this question, an entrepreneur must carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of this type of activity. The positive aspects of the tourism business include:

A wide range of tour operators offering favorable terms of cooperation;
Loyal requirements for the size of the start-up capital, the ability to open a travel agency from scratch at home with a shortage of funds;
Uncomplicated company registration process, no licensing;
Development of the tourism industry in Russia, the emergence of many budget and exotic tours within the country (for example, to Karelia or Kamchatka);
Formation of the belief in potential buyers that they should rest every year, if possible, away from home or abroad;
The ability 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 borne in mind that today the market is 85–90% filled, as a result of which only companies that offer non-standard services and open new directions survive. Thus, in addition to the high level of competition, the disadvantages of the tourism business include:

Unpredictability of demand and the impossibility of accurate forecasting of profits;
Exposure to the influence of economic and political factors;
Seasonality (in the period from November to March, sales fall by 40-50%).

Activity registration

Business in the field of tourism without legalization of the enterprise is not only illegal, but also virtually impossible: tour operators will simply refuse to conclude cooperation agreements with individuals. Therefore, before opening a travel agency, you need to choose 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 structure of the company's profit, the STS is preferred at a rate of 6% (income) or 15% (income minus expenses).

Obtaining a license at the moment does not apply to 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: for this, an application should be submitted to Rosturizm, attaching documents on financial security of responsibility to it. 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.

Choice of location

Experienced entrepreneurs consider the search for suitable premises to be one of the most important tasks in the tourism business: when considering what is needed to open a travel agency, one 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 - central streets, shopping or entertainment centers, stops and metro stations. Before you open a travel agency in a chosen place, it is advisable to make sure that there is a sign that is noticeable from afar, increasing the flow of customers 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 raise the agency's status in the eyes of clients. Other advantages of this option include high traffic and transport accessibility, while the disadvantages include the possible lack of parking and increased rent.

Considering how to open a travel company from scratch in a business center, as a positive aspect, it should be mentioned that there are ready-made offices here with renovation, connected utilities, communication channels and services, including cleaning and security. The disadvantages of such a 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 find the most popular offers. There are two main disadvantages in this case: high rents and a shortage of free space in popular shopping malls.

In a densely populated residential area, the number of potential clients is most often limited by walking distance to 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 buying an apartment on the ground floor with its subsequent transfer to a non-residential fund. In the absence of direct competition, the main task of the company is to regularly inform local residents about popular offers by posting ads and placing advertisements in mailboxes.

Room and interior equipment

After concluding a lease agreement, the premises need to be repaired, managers' workplaces need to be equipped with tables and computers, and the waiting area for visitors - comfortable sofas, coffee tables, a water cooler or a coffee machine. The total cost of preparing the premises includes:

Room preparation

Cost item	price, rub.	Qty	Cost, rub.
Rent for the period of renovation	1200	25 m²	30 000
Office design project	1500	25 m²	37 500
Renovation work	2 000	25 m²	50 000
Building materials	1 500	25 m²	37 500
Plumbing	7 000	1	7 000
Lighting	1 500	6	9 000
Air conditioning	25 000	1	25 000
Backlit sign	25 000	1	25 000
Total:			221 000

It is better to entrust the development of a single corporate identity for signage, external and internal office decoration 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 it is a travel company that is located here.

When choosing furniture, you can choose one of the standard options or order the manufacture of cabinets, tables and shelves in the workshop: the price difference will be insignificant. Before opening a travel agency from scratch, you must additionally purchase:

Equipment

Name	price, rub.	Qty	Cost, rub.
Furniture
Work table	15 000	3	45 000
Worker's chair	3 000	3	9 000
Customer chair	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
Telephone 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
Souvenir shelves	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 work of the company and provides a quick view of the offers of all tour operators: a manager who manually opens dozens of sites is unlikely to be able to quickly serve a 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

It is possible to independently open a travel agency 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 firms, so it is better to invite young specialists to work and train them in the future to get a professional team in a year.

To get acquainted with the product, employees are regularly sent on short study tours, compensating them for the costs after the sale of a certain number of vouchers in these directions. It is logical to assume that an employee who has seen the resort and hotel with his own eyes is able to tell about it much more colorfully and convince even a skeptical client.

The director of the company (he is the owner) can perform administrative functions, engage in advertising, search for new partners and replace managers during their absence. Hiring a full-time accountant, system administrator and cleaning lady is impractical: incoming specialists will also cope with a small amount of work. When calculating how much it costs to open a travel agency, you need to provide for labor-related costs:

Agency staff

Financial investments

Considering how to open a travel agency, where to start a company, you should understand that without detailed cost planning, the chances of business success remain small. Travel agency investments 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 the use of communication channels (with per-minute payments for phone calls and traffic limitation by an Internet provider):

Estimated running costs

Profit and payback periods

How to start opening a travel agency?

First, we recommend that you pay attention to our other article, which will tell you, this article will help you understand the plan for future actions.

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

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

A tourist business should be opened in those areas where competitors have not yet made their way;

It is better to develop a small travel agency within the framework of a separate line of services, since it will be difficult for a wide-profile small company to compete with large competitors;

It is necessary to identify which segments of the tourist services market are not fully covered by other firms, that is, where there is still an unmet demand.

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

Staff. According to experts, when organizing a travel agency, you should remember a simple rule: office costs are approximately equal to total staff costs. However, on average, salaries in this industry are very low, so staff should be motivated by providing additional services: benefits for purchasing vouchers, internships and training at the expense of the company and other benefits. It will not be difficult to select the main body of personnel, since it is easy to learn how to work in the tourism sector on the spot. However, it is necessary to involve in the work several professionals with excellent knowledge of foreign languages.

Advertising. Advertising is the main factor of survival in the market, as well as the initial opportunity to show customers about yourself. In the tourism sector, such types of it as television, press, outdoor advertising are especially popular. These areas of advertising are associated with high costs, which are inevitable. In the future, the reputation of the travel company among clients will play a significant role. However, this kind of popularity can be gained in at least a year of responsible and persistent and scrupulous work.

Stages of creating a travel agency

Developing a plan. When starting a business in the tourism sector, it is advisable to develop a business plan. Particular attention should be paid in it to the issue of evaluating competitors, which include not only other travel companies, but also sites that sell air tickets, book hotel rooms and other similar services on a remote basis. In addition, you need to carefully work out a financial plan in order to determine the payback period and the level of profitability of the business.

Determination of the market niche. When opening a travel agency, you should not try to cover everything at once. It is important to be able to focus on those areas in which there is knowledge, connections and partners. At first, it is most effective to use the tactics of one-way activity. For example, organize tours exclusively to Europe or work with corporate travel abroad. As part of further activities, it is possible to expand the market coverage and enter other market niches.

Formation of connections. When creating advertising messages for potential clients, it is extremely important to emphasize the distinctive features of a travel agency: its specialization, reliable partners abroad, specific services. In addition, it should be mentioned that it is much more convenient and profitable for clients to contact a travel company than to independently organize trips abroad. Initially, a system of discounts should be worked out based on the factor of seasonality, as well as customer loyalty.

[b] Travel agency profit generation
The main source of profit for a travel agency is the difference between the purchase price of travel packages from tour operators and the cost of selling them to customers.

Additional income is also provided by customer consulting and ticket sales. If we consider the commissions from travel vouchers, they are about 10-15% of the cost for start-up companies, and 18-20% for well-known ones. Thus, the rate of return is very significant in terms of covering the agency's fixed and variable costs. For example, if the price of a voucher is 20,000 rubles, and the commission is 10%, then selling three vouchers per day can earn up to 150,000 rubles a month.

How to Start a Travel Agency Franchise?

The tourism industry is fraught with serious risks, so more than half of the newcomer firms go bankrupt in the first months of activity. This situation is due to the lack of clients, contacts abroad, experience and reliable tour operators. Nevertheless, it is possible to avoid the impact of such unfavorable factors for business by acquiring a franchise for opening a travel agency.

A franchise essentially implies the right of a young firm to use the brand, connections, management model, and business practices of an established company in the market for a fee. According to experts, the cost of a franchise for travel companies is cheaper than covering losses from the implementation of activities on an independent basis.

Features of work in the tourism business

The tourism business is a very broad field of activity. It includes organizing the travel of citizens abroad for recreation, education, business meetings, excursions, booking hotel rooms, purchasing air tickets, ensuring security, etc. However, the whole range of travel services can be divided into two areas:

Organization of departure of citizens of a given country abroad;

Reception of tourists from abroad.

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

In the tourism business, it is important to distinguish between the activities of tour operators and travel agencies. The former are involved in organizing tours, and the latter are selling them. Activity as a travel agency involves working with ready-made travel products. Therefore, the main thing is to find clients and reliable tour operators. The level of profitability of such a business on average is about 15-17% per year.

The tour operator organizes tours independently, that is, purchases air tickets, reservations hotel rooms, organizes excursions with guides, provides multiple flights, and guarantees the safety of tourists. This kind of business requires significant financial investments, but its profitability is much higher - about 30-40% per year.

Travel agencies often work in conjunction with travel agencies on the basis of long-term cooperation agreements.

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

If possible, purchase a franchise;

Conduct active advertising, in particular place advertisements in the press, on the Internet, on radio and television;

Form a permanent array of customers, attracting them with discounts and additional services;

Determine the areas of activity: leisure, business travel, training, sports, etc.

Determine the geographic scope of the business: trips to Europe, tours to Egypt or exotic travel;

Find relevant tour operators and conclude cooperation agreements with them.

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

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

Despite the fact that a travel agency, like any other business, is based on start-up capital, you can start even without it. However, in this case, the achievement of a stable position in the market, as well as high profits, will occur more slowly. In addition, the main costs associated with the tourism industry will have to be abandoned, in particular, to negate the costs of personnel, office and advertising.

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

The office problem is also unimportant, since most of the work can be done at home, and meetings with clients can be organized in other places, for example, in a cafe.

The central issue is advertising, as the new travel agent needs to build an initial customer base. For this purpose, you can use your own links, advertisements on social networks and on free ad sites on the Internet. If you managed to create a website on your own, then you can noticeably use it. The main thing here is not to give up, because quality services will always find their customer base, even if not as quickly as we would like!

Creation of a travel agency to work with corporate clients

One of the promising segments of the tourist services market is the sector of corporate clientele, which is distinguished by its constancy and significant orders. It should be noted that the direction of the tourism business associated with servicing corporate clients is characterized by increased demand, which attracts novice travel agents. However, it is extremely difficult to penetrate into this segment. First, large companies have internal departments for organizing travel abroad and do not use the services of third-party travel agencies. Secondly, those firms that do not have such departments have long established contacts with specific large travel agencies and constantly use their services. Nevertheless, one should not abandon the corporate sector at all, since new firms appear in the economy every now and then, looking for partners in the tourism industry. In addition, often established firms are looking for new travel agents, being dissatisfied with the services of the previous ones. These are the customers you can include in your initial customer lists.

It should be remembered that corporate clients are the customers of a whole range of services, for which the travel agency must be ready. These include:

Registration of documents, in particular, passports and visas;

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

Reservation of rooms in hotels and delivery of items needed by customers (for example, drugs, exercise equipment);

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

Creation of conditions for holding business meetings of clients;

Overseas customer cost planning and security.

Another significant difficulty for a travel agent in working with the corporate sector is urgency. Indeed, often only a few hours are provided to provide the services listed above, and sometimes orders have to be fulfilled on weekends. However, this also has its advantage - for urgent orders, the commission is usually higher. However, this approach is best not used in relation to regular customers. Which rarely provide urgent orders.

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

However, if you have any unclear points, then feel free to voice them in the comments to this post, we will be happy to share our opinion on the solution of this or that issue.

Most people dream of seeing the world and visiting the most remote and exotic corners of the earth. Not everyone has the opportunity to travel regularly, but still, in recent years, tourism in Russia has been developing, and the tourist flow is growing every year. We will analyze how to make money in the travel business by opening your own travel agency.

Opening a travel agency - where to start?

The essential advantages of a 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: in a crisis, business may turn out to be unprofitable. Another drawback 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 the law N 132-FZ of 24.11.96 "On the basics of tourism in the Russian Federation." Travel organization services in Russia are provided by tour operators and travel agents.

The responsibilities of tour operators (TO) include the independent development, promotion and subsequent implementation of tours. To start maintenance, insurance or a guarantee from the 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 travel business, as well as an impressive start-up capital. This is not a newbie business. In this article, we will consider the option of opening a travel agency - it is much easier and cheaper to launch it.

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

The travel agent must:

Inform clients about the services provided.
Select tours depending on the wishes of the client.
Issue all the necessary documents to clients.
Guarantee the quality of all services provided.

4 business formats

To open the usual travel agencies from scratch you will need to rent an office and hire staff. Offline office is the most common format for doing this business. It is required to rent an office in a walk-through area, make repairs and advertise. If the place is well located, customers can not only come from advertisements, but also enter from the street.

The second option is to open home travel agency... All you need is a telephone, computer, Internet access and a printer. It is enough to register an individual entrepreneur and start promoting their services by advertising on the Internet, social networks and the media. Meetings with tourists can be held both at home and in neutral territory (for example, in a cafe or coworking space). This way of opening a travel agency requires a minimum investment. It is suitable for people with a wide social circle and professional experience.

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The third option is to open online travel agency... You can select and book tours for your clients in advance through your website. Online travel agency does not require hiring a large number of employees and large financial investments, because you can do without an office. You can manage such a company from anywhere in the world where there is Internet access.

Aspiring entrepreneurs can try their hand at travel agency franchise... In this case, you are using an already well-known brand - you can count on the trust of potential customers, and also count on help from the franchisor. At the same time, the initial investment will increase due to the cost of purchasing a franchise. Popular companies providing franchising services in this area are Well, Wings and 1001 Tour.

We have considered all the main ways to open a travel agency from scratch. Now let's talk about how to independently organize a travel business.

Step-by-step plan for opening a travel agency from scratch

Let's analyze a step-by-step plan for opening a travel company.

Business registration

To begin with, it is enough to register an individual entrepreneur. This form of registration allows you to start a business quickly and with minimal investment. Registration will take only a week and will cost 1000 rubles (payment of state fees). The taxation system is simplified (the most profitable is the STS Income with a tax rate of 6% from revenue or Income minus expenses with a rate of 15% from net profit).

Suitable OKVED codes:

79.11 Activities of travel agencies
79.90 Reservation services
79.90.1 Tourism information services activities
79.90.2 Activities for the provision of excursion tourism services
79.90.21 Activities of travel agencies for the provision of excursion travel services
79.90.3 Activities for the provision of travel services related to booking.

Search for premises

If you are planning a home travel agency or online travel agency, you skip this step.

The room must have Internet access and a telephone line. Make sure that high-quality repairs are made inside, and bright and visible advertising is placed on the facade. Be serious when choosing the location of your future travel company: preferring the central part of the city. This should be a high traffic area. You can open a travel agency in a shopping or business center, near the airport or inside a residential complex.

Special attention should be paid to the name of the travel agency. About, how to name a company so that it is successful, we have already told.

Staff recruitment

Your potential profit largely depends on the work of your staff. Their salary usually includes a base (salary) and incentive part (deductions from the cost of tours). The minimum staff consists of a manager and a secretary. A cleaning lady and an accountant can be outsourced.

Tourism is developing at a fantastic rate in Russia. People began to live better, incomes increased, which means that the field of activity for companies working in this area expanded.

How to start a travel business? Like any other, with planning costs and income. In the article we will tell you about what a travel agency's business plan should contain, how to properly organize a business, form an assortment of tours, and choose partners.

Choosing a direction of work

This is the first thing you will have to face. All currently operating companies can be divided into two groups: those that organize and implement their own tours, in a word, tour operators, and those that specialize exclusively in selling offers from domestic and foreign companies, that is, travel agents.

Of course, it is more profitable to work according to the first option, but the risks are also higher. In addition, the start-up capital is very large. Therefore, it is safer and easier to start an activity with the implementation of ready-made tours of reputable tour operators. Organization of a tourist business in this case will require much less investment from you, you can start with a capital of 200 thousand rubles (of course, this is the minimum figure).

A travel agent is a kind of intermediary between a large company and a buyer. But this does not mean that you should sell tours strictly at the price determined by the tour operator. For example, the organizer of a tour to America offered you a route worth 80 thousand rubles for implementation on the condition that you take 10 percent of the tour price for yourself. You are selling a ticket in your city, where there are no more similar offers, more expensive, say, for 100 thousand rubles. The benefit is obvious - your income increases.

Travel business. Where to begin?

After you have decided on the direction of work, you should register your company. You can create a legal entity, or you can function as an individual entrepreneur. As practice shows, for work in the field of tourism, it is still better to give preference to LLC. The key point in such activities is the trust of clients in the company they choose, and people trust legal entities more than individual entrepreneurs.

A fee of 4000 rubles is charged for the registration of an LLC, you will also have to make a seal (another 400-600 rubles) and certify the constituent documents with a notary (about 1000 rubles). The authorized capital must be at least 10,000 rubles, at least half of it must be transferred to an account opened with the bank (you will also have to pay about 500 rubles to open an account). Upon registration, the company will be assigned OKVED 53.30 "Activities of travel agencies". Thus, the minimum amount you will spend on the registration procedure is 6,000 rubles.

License and taxes

What else do you need to open a travel agency? Previously, a license was required, but since 2007, compulsory licensing has been canceled. Therefore, it remains only to choose the object of taxation. The work of travel agencies falls under the STS. There are two objects at your discretion: income (6 percent rate) or income minus expenses (15 percent rate). The second option should only be chosen if a large proportion of the cost is expected.

Room selection

This step should be done even before the registration process. And you will not be registered if the company does not have a legal address. Of course, it is best to locate the agency's office in the city center, but focus primarily on financial capabilities. Pay particular attention to the design and furnishings of the room. In essence, a travel company sells promises, "air", a person gives money now and receives a service later, so an atmosphere of confidence should be created that the savings are going into safe hands.

Office equipment

Do not forget about office equipment: the office must be equipped with a computer with Internet access (one will be enough for a start), a telephone, a printer, a fax - without all this, work cannot be organized. Furniture costs will also be rather big. A computer desk costs at least 6,000 rubles, a swivel chair - about 3,000 thousand, you will also need to buy chairs for clients, a sofa for waiting if a queue suddenly forms, a coffee table where brochures, leaflets and so on will lie.

On average, the cost of buying furniture will be 30-60 thousand rubles. On office equipment, you will need to spend somewhere in the 50 thousand rubles (at a conservative estimate). Yes, it's not cheap to have your own travel agency! The business plan should also include a calculation of the monthly office maintenance costs, which will include office supplies, utility bills, Internet, telephone bills, and more.

Partner selection

Finding the tour operators you want to work with is what you need to open a travel agency, among other things. There are many operators on the market today who organize tours in all sorts of directions. An important point: you need to work only with trusted companies.

Many entrepreneurs who are just starting the development of the tourism business make a serious mistake. They strive to cooperate with tour operators offering tours at the lowest prices. As a rule, such firms turn out to be unreliable. To avoid unpleasant moments, choose companies that have already established themselves in the market.

Be sure to find out which tour operators have offices in your city. By working with them, you will get rid of a lot of hassle. The entire documentary turnover is carried out at the head office, if you have a representative office, you can directly submit documents, which is very convenient.

Staff recruitment

In the business plan of the travel agency, it is imperative to include information about the personnel and the wages fund. A small company can consist of only four people: a director, a manager, an accountant and a cleaner. When combining functions, the staff can be even smaller.

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