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

Tourism is developing in our country with great speed. This is enough profitable industry, which is ideal for starting a travel business, and how to make it successful, you will learn in this article.

Business registration

Tourist activity is not subject to licensing, it can be carried out by both legal entities and private entrepreneurs. Before you start a tourism business from scratch, you should complete all established by law legal action.

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 necessary to have such an amount in the bank account. It is enough just to insure your activity. 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 different diplomas and certificates you have 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 funds that you can invest in a business, at first you can not rent an office space. It is enough to have many acquaintances and friends, a phone and a computer with Internet access. Sell tours offered by major travel companies and earn commissions from this. Earn money collect to save start-up capital.

In addition, you can get a bank loan secured by property. You should not rely on investors, as they are reluctant to invest in tourism activities.

For a business to grow, you need to invest in it. a certain amount of money.

Scheme: travel agency business plan

Main items of expenditure:

Office rent;
Employee salaries;
Advertising.

You will spend 6-12 thousand rubles on registering a tourism business. If you want to avoid the problems associated with paperwork, you can purchase ready business. An operating travel agency costs 1–1.5 million rubles. For this money, you will get an established business with advertising, an established client base and an office. But this option is suitable for entrepreneurs with fairly serious capital. Yes, and usually profitable business no one will sell, so be careful before buying.

In general, the organization of the tourism business will require a small start-up capital. Any person can open such a business.

room

As an office, you can rent a small room, with an area of \u200b\u200bno more than 20 square meters. meters. It should be located in an area with good transport accessibility, developed infrastructure and convenient parking. Most the best place for the development of tourism business - this is the center of the city. Usually there are many potential clients.

Take Special attention signboard. It should be bright and attractive. You can use volumetric letters or a luminous box for this.

Equipment

Try to make a good repair 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 workspaces for employees.

For this you will need:

Chairs;
tables;
Phones;
Computers;
Office equipment.

Select good internet provider because the success of your business depends on it. A slow connection or disconnected connection can be the reason why a client refuses your services.

Employee Selection Criteria

Do not hire your friends or relatives. Friendships are difficult to translate into business relationships. Hire staff that will meet your requirements.

Employees travel agency must know foreign languages and have experience in this field.

Pay special attention to the personal qualities of applicants:

manner of speaking;
The ability to correctly express thoughts;
Ability to highlight important points;
Serious attitude to work;
Ability to communicate with strangers and find a common language with the most demanding clients.

The presence of these qualities is much more important than experience in the tourism business, as employees will communicate directly with customers.

At the start, it is enough to hire 2-3 managers who will find customers and service them. You will have to spend the same amount of money on their salary as on office rent. To increase productivity, incentivize employees with bonuses and free vacations.

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

First of all, develop a competent business plan for a travel agency. Remember that your competitors will be large companies that have been operating in the market for a long time. If you do not have experience in this area, you can complete special courses and work for a while as a tourism manager. Thanks to this, you will be able to get an idea of how travel agencies work;
Decide on a line of business. Work in the area in which you are most competent. For example, if you were 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 a tour from a tour operator and the price at which it was sold to a client.

How to create a profitable travel company in Russia

Additional income can be obtained from the provision of advice to clients, as well as from the sale of air tickets. If we talk about the commission that a travel agency receives from the sale of vouchers, then in small firms this is 10-15% of the cost of the tour, and for famous tour operators– 18–20%. From this it follows that the profitability of this business is very significant. If you sell about 3 tickets 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 young companies stop their activities in the first month of operation. To avoid this, you can purchase a franchise from a well-known travel company. An aspiring entrepreneur can use its brand, management model and business methods. But you will have to pay a certain amount for this. According to experts, acquiring a franchise is much more profitable than covering losses arising from independent activities.

conclusions

Now you know how to organize a tourism business and get started. Do it or don't, it's up to you. Modern people pay special attention to the quality of rest, so a travel agency is a fairly promising area of activity. The most important thing is to properly organize the work and prevent possible risks.

People have different ideas about vacation: for some, a week spent on a tropical beach would be ideal, others prefer traveling and sightseeing, and others cannot imagine leisure without hiking and rafting on mountain rivers. In all this diversity there is one common feature: going on vacation, everyone tries to change the situation 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 instruction In this case, there are two possible ways business creation and development. In the first case, an entrepreneur can focus on the mass sale of popular tours and take part in an active competition, and 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 everyone who is sufficiently balanced and responsible to create their own travel company can find and occupy their unique niche in this market.

Features of the tourism business

Before opening a travel agency in Russia, an entrepreneur should consider the features of this business, get an idea of the structure of the tourism services market and assess the state of affairs in the industry, which is currently determined by the following factors:

On popular destinations, agencies offer similar or identical products, thus creating a high level of competition;
The market is dominated by independent companies - despite the large number of proposals, no more than 8-10% of entrepreneurs seek to open a franchise travel agency;
About 30% of newly created entities close within the first year of operation;
Market leaders use dumping in competition, artificially lowering prices for popular tours;
Business is subject to both positive and negative external influences - championships, festivals and 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

Given the size of the starting capital and their 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, experience in the industry and contacts with tour operators. Among the things you need to open a travel company, you should name the registration of SPD, office rent, purchase of equipment and 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 minimum investment A: All you need is a computer, printer and phone to work. The format of a home agency is also not suitable for beginners, since it implies the presence of its own client base and an extensive circle of contacts. How to open a travel agency at home: you need to register an individual entrepreneur, ensure a presence on the Internet and social networks, and organize a platform for meeting with clients in the nearest cafe;
Internet agency. Such a sales channel can be both additional for an independent company and the main one for a home business format. To open a travel agency in 2020, you need to develop an online store, attract programmers to organize access to the offers of tour operators, connect payment systems and think over a mechanism for providing online consultations.

Buying a franchise. For beginners who do not have sufficient experience, with the required amount of start-up capital, it is easier to buy a ready-made business model and open a franchise travel agency, since network agencies usually provide their partners with:

Software, systems for viewing and booking tours;
Training;
Opportunity to open a travel agency from scratch without experience using a well-known brand and recognizable corporate identity;
Legal and advertising support;
Increased commission rate;
Support in resolving conflicts with tour operators.

Franchises costing from 150 to 450 thousand rubles are available on the market. It should be noted that the companies offering them impose certain requirements on 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.

Choice of 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. It is they who form the tourist packages, including:

Visa support and paperwork;
Delivery of tourists to the place of rest by planes, 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 cost of each tour sold, which the product supplier pays to intermediaries. The interest rate is reviewed twice a year, thanks to which large travel agencies that sell a large number of vouchers achieve an increase in deductions of up 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 division allows us to offer customers interesting products even after the end of the tourist season. When choosing operators, it is recommended to pay attention to the following factors:

Duration of existence and active work;
The presence of positive and negative customer reviews;
Financial security of the operator and the amount of the insurance contract;
Priority areas of work;
Availability of purchased rooms in popular hotels;
The presence of branches nearby, which greatly simplifies the workflow and the procedure for issuing visas for tourists.

Advantages and disadvantages

Is it worth opening a travel agency in 2020? To answer this question, the entrepreneur must carefully weigh all 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 amount of start-up capital, the ability to open a travel agency from scratch at home with a shortage of funds;
Simple process of company registration, no licensing;
The development of the tourism industry in Russia, the emergence of many budget and exotic tours within the country (for example, to Karelia or Kamchatka);
Formation of the belief among potential buyers that they should have a rest every year, if possible away from home or abroad;
Opportunity to cooperate not only with private consumers, but also with corporate customers.

Speaking about whether it is profitable to open a travel agency, it should be taken into account that today the market is 85-90% full, as a result of which only companies that offer non-standard services and open new directions survive. Thus, in addition to the high level of competition, among the disadvantages of the tourism business are:

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

Activity registration

Business in the field of tourism without the legalization of the enterprise is not only illegal, but actually impossible: tour operators will simply refuse to enter into cooperation agreements with individuals. Therefore, before opening a travel company, you need to choose one of the available organizational and legal forms (IP or LLC) and submit an application for registration to the appropriate authority, indicating the desired taxation system. Depending on the expected profit structure of the company, the simplified tax system at a rate of 6% (income) or 15% (income minus expenses) is preferable.

Obtaining a license at the moment 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, he should submit an application to the Federal Tourism Agency, attaching documents on financial security of responsibility to it. In addition, the staff of the licensed company must consist of employees with a secondary special or higher education in the field of tourism, and the manager will additionally be required to have at least three years of experience in the industry.

Location selection

Experienced entrepreneurs consider the search for a 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 crowded places of people with average incomes - central streets, shopping or entertainment centers, bus stops and metro stations. Before opening a travel agency in a chosen place, it is advisable to make sure that it is possible to place a signboard that is noticeable from afar, which increases 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 enhance the status of the agency in the eyes of clients. Other advantages of this option include high traffic and transport accessibility, and the possible lack of parking and increased rent are among the disadvantages.

Considering how to open a travel company from scratch in a business center, the availability of ready-made offices with repairs, connected utilities, communication channels and services, including cleaning and security, should be mentioned as a positive aspect. The disadvantages of this location are the presence of a throughput system and the impossibility of placing a sign on the facade of the building.

AT shopping malls you can also find a suitable place to open a travel agency: what needs to be done first of all is to assess the traffic and purchasing power of visitors in order to select the most popular offers. There are two main disadvantages in this case: high rent and shortage of free space in popular shopping malls.

In a densely populated residential area, the number of potential clients is most often limited to the office within walking distance. 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 non-residential stock. In the absence of direct competition, the main task of the company becomes to regularly inform local residents about popular offers by posting ads and posting advertisements in mailboxes.

Room and interior equipment

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

Room preparation

Item of expenses	price, rub.	Qty	Cost, rub.
Rent for the period of repair	1200	25 m²	30 000
Office design project	1500	25 m²	37 500
Repair 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 conditioner	25 000	1	25 000
Illuminated signboard	25 000	1	25 000
Total:			221 000

It is better to entrust the development of a single corporate identity for a signboard, exterior and interior design of an office to a designer: when calculating how much it costs to open a travel agency, you should take into account such design costs. Geographical maps, souvenirs from different countries, exotic masks, globes, aquariums with bright tropical fish: the visitor must understand at a glance that it is located here Travel Company.

When choosing furniture, you can choose one of the standard options or order the manufacture of cabinets, tables and shelving in the workshop: the difference in price will not be significant. Before you open 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
Chair for client	1 000	6	6 000
Corner sofa	28 000	1	28 000
Coffee table	5 000	1	5 000
Rack	5 000	2	10 000
Filing Cabinets	8 000	1	8 000
Safe	12 000	1	12 000
information board	4 000	2	8 000
Hanger	4 000	1	4 000
office equipment
A computer	18 000	3	54 000
Specialized software	9 000	1	9 000
Dedicated line	2 000	1	2 000
Office network with switch	10 000	1	10 000
Telephone line	6 000	2	12 000
Office PBX	5 000	1	5 000
MFP network	15 000	1	15 000
Telephone set	2 000	2	4 000
Presentation LCD TV	18 000	1	18 000
Promotional Products
World map 150x200 cm	4 500	1	4 500
Globe 40 cm	5 000	1	5 000
Catalogs and advertising	15 000	1	15 000
Shelves for souvenirs	1 500	4	6 000
Stationery	10 000	1	10 000
other expenses	20 000	1	20 000
Total:			324 500

Before opening a travel agency, the business plan should also be supplemented with the cost of purchasing a specialized software, which 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 the client. The price for the program is 8-9 thousand rubles, and the subscription fee for access to the tour selection system is 2100 rubles per month.

Staff

You can open a travel agency on your own from scratch without work experience only in a home format - in all other cases, the company needs 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 in order 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 selling a certain number of vouchers in these directions. It is logical to assume that an employee who has seen the resort and the 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 (who is also the owner) can perform administrative functions, engage in advertising, search for new partners and replace managers during their absence. Hiring an accountant, a system administrator and a cleaning lady full-time is not advisable: the 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 the costs associated with wages:

Agency staff

Financial investments

When considering how to open a travel agency, how to start a company, it should be understood 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: motivation schemes for managers, format advertising campaign, taxation systems and intensity of use of communication channels (with per-minute payment for telephone calls and traffic restriction 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 client base can be formed from your immediate environment. However, this kind of activity will not bring high income and can only be considered as a form of extra income, 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 whole country. Otherwise, this kind of business is better not to start.

For a wide coverage of the tourism services market, it is important to follow a few rules of success:

Tourism 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 a separate line of services, since a wide-profile small firm it will be difficult to compete with large competitors;

It should be identified which segments of the tourism services market are not fully covered by other firms, that is, where there is still unsatisfied demand.

Preliminary cost estimate
Office. The premises for a travel agency is one of the most expensive items. this business. The office of the 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 limit yourself to premises in more remote parts of the city, but preferably in places with a large flow of people: bus stops, avenues, squares, etc.

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

Advertising. The main factor of survival in the market, as well as the initial opportunity to express yourself to customers, is advertising. In the tourism sector, such types of tourism as: television, press, outdoor advertising. Direction data promotional activities are associated with high costs, which are inevitable. In the future, the reputation of the travel company among customers will play a significant role. However, this kind of popularity can be acquired after at least a year of responsible, hard and scrupulous work.

Stages of creating a travel agency

Plan development. When opening a business in the tourism sector, it is advisable to develop a business plan. Particular attention should be paid to the issue of evaluating competitors, among which it is important to include not only other travel companies, but also sites selling air tickets, booking hotels and other similar services on a remote basis. In addition, it is necessary to carefully consider financial plan in order to determine the payback period and the level of business profitability.

Definition of a market niche. When opening a travel agency, one should not strive to cover everything at once. It is important to be able to focus efforts on those areas in which there are knowledge, connections and partners. At first, it is most effective to use the tactics of unidirectional activity. For example, organize tours exclusively to Europe or work with corporate trips abroad. As part of further activities, it is possible to expand 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, and specific services. In addition, it should be mentioned that it is much more convenient and more profitable for customers to contact a travel company than to organize trips abroad on their own. Initially, you should work out a system of discounts based on the seasonality factor, as well as customer loyalty.

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

Additional profit is also provided by client consultations and the sale of air tickets. If we consider commissions from tourist vouchers, then for start-up companies they amount to about 10-15% of the cost, and for well-known ones - 18-20%. Thus, the rate of return is very significant from the standpoint of covering constant and variable costs agencies. For example, if the price of a voucher is 20,000 rubles, and the commission is 10%, then by selling three vouchers per day, you can earn up to 150,000 rubles per month.

How to open a franchise travel agency?

The tourism industry is fraught with serious risks, so more than half of newcomers become bankrupt in the first months of operation. This situation is due to the lack of clients, connections abroad, experience and reliable tour operators. However, you can avoid the impact of such unfavorable factors for business by acquiring a franchise to open a travel agency.

A franchise, in its essence, implies the right of a young company to use the brand, connections, management model and ways of doing business of an established company in the market for a certain 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, training, business meetings, excursions, booking hotel rooms, purchasing air tickets, ensuring security, etc. However, the entire range of tourism services can be divided into two areas:

Organization of departure of citizens of this country abroad;

Reception of tourists from abroad.

The first direction is less costly and is associated with a lower level of risk. It does not involve the creation of an infrastructure industry, since it is completely focused on the foreign market. However, 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 organize tours, while the latter sell them. Activity as a travel agency involves working with ready-made tourism products. Therefore, the main thing is to find clients and reliable tour operators. The level of profitability of such a business averages about 15-17% per year.

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

Often, travel agencies work together with travel companies 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 ads in the press, on the Internet, on radio and television;

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

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

Determine the geographical 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 some 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 in the form of a tour operator right away 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, it is possible to start 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 expenses associated with the tourism industry will have to be abandoned, in particular, the costs of staff, office and advertising will have to be eliminated.

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 own business.

The problem of the office is also insignificant, 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.

Central is the issue of advertising, as the new travel agent needs to build an initial customer base. For this purpose, you can use your own connections, advertising in in social networks and on free classifieds sites on the Internet. If you managed to create a site on your own, then with the help of it you can noticeably. The main thing here is not to give up, because quality services will always find their customer base, even if not as fast as we would like!

Establishment of a travel agency to work with corporate clients

One of the promising segments of the tourism services market is the corporate clientele sector, which is distinguished by its constancy and significant volumes of 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, breaking into this segment is extremely difficult. Firstly, large companies have internal departments for organizing trips abroad and do not use the services of third-party travel agencies. Secondly, those firms that do not have such departments have long established ties with specific large travel agencies and constantly use their services. However, the corporate sector should not be abandoned at all, since new firms are constantly appearing in the economy, which are looking for partners in the tourism industry. In addition, often, already established firms are looking for new travel agents, being dissatisfied with the services of the former ones. It is these customers that can be included in the initial lists of their customers.

It should be remembered that corporate clients are customers of a whole range of services that a travel agency must be ready to provide. These include:

Registration of documents, in particular passports and visas;

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

Booking hotel rooms and delivering items needed by customers (for example, medicines, exercise equipment);

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

Creation of conditions for holding business meetings of clients;

Overseas customer cost planning and security.

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

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

However, if you still have unclear points, then feel free to voice them in the comments to this post, we will be happy to share our opinion on resolving 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 on tours, but nevertheless, in recent years, tourism in Russia has been developing, and the tourist flow is growing every year. Let's figure out how to make money in the tourism 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: 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 the law N 132-FZ of November 24, 1996 "On the basics of tourism activities in the Russian Federation." Travel services in Russia are provided by tour operators and travel agents.

The duties of tour operators (TO) include 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 tour operators.

TO is a large organization, the opening of which requires experience and connections in the travel industry, as well as impressive start-up capital. This is not a business for beginners. In the 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 are engaged only in the sale of ready-made tours, and their earnings are commission payments (from 5 to 16% of the cost of each tour).

The travel agent must:

Inform customers about the services provided.
Select tours depending on the wishes of the client.
Provide customers with all the necessary documents.
Ensure the quality of all services provided.

4 business formats

To open a regular travel agency 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 passing place, make repairs and advertise. If the place is well located, customers can not only come by advertising, but also enter from the street.

The second option is to open travel agency at home. All you need is a phone, a computer, internet access and a printer. It is enough to register an individual entrepreneur and start promoting your 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 range of contacts and professional experience.

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The third option is to open travel agency online. You can select and book tours for your clients in advance through your website. An 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 and open franchise travel agency. In this case, you are using an already well-known brand - you can count on the trust of potential customers, as well as count on help from the franchisor. At the same time, the initial investment will grow due to the cost of buying 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 tourism business.

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

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

Business registration

To get started, just register an IP. 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 duty). The taxation system is simplified (the most beneficial is the simplified tax system Income with a tax rate of 6% on revenue or Income minus expenses at a rate of 15% on net profit).

Suitable OKVED codes:

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

Room search

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

The room must have Internet access and a telephone line. Take care of what's done inside quality repair, and bright and noticeable advertising was placed on the facade. Seriously approach the choice of the location of the future travel company: preference for the central part of the city. It must be a high traffic area. You can open a travel agency in a trade 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 said.

Recruitment

Your potential profit largely depends on the work of the staff. Their salary usually includes a base (salary) and an 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 in Russia at a fantastic rate. People began to live better, incomes increased, which means that the field of activity for firms working in this area has also expanded.

How to start a tourism business? Like any other, with cost and income planning. In the article we will talk about what the business plan of a travel agency should contain, how to competently organize a business, form an assortment of tours, and choose partners.

Choice of direction of work

This is the first thing you will have to deal with. 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 of domestic and foreign companies i.e. travel agents.

Of course, it is more profitable to work according to the first option, but the risks are higher. In addition, the initial capital required is very large. Therefore, it is safer and easier to start activities with the implementation of ready-made tours of reputable tour operators. The organization of a tourism business in this case will require much smaller investments 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 big company and the 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 80,000 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 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. key point in such activities, the trust of customers in the company they choose is expressed, and people trust more legal entities than individual entrepreneurs.

A fee of 4,000 rubles is charged for registering an LLC, and you will also have to make a seal (another 400-600 rubles) and certify the constituent documents with a notary (about 1,000 rubles). Authorized capital must be at least 10,000 rubles, at least half of it you must transfer to an account opened with a 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 that 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 abolished. Therefore, it remains only to choose the object of taxation. The work of travel agencies falls under the simplified tax system. Two objects are offered at your discretion: income (6 percent rate) or income minus expenses (15 percent rate). The second option should be chosen only if a large share of the costs is expected.

Room selection

This step should be done before the registration process. Yes, you will not be registered if you do not have a company legal address. Of course, it is best to locate the agency office in the city center, but focus primarily on financial opportunities. Pay special attention to the design and furnishings of the room. Essentially, a travel company sells promises, “air”, a person gives money now and receives a service later, so you should create an atmosphere of confidence that the savings go into safe hands.

Office equipment

Do not forget about office equipment: the office must be equipped with a computer with Internet access (one is enough for a start), a telephone, a printer, a fax - without all this, work cannot be organized. The cost of furniture will also be rather big. A computer desk costs at least 6,000 rubles, a swivel chair costs about 3,000 thousand, you will also need to purchase chairs for clients, a sofa to wait in case there is a queue, a coffee table where booklets, leaflets, etc. will lie.

On average, the cost of buying furniture will be 30-60 thousand rubles. You will need to spend about 50 thousand rubles on office equipment (with conservative estimates). Yes, your own travel company is expensive! The business plan should also contain a calculation of the monthly costs of maintaining the office, which will include the cost of stationery, communal payments, payment of the Internet, telephone bills and more.

Choice of partners

Finding the tour operators you want to work with is what you need to open a travel agency, among other things. Today, there are many operators on the market that organize tours to various destinations. 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 seek to cooperate with tour operators offering tours to the most low prices. As a rule, such firms are 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. Working with them, you will get rid of many troubles. All documentation turnover is carried out at the main office, if you have a representative office, you can directly give documents, which is very convenient.

Recruitment

The business plan of the travel agency must include information about the staff and payroll. A small company may consist of only four people: a director, a manager, an accountant and a janitor. When combining functions, the staff can be even smaller.

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