Is it possible to open a travel agency at home. Own business: opening a travel company. Travel company formats

The travel business is considered one of the most profitable: even in times of crisis, people want to have a good rest. Starting your own business is not difficult, however, like any field of activity, tourism has its own key features.

Features of work in the tourism business

From the client's point of view, the tourism sector is a complete paradise. At one word "tourism" a person imagines white beaches, fluffy palms, bright lights in bars ...

From the inside, everything is completely different: the tourism business requires a responsible approach: an agent will be responsible for any trouble that happened in a foreign country.

In particular:

The safety of customers is completely on the conscience of the travel agency.
They must be warned about all possible problems: about the physical and mental stress of the tour, about the dangers that may threaten them, about how to behave in any emergency.
All equipment used by tourists must be fully functional and compliant with regulations.
The staff must be perfectly oriented and be able to find a way out in any scenario.
The information provided to customers must be completely correct.
No reservations or understatements: they should be aware of all possible risks, delays and discounts.
The ecology of the region to which clients are leaving should be ideal.
The political environment should not interfere with their rest.
If something changes during the registration of the tour (a war starts, an accident occurs at a large enterprise, terrorist attacks become more frequent), clients should be notified of this in advance and, if they wish, they should be provided with similar vouchers to another location
The staff working with clients must be perfectly trained, answer any question, do not hide anything and navigate the everyday life and customs of the countries where the trips are provided, so as to easily resolve the difficulties that arise.

In addition, the tourism business is highly competitive: before starting to engage in it, you need to make sure that the company finds its niche and will be in demand. Otherwise, there is a great chance to burn out.

How much does it cost to open a travel agency in Russia

Starting a business always costs money. In order to form a travel agency, you will need at least 200 thousand rubles - and possibly more.

This money will include:

the premises in which the agency will be located;
personnel who will serve clients;
advertising that will attract them;
the vouchers for which the clients will actually go.

However, the investment may not be so large if the travel agency is open at home and its entire staff consists of one person. This possibility also exists.

Start of tourist business: first steps

Before hiring staff and renting a room, you should do much more pressing matters, which boil down to working with documents.

It takes place in several stages, sequentially.

Market analysis

At this stage, you need to collect information about an existing proposal and try to find a niche for your company. Perhaps no one takes tourists to China.

Perhaps, it is in the selected market segment that there are no relatively cheap and well-known tours to Thailand. Perhaps people are showing interest in extreme sports, but there is no proposal yet.

The main thing is to define exactly what people need.

Drawing up a business plan

At this stage, you need to think in detail about how the work of the company will look: not in general terms, but thoroughly.

In the tourism business, the plan is usually made as follows:

Free cheese only comes in a mousetrap.
If an operator offers tours at prices that are significantly lower than those of his colleagues, this is not a reason to buy them all, this is a reason to be wary.
It is quite possible that there is a catch in the tours: non-compliance with the stated conditions, overlays, inconveniences, for which the agent will be responsible first of all, since the tourist will buy the tour from him.
The longer a firm has been in the market, the more likely it is to be reliable.
Before concluding an agency agreement, you should read the reviews on the Internet.
If there are many complaints about the company, this is a wake-up call - it may be worth looking for someone else.

Choosing the right location

There are several options here:

Center.
This option is for those who are not afraid of its main drawback: high cost, as well as the difficulty of finding a building with a separate entrance.
If this is not a problem, you can fully benefit from the advantages: place a creative sign that will attract customers from the street, increase the trust of future tourists in the agency, and make it easier for them to find the right house.
Business center.
This option is for those who are not afraid of the access system and the impossibility of placing a sign outside.
There will be no flow of customers from the street, but you can get a newly renovated room, an influx of tourists from other offices and increased confidence in such a solid office.
Shopping center.
This option is for those who are not afraid to look for a suitable free space for a long time and pay high rent.
Pros - a constant stream of people passing by, some of whom will certainly be interested in the company.
Sleeping area, outskirts.
In this option, there is an opportunity not to face high competition, not to pay high rent and attract local residents who probably also want to go on vacation.
However, the flow of customers will be limited and it will take a lot of effort in advertising and retaining regular users.

Design

The premises, when rented, should be properly decorated. Cleanliness, gloss, shine and always things that suggest other countries.

Photographs or fancy souvenirs are something that will create an alluring adventure atmosphere. And, of course, you should make sure that all staff are equipped with equipment, and that the office has a telephone and Internet connection.

Staff recruitment

You should choose specialists who love their job, are savvy in its nuances and are focused on career growth. You can look for yesterday's excellent students, lure people away from competitors or take temporarily unemployed - it all depends solely on taste.
You will need:

At least two managers, as one cannot process all requests.
An accountant who will be busy counting and settling accounts.

In the early stages, you can get by with a small staff: when the business expands and the client base grows, it will be possible to hire more people.

Advertising

Even the best product will not sell without the right PR campaign. Therefore, you should definitely allocate enough money for these needs.

The main rule of the travel business is honesty. Any lie will come out sideways: in the age of information technology, any overlaps will become known on the forums and no one wants to use the company's services.

Therefore, if long and fruitful work is meant, it is better to work conscientiously right away, not allowing yourself to be dishonest.

How to open a travel agency from scratch if there is no start-up capital

Start-up capital is a serious help in starting any business. However, in the case of tourism, you can get by with improvised materials, if you are not lazy and do not count on fabulous profits right away.

Required:

A computer through which it will be possible to advertise, keep in touch with customers and create the appearance of a serious company.
A little money to buy the very first tours.
Ability to communicate with people and (optional, but highly desirable) a wide range of acquaintances.
Availability of free time and advertising talent.

It is best to start working without start-up capital for people who have a huge number of friends and acquaintances who have the opportunity to use the services of an agent and recommend him to their acquaintances. And, of course, you can't do without advertising: your own website, your own group in social networks, constant updates, possibly discounts.

It will not be possible to go straight to the level of serious agencies. However, how soon it will be possible to create a stable customer base and start making a profit depends only on the agent's abilities.

How the travel agency can be found in the video.

How to start a travel agency franchise

Fanchise work is, in fact, work under a false name, which is perfect for those who are not confident in their knowledge, but confident in their abilities. In this case, licensing and registration will also be required, but it will be much easier to get started: for this it is necessary to conclude an agreement with a large company, which will allow the newcomer to use his brand for a share in the profit.

The contract may imply that the firm provides not only the name, but also:

Ready-made technologies, including online tour ordering systems and a website.
Free training for employees.
The ability to use brand and style for the greater good.
The ability to receive comprehensive support.
Ability to redirect conflicts with operators to a senior company.

In general, this option is suitable in order to learn how to work in this, but it is not suitable in order to start making a solid profit. Sooner or later, you will have to go free swimming.

How to open an online agency

In order to create an online agency, you need a good programmer and an equally good designer.

Together they must create a website where the client can:

read all the details of the tours that interest him;
choose a specific tour and book a tour;
pay for the tour and generate the required package of documents.

This approach has certain advantages: personnel costs become minimal, customers can be served from anywhere in Russia, it is not necessary to sit in the office all day and the registration is as simple and automated as possible.

However, the site can be hacked, and work with documents requires either the presence of a client or work with scans. The site will also need strong technical support.

Like any choice, this one can seem ambiguous.

Advertising, promotion and ways of development

There are different ways to do this:

How to behave during the low season

The tourism business is obviously influenced by the seasons: in summer people tend to go on vacation, the flow increases during school holidays and New Year's holidays - the rest of the time the flow decreases and it can be difficult for a small company to stay afloat.

There are several secrets to help you survive:

Money should be pledged for the "off season" in the summer, so as not to be bankrupt in the middle of winter.
In the summer you can take additional workers, in the winter you can leave only the backbone.
In the summer, you can sell any tours - they will still be successful. In winter, you should pay attention to ski tourism and resorts in Russia.

The main thing is to play it safe and provide yourself with a financial cushion in advance.

Profitability and payback of tourist business

Is it profitable to open a travel agency? For the agency to start paying off, it is necessary to work efficiently and conscientiously, so that clients return themselves and bring friends.

When the total sale of vouchers per month is 500, the income will be from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles.

To start earning more, you will need to expand your staff and attract new clients.

It's a simple law: the better the service, the higher the profit.

Conclusion

The tourist business has its own risks, pitfalls and problems.

However, if you approach it, well prepared, studying the market and knowing your business perfectly, all this can be avoided.

The main thing is honesty and accuracy.

And, of course, the reputation.

Learn how to open a travel agency from the video.

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The travel business has always been and remains a highly competitive field, since it does not require large financial investments to start an activity, and human resources and the Internet are the main tools.

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Thanks to developed communication systems, it is possible to successfully engage in sending tourists on travel, having only one competent employee who is familiar with tourism systems and accounting, or create a large structure that allows you to monopolize the tourism market in a particular region or city.

In this article you will find answers to questions about how to open a travel agency, where to start, and how to get the maximum possible profit.

The main aspects of the travel agency

A travel agency is an organization that sells package tours, airline tickets, hotel reservations and the selection of comfortable vacation options in accordance with the wishes of customers.

A distinctive feature of a travel agency from a travel operator is that when selling tours, the agency sells a finished product, that is, it does not have direct relations with hotels and carrier companies.

This legal point is of particular importance, since almost all responsibility for the fulfillment of the terms of the contract lies with the tour operator, while the agency is, in fact, an intermediate link between the seller of the service and the tourist.

A tourist package is a set of services included in the cost of a tourist voucher, and includes:

air travel;
transfer (delivery from the airport to the hotel and back);
accommodation in the selected hotel;
food in accordance with the concept of the hotel.

The travel agency's earnings consist of the percentage that travel operators pay to the intermediary for the products they sell. At the same time, the amount of interest directly depends on the volume of tours sold.

On average, a travel agency receives from 8 to 10 percent of each completed tour.

If the agency is large and occupies a leading position in its segment, then the amount of remuneration can increase up to 15 percent.

Video: the basics of the tourism business

In addition to cash bonuses, in the relationship between a travel agency and a tour operator, there are other methods of rewards, which include the opportunity to purchase so-called study tours at a minimum price for travel agency employees. The implementation of such study tours allows agency representatives to broaden their horizons and, when tourists contact them, give a full and objective assessment of a particular hotel or holiday destination in general, and the operator to increase the total sales of travel packages.

How to open a travel agency: step by step instructions

In order to correctly assess whether it is worth opening a travel agency, and whether it will be profitable, it is necessary to draw up a business plan.

When developing this document, it is required to honestly and objectively answer a number of questions posed, such as:

general concept of the travel agency;
additional services that will be within the scope of his interests (these include the sale of tickets for various types of transport, hotel booking, car rental, translation services, booking and sale of tickets for various entertainment events, concerts, exhibitions, registration of foreign passports, as well as the implementation of activities in the field of insurance);
priority tourist destinations.

In addition, it is worth turning to financial calculations and assessing the number of competitive organizations, the profile of their activities, as well as the total volume of the market for the services provided. The chosen location for the travel agency's office and the level of professionalism of its staff will be important.

Photo: is it profitable to open a travel agency

If the office is located in a hard-to-reach place (distance from public transport stops, lack of normal parking conditions, basements and upper floors of office buildings), then the flow of clients will be very limited.

However, the cost of renting such premises will be several times lower. But, if your plans include a full-fledged work aimed at business development, then you need to find a room that will maximally satisfy the requirements of potential customers.

What you need to open a travel agency - the necessary documents

In order to operate as a travel agent, you need to register a legal entity or register as an individual entrepreneur.

A significant disadvantage of working as an individual entrepreneur is that you will be responsible for the agency's existing obligations with all your property. Therefore, the main organizational and legal form of a travel agency is a limited liability company.

So, you need to contact the registering authority, having the following documents on hand:

form 11001 certified by a notary;
decision or protocol on the establishment of LLC;
a letter of guarantee on the provision of a legal address to a newly created LLC (after the registration of the Company, it will be necessary to conclude a lease agreement);
list of members of the Society;
2 copies of the charter of the LLC, in which the main type of activity must indicate the OKVED code 63.30 - "Activities of travel agencies";
copies of passports of all participants and the head of the LLC;
a receipt for payment of the authorized capital (today the minimum amount of the authorized capital of the Company is 10,000 rubles. At the time of registration of the LLC, it must be paid at least 50%;
a receipt confirming payment of the state duty for the implementation of registration actions (4,000 rubles).

In 5 working days, you will receive documents confirming the registration of the LLC, and from that moment you can start your activity as a travel agency.

When is it better and profitable to open a travel agency? Dead seasons in business

Just a few years ago, the tourist market froze with the arrival of late autumn and gradually revived by the end of April. With the advent of year-round beach destinations on the market, its seasonality has noticeably decreased, and with the growing popularity of such extreme sports as alpine skiing and snowboarding, it has completely disappeared.

Now the so-called "dead seasons" in this business do not exist. Of course, immediately after the New Year and May holidays, the demand for tourist vouchers decreases slightly, but thanks to a certain category of people who prefers to rest at low prices, numerous travel agencies are successfully operating during these periods.

How to open and run your own successful travel agency - choose partners

One of the most common and easily accessible ways to operate in the tourism industry is to work as a division of a major travel operator.

If you are interested in how to open a travel agency for a franchise, then you must first of all contact your chosen tour operator and discuss with him the fundamental possibility of such interaction. If there are no objections on his part, then you can safely get down to business.

Franchising offers many clear benefits:

the possibility of using a well-known brand in your own advertising;
placing information about your travel agency on the website of the tour operator;
full support from the tour operator's staff;
supply of all advertising materials necessary for work;
increased commission on sales of travel packages.

The disadvantages of such work include the obligatory one-time and monthly payments, as well as the need to comply with the requirements of the tour operator, which may relate to various things, from the location of the office to the uniform of the agency's employees.

Therefore, before turning your gaze towards the franchise, you need to carefully weigh all the pros and cons of such cooperation.

How much does it cost to open a travel agency? Calculating costs

To finally decide on how to open a travel agency from scratch, and at the same time not incur extra costs, you need to calculate the size of the initial investment.

Here are examples of the main expenses that will need to be incurred before starting an activity:

opening a legal entity. If you carry out the procedure yourself, then it will cost you at least 6,000 rubles. If you resort to the help of specialists, then the amount can increase to 10,000 rubles;
rent of premises. Depending on the location and size of the rented area, the monthly cost of the premises can be on average from 9,000 to 30,000 rubles;
purchase of the necessary furniture and equipment. The cost is quite difficult to calculate, since it can vary from 15,000 to 50,000 rubles;
communication services. Payment for the phone and the Internet will require approximately 3,000 rubles monthly;
payment for travel systems that allow online booking of tours. On average, it's still 1,200 rubles for each month of using such a system;
salaries to employees. Its size fluctuates from 25,000 rubles travel agency director and from 10,000 rubles his ordinary employee;
other expenses (stationery, advertising, teaching materials, and so on).

Here is a rough order of numbers to be prepared for when deciding to open a travel agency. It is clear that the upper limit of the size of the cost of starting a business can only be limited by the organizer's imagination and financial capabilities.

How to open a travel agency at home

If you want to minimize costs and at the same time try yourself as the owner of an interesting business, you should try to open a travel agency at home.

In this case, you will not need to rent a room, spend money on the purchase of furniture, and also pay salaries to employees, because you will combine all positions in one person.

The only drawback of such work is a narrow circle of consumers of Internet services, but if the quality of work is at its best, then soon you will create a base of regular customers for yourself, and you will be very satisfied with the simple and profitable work.

How to attract customers in the first months of work

The travel business is dominated by those businessmen who are sociable, resilient to stress, have the ability to convince people and are able to take risks. Additional advantages are knowledge of languages, as well as interest in foreign countries. This does not require specialized knowledge, although it can also be an effective starting point. However, in the tourism business, a sincere interest in the work process itself and the ability to learn quickly are more important.

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 the purchase of vouchers, internships and training at the expense of the company and other advantages. It will not be difficult to find the main body of personnel, since it is easy to learn 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 assessing competitors, which include not only other travel companies, but also sites selling air tickets, booking 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 corporate customer service, 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.

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 the sale of offers of 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.

The tourism sector, despite the fact that it has been experiencing certain difficulties for several years, remains quite profitable. Anyone who does not have big savings can be engaged in the tourism business. In addition, such entrepreneurial activity brings a lot of positive emotions, because it becomes possible to help people in organizing recreation. However, there are still some nuances that should be considered in order not to lose the funds invested in this business. We will tell you about all the intricacies of how to open a travel agency from scratch so that you do everything right.

Features of the tourism business

Before opening a travel agency, you need to understand what a travel agency is, what is the essence of its activities. First of all, it is necessary to master the meaning of some concepts.

A travel agency is an agency that acts as an intermediary between a tour operator and the person who wishes to travel. It can fulfill obligations:

Tour operator - a company that must develop and advertise through the media various tours that are in the greatest demand among the population;
Travel agent - a company that implements tourist tours: makes transfers, sells tickets, worries about placing clients and organizing excursions for them.

You should also know, before opening a travel agency in Russia, what will be the responsibilities of your company. Typically, a travel agency provides the following services:

Issue visas for clients in accordance with the requirements of the tour operator with whom the contract is concluded. If something is done wrong, the responsibility for it should be the responsibility of the travel agency.

Provide clients with a full package of documents required for the trip:

Tickets (air and railway);
Medical insurance;
Accommodation voucher;
Memo about the state to which the tourist is sent;
Book all services requested by the client;
Timely pay for the tour operator's work.

Advantages and disadvantages

If you have made the decision to open a travel agency from scratch without experience, think over and calculate what positive and negative moments may arise on your way.

The main advantages of the tourism business include:

It is developing rapidly, which means that you will be able to provide services to people not only in Russia, but also abroad, which will also bring you great profits;
You will have a wide choice of travel operators, besides, you can conclude cooperation agreements with more than one operator, with several at once - this is the first thing you need to open a travel company;
The flow of people willing to go on a trip is constantly growing, and it does not end all year round;
Paperwork is simple, done quickly and fairly cheaply.

Now let's consider a few negative points that you should be aware of before opening a travel agency:

Quite a high level of competition - many start-up entrepreneurs are thinking about how to open a travel agency from scratch, because they understand the profitability of this business;
If you do not pay enough attention to the advertising campaign to promote your travel agency, you can completely lose customers and be left without orders (in this case, the risk of losing your investment increases);
In the warm season, the demand for tourist trips is much higher than in the cold season, but this is a controversial issue, because there are winter resorts where people are happy to go for the New Year and Christmas holidays.

Activity registration

If you want to open a travel agency, you must carefully read the Law of the State "On Tourism", which outlines all the requirements for opening a travel agency from scratch without work experience. We will list you in detail what you need to open a travel agency:

A travel agency can be registered as a legal entity LLC or as a private institution of an individual entrepreneur.

To register a new institution in the state register, one resident is enough, who can sell tours within the country and abroad.

You will have to obtain a written commitment from any banking institution that will vouch for the services of a travel operator in the event that the travel agency cannot do this (without this guarantee, no operator will agree to cooperate with the agency). However, the bank will issue an appropriate guarantee only if the founder of the travel company provides a package of documents, which will include:

Certificate of state registration;
Charter;
Current account data;
Copies of contracts confirming the lease of the premises where the company is located (if the premises are personally owned by the owner, then you must provide a document confirming the ownership);
The passport;
A copy of the head's TIN;
Certificate of registration with the tax service.

It is necessary to develop special client agreements that you will conclude with clients who will order tours from you. Everything must be spelled out in these agreements: the date of payment, the date of issue of the tourist voucher.

It will also be necessary to develop rules for tourists: who will meet them in the country where they go, accompany, conduct excursions. It is advisable to include these rules in the client agreement so that the tourist signs the document after reading them.

It is also recommended to conclude a contract with an insurance company, however, this is an optional moment. If you want your clients to be insured, then it is better to provide them with a medical policy and other types of property insurance (for example, a car).

Recommends to conclude a sub-agent agreement with any airline through which you will buy tickets for your customers. This is very beneficial because in such cases, airlines offer many lucrative bonuses.

Make an approximate business plan of how to open a travel agency, so that you know what expenses await you, how you need to act so that they will be reimbursed faster and begin to turn into consistently high income.

Location selection criteria

If you do not have your own premises, then the main thing you need to open a travel agency is to find a suitable place to rent it. We've rounded up a few location options that you can consider before starting a travel agency in 2020:

You can open a travel agency in the central area of \u200b\u200bthe city. At the same time, it is desirable that:

The room was at least 20 m² in size;
It should be located on the first floor of any apartment building, but still it is better to select office buildings;
It is necessary to hang a bright sign with advertising on the premises so that people passing by can see what services you provide (the fact that your travel agency is located in the city center will make them believe in your prestige and high level of customer service).

You can open a travel agency in the building of the business center. What you need to open a travel agency in such an institution:

The premises must have a fresh modern renovation so that the agency looks presentable and solid;
You will be able to serve not only tourists who will come to you from other parts of the city, but also employees of a huge business center;
However, you will not be able to advertise in such territory;
At the checkpoint in any business center, there is an access system that will repel customers.

You can choose premises for a company in a shopping center. We will give you some basic recommendations in such an institution:

Choose a boutique where there are always a lot of people (it is better to consider the departments where they sell clothes, shoes or electronic equipment);
You need to be prepared for the fact that in such an institution you will have to pay a high price for rent.

You can open a travel agency in a residential area of \u200b\u200byour city:

A large crowd of people who can become potential clients of your agency always concentrate here;
You don't have to pay a lot for rent;
There won't be much competition in such an area.

Room and interior equipment

There is also a very important point that you need to know before starting a travel company from scratch - it must be decorated in a modern, fashionable style. You must understand that if you have the old premises at your disposal, then renovation is what you should definitely start opening your travel agency with. All costs for this must be provided for by you and included in the business plan.

The premises of your company should always be clean and comfortable. This is necessary so that your clients, coming to the office, can completely relax and unwind in it. This is especially true of situations when a line of people gathers. You need to put various magazines, catalogs, coffee makers on the tables. Also hang on your walls all sorts of interesting things that will inspire your clients to travel.

To open a travel agency from scratch without work experience, you need to purchase furniture and the necessary equipment. It is not necessary to choose expensive models, an economical option is also suitable, as long as it all looks decent and beautiful. You will need:

Computers with printers and necessary software;
Office tables, chairs;
Soft sofas;
Armchairs and coffee tables;
Air conditioning;
Coffee makers with appropriate utensils;
Telephones;
Wi-fi.

Financial investments

Of course, if you decide to start a travel business, you need to know exactly how much it costs to open a travel agency from scratch. We note right away that you will not have to make large investments. The main expenses you will have:

When renting a room;
For the purchase of equipment and furniture;
With an advertising campaign;
To pay the fee in the event that you decide to open a travel agency for a franchise.

It is important to bear in mind that the answer to the question of how much it costs to open a travel agency depends largely on the city in which you live. After all, if you live in a metropolis, then the rent for the premises will be higher than in the provinces. You will have to spend about 30-60 thousand rubles per month for rent.

In order to put the selected room in order (it must meet certain standards), buy the necessary furniture, appliances and draw up all the necessary documents, you will need to have at your personal disposal about 200,000 rubles.

To promote your travel agency, you will need at least 100,000 rubles. However, note that this amount is relative, it depends more on the channel that will carry out the advertising campaign.

Also, discussing the question of how much it costs to open a travel agency, you need to know that you will have to pay wages to your employees. As a rule, it should be 15 thousand rubles stable and another 20% of the travel agency's monthly profit.

Also keep in mind that the next 6 months after you open an agency, it will not bring you any profit. Therefore, you need to have some financial resources in stock, due to which you can build your business.

Estimated profit

Living in the conditions of the economic crisis, you will surely have a question whether it is profitable to open a travel agency, whether others will use your services. They will definitely be, because, as a rule, people who could afford to travel earlier will be able to do so now. Therefore, do not hesitate whether it is worth opening a travel agency in 2020 if you have a desire to work in this interesting field and the required amount of savings.

If you learn how to sell more than 500 vouchers per year, then monthly your travel agency will make a profit of 50-100 thousand rubles. This is enough to establish itself as a popular segment of the tourism business. The more you sell the tour, the more you can earn. If you are satisfied with such layouts, then do not hesitate for a long time whether it is worth opening a travel agency, and immediately get down to business.

Travel agency as a business model

Business payback periods

The second most important question for those who decided to open a travel agency in 2020 from scratch is how long it will take to pay off. Here you need to be aware that this moment depends more on how you start. If you create a large turnover of the tour from the first days, then in the first year of work you will earn 600-800 thousand rubles, which means that you will return your invested personal funds.

However, experienced entrepreneurs who have been working in this area for a long time claim that the payback period of a travel company is at least 2 years. But we do not advise you to be equal to someone else's achievements. If you are serious about the question of how to open a travel agency from scratch in Russia, then you will find a way how to quickly unwind in order to get your investment back and start making a profit.

At the end of this article on how to open a travel agency, we want to give you some useful tips on how to quickly promote your business and receive consistently high income on it:

If you are wondering how to open a travel agency at home, then for promotion you just need to have an official website at your disposal, through which you will carry out all the work. Opening a travel agency from scratch at home is much easier and more economical. You can save at least the extra 200,000 rubles. It is better to invest some of this money in creating a unique website. Seek advice from experts on how to open a home travel agency so that your activity is official and in demand;
Come up with a very memorable and colorful name for your company. This does not apply to those who decided to open a travel agency franchise;
Think over a system of promotions and various bonuses for the first clients of your agency in order to attract them. Create multiple social media accounts where you will promote your business and advertise different tourist trips.

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