How to open a representative office of a travel company. How to start a travel agency from scratch

Travel business.

Travel agencies in Russia
The development of the tourism business within the country - the trend of 2014-2018

First steps in organization

Travel agency from scratch:

Features of the tourism business in Russia:
Who is a tour operator?
What is the amount of authorized capital for a travel agency?
Do I need a license for a travel agency for tourism activities?
Form of activity and taxes for a travel agency.
What holiday destinations for Russians are in demand?
How much does a travel agency get paid?
How much does a travel agency make on average?
Legal documents regulating the activities of travel agencies.
How many Russians go abroad on vacation?
How to open a franchise travel agency in Russia?
Relations between tour operators and travel agencies. Where does the travel agency buy tours?

Organization and management of tourism business.
room
Equipment
Staff
Marketing:
Advertising - customer search
Sales of products
Financial plan:
Investments
Payback

No. 1 Rest within the country, organization of rest in your region
№2 Organization of exotic tours with an annual turnover of about 10,000,000 rubles
№3 Own mini business organization of youth recreation in your city
№4 How to make money without having a travel agency?

Travel business.

Travel agencies in Russia.
Today in Russia there are about 15,000 travel agencies operating in the tourist services market, of which 500 are the largest and about 2,500 are tour operators.

And the first travel agencies appeared in Russia in the late 80s and early 90s. After 1993, a boom in the development of the tourism business begins, more and more new travel agencies appear with a variety of offers. This direction is seen by many entrepreneurs as an unplowed field and a fairly easy business. But the 1998 crisis put everything in its place, since most of the agencies simply did not survive the hard time, these were usually those firms who sold their tours at dumping prices and did not accumulate financial reserves. Those who were able to survive the troubled times today are the largest in Russia.

After 2000, the state's economy began to recover and at the same time the income of the population grew. In this regard, a new round of development took place in the tourism business, travel agencies of various formats began to reopen. But, despite the more or less favorable time, about 40% of the newly opened travel agencies continue to close, having not worked even three years, this trend continues to this day. What are the reasons for this situation? And what are the main mistakes of new travel agencies? We will try to understand in our article.

The development of the tourism business within the country - the trend of 2014-2018
To date, there is no doubt that the trend of development of the tourism business within our country has already begun. In fact, a lot of money is being invested in the development of certain regions, which look very attractive in terms of tourism and recreation. Successfully held Olympiad in Sochi-2014 can serve as confirmation of this. The state, along with private investors, invested a large amount in the construction of Olympic facilities and in the infrastructure of the entire surrounding area. After the Olympics, these sights advertised all over the world became accessible to ordinary people.

Also, immediately after the Olympiad, due to a number of circumstances, Crimea and Sevastopol returned to Russia, these are excellent places for summer holidays, and as soon as the situation in Ukraine normalizes, a bridge will be built on the peninsula, then the main tourists will be drawn. By the way, the state has already launched a low-cost air flight from Moscow to Simferopol, it is called "Dobrolet" and tickets there are 40% cheaper.

A sharp jump in patriotism in recent years will also undoubtedly have a positive effect on the development of the tourism business within the country.

It is also worth mentioning the upcoming World Cup, which will be held in our country in 2018. By this time, the state promises to work on the creation of infrastructure in those cities where the festive events dedicated to football will be held.

In Russia, there are many destinations for tourism and recreation, and in addition to the south. In general, in our country there is everything - Seas and rivers and mountains and steppes and taiga, and desert, etc. You can relax in Russia on the beach and at ski resorts and for educational and therapeutic purposes, outdoor activities, hunting, fishing, everything is there, but one problem that prevents all this from developing at the pace you would like is infrastructure.

Within our country, the priority is rest in cities, sanatorium and resort rest, river tours, tours along the Golden Ring. All this is happening in the central part of our country, the eastern regions are less in demand in this regard, but Putin invited our European friends to come to Siberia for firewood.
The leading travel agencies of our country call Moscow and St. Petersburg a priority, it is believed that this is not a plowed field, since something new is constantly appearing in these cities that can attract tourists, as an example, youth hotels - hostels, in which young people gather in large groups for parties, the price of accommodation in a hostel is much lower than in ordinary hotels, and the profit is obtained due to the mass character of the client.

Also, in many regions, agricultural tourism began to develop, this type of recreation helps to plunge into the origins of one's ancestors, this type of tourism does not require special investments. Agricultural or otherwise green tourism is already a feature of the tourism business in
Russia, we smoothly move on to the next topic.

The first steps in organizing a travel agency from scratch:

Features of the tourism business in Russia.

Who is a tour operator?
A tour operator is a company that creates the product of a service in the tourism market. The tour operator interacts with hoteliers, carriers, insurance companies. Large tour operators have buses and their own rooms in some hotels on the balance sheet of their company. Guides accompanying during the holidays work in the state. Simply put, the tour operator creates a wholesale product, the travel agency is engaged in retail sales.

What is the amount of authorized capital for a travel agency?
To open a travel agency, the authorized capital remains at the level of 10,000 rubles.

Do I need a license for a travel agency for tourism activities?
The license to provide tourist services was canceled in 2007. To date, a license is not required, only tour operators remain in the register, who create the product itself, and the travel agency only sells it.

Form of activity and taxes for a travel agency.
It is definitely better to choose an LLC, since the client has more confidence in firms than in individual entrepreneurs, and in the tourism business, client confidence is the key to success.
Taxation for a travel agency today is possible only according to the "simplified", but it is offered in two versions:

Or 6% of income
Or from the difference between income and expenses of 15%

It is better to choose the second option, since the costs can be written off for staff training, including trips to study tours, as well as high advertising costs.

What holiday destinations for Russians are in demand?
To date, the situation on the market has not changed much; over the past 5 years, the picture looks something like this:

How much does a travel agency get paid?
On average, the remuneration for large tour operators is 10%, but in general there are fluctuations in the market from 5% to 16%, it depends on how long the travel agency has been operating and how many tours it sells. The more sales, the higher the percentage of profit. The tour operator recalculates the profit for each agency every six months.

How much does a travel agency make on average?
It is customary to calculate the profit of a travel agency not for a month or even for six months, but once a year. The calculation of annual profitability is due to the seasonality of this business.

On the Internet, there are many all sorts of figures for travel agencies earning from 200,000 to 3,000,000 rubles.
But here the question is different: “How many tours can you sell?”

Let's say you work together - you and two managers, you want yourself a salary - 30,000 rubles. per month, 2 managers for 20,000 rubles. + rent, telephone, Internet 30,000 rubles per month, + advertising 5,000 rubles per month. (I do not consider taxes, accounting services and other expenses)

As a result, you need: 1,260,000 rubles of expenses per year.

Let's say the price of the average sold tour will be 50,000 rubles, your reward is 10%, that is, 5,000 rubles.

Question: How many tours do you need to sell to earn at least 1,260,000 rubles a year?
Answer: 252 rounds. Based on the calculation, each of your managers must sell at least 126 tours per year!

Legal documents regulating the activities of travel agencies.

At the opening - KVED No. 53.30 - "Activity of travel agencies".
Tax reporting on documents for a simplified taxation system
Between the tour operator and the travel agency - agency agreement, commission agreement

How many Russians go abroad for holidays?
For several years, the number of Russians traveling abroad has been gradually increasing and today it is about 15 million trips a year. The Rostourism website has all the data. Here, for example, is a table of the top 50 tourist countries with the number of visits:

1	TURKEY	2 767 649
	EGYPT	1 429 629
	GREECE	1 097 884
	SPAIN	887 191
	CHINA	787 226
	FINLAND	787 159
	THAILAND	683 082
	GERMANY	638 193
	ITALY	605 482
	CYPRUS	494 702
	BULGARIA	478 829
	UAE	433 421
	CZECH REPUBLIC	355 475
	UKRAINE	333 462
	FRANCE	298 029
	TUNISIA	245 081
	MONTENEGRO	233 672
	AUSTRIA	209 277
	ISRAEL	165 920
	SWITZERLAND	159 189
	GREAT BRITAIN	143 862
	VIETNAM	139 648
	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	109 773
	UNITED STATES	108 444
	INDIA	100 832

	LATVIA	81 922
	CROATIA	79 824
	NETHERLANDS	78 679
	KOREA, REPUBLIC	75 926
	HONG KONG	48 517
	MEXICO	39 792
	ARMENIA	38 289
	QATAR	36 712
	AZERBAIJAN	35 751
	CUBA	34 714
	POLAND	33 120
	MALDIVES	32 835
	BELGIUM	32 775
	SERBIA	30 246
	SWEDEN	28 910
	HUNGARY	27 113
	MALTA	25 859
	MOROCCO	25 855
	ESTONIA	25 787
	DENMARK	24 957
	JAPAN	24 597
	PORTUGAL	24 006
	MOLDOVA, REPUBLIC	23 024
	KAZAKHSTAN	21 726
	GEORGIA	18 569

How to open a franchise travel agency in Russia?

Opening your own franchise travel agency looks quite attractive, as today there is a sufficient selection of firms that are ready to sell their franchise at quite reasonable prices. Investments in a franchise business start at 250,000 rubles and end at around 600,000 rubles. By purchasing a franchise, you get a number of advantages over your competitors.
Here are some of them that franchisors offer:

Increased remuneration rate from tour operators
Possibly territorial protection within your city or part of it
The franchisor's software will be installed on your computers
The franchisor can regularly conduct advertising campaigns for the entire network
Often the franchisor has a number like 8-800 with the redistribution of calls to the regions and receives calls around the clock, including from your customers
You can be provided with legal and accounting assistance as part of your work
The franchisor conducts training and advanced training courses for your managers
You will get access to a common database of corporate documents, reports and knowledge

But do not assume that all franchisors franchise their business right and left, they also have a number of their requirements and business visions, constantly monitor and monitor how you serve your customers. Since they are responsible for this with their prestige.

Frequent requirements from franchisors to entrepreneurs:

Presence of an office on the 1st line of the central streets
The area is about 20 m2 with a good repair, and sometimes with a corporate style renovation
Possibly convenient car parking
Mandatory sign made in a certain way with a certain design
And others…

In our opinion, one way or another, before opening a travel agency, you need to consider all possible options, including opening a franchise, even if you want to develop your own brand and, after a while, also sell franchises for your business.

Relations between tour operators and travel agencies. Where does the travel agency buy tours?
To date, more than 2,500 tour operators are represented in Russia, and it must be said that not all of them have an impeccable reputation, so the choice of a partner must be approached carefully.
First you need to visit the Rostourism website, which has lists of tour operators with their data and, most importantly, capitalization, as a rule, the higher it is, the more reliable the partner.

You should also pay attention to how tour operators interact with your customers, whether they have their own guides, vehicles, and possibly even hotel rooms. As a rule, conscientious tour operators work with trusted air carriers and insurance companies. At the places of rest, they provide transportation, assign their guides to groups of tourists, through which you can purchase excursions and consult on various issues of stay and accommodation. Including guides work with tourists, tell them important information, for example, about rescheduling a flight, this is very important!

Then you should look at the presence of representative offices of tour operators in your region, if they are, this will facilitate further work on the document flow, for example, to obtain visas you will not need to send documents to the central office, everything can be done through the representative office.

The beginning of the relationship begins with the conclusion of an agreement, in this case it is an agency agreement and a commission agreement under which you receive your percentage from the sale of tours, by the way, this amount is about 10%.

Another important aspect of the relationship between travel agencies and tour operators, which has already happened in practice, is when whole planes rented or delayed flights or unpaid hotels, due to the negligence of the tour operator. And your clients will make claims to you, because you sold this tour to them. So you need to be careful when choosing your partners.
After the conclusion of contracts, you are given the opportunity to access as an agent to the database of all tours of specific tour operators. This access can be carried out both through the software and directly on the site. Through your personal account, you will order tours for your clients. Also on the Internet there are sites that present the bases of all available tours from all tour operators, through such sites it is most convenient to compare prices.

Organization and management of tourism business.

The organization of a tourism business based on a travel agency should be approached quite carefully and not lose sight of the main features of the business in order not to make mistakes that lead to the unprofitability of the company and its subsequent closure, as we said above that about 40% of firms do not survive even three years . They are bent in the off season, when the demand for travel is reduced.

Step-by-step scheme for opening a travel agency:

The zero stage should be to choose the time to open a travel agency, it is best to open not long before the season in order to have time to conduct an advertising campaign and immediately start earning the first money. The creation of a website for the company, we will also refer here.

The first stage of organizing a business should be a marketing research of your region and city. You must understand how many competitors you will have and what their features are.

The second stage will be the choice of a concept, that is, you can open a travel agency from scratch, or buy a ready-made business, or open a franchise.

The third step is to find a room. This issue must be approached with all responsibility and not agree to the first options. Your profit depends on the location and convenience for the client.

The fourth stage is the search for partners and the conclusion of contracts. This issue concerns the choice of a tour operator, we discussed it above.

The fifth stage is the search for tour sales managers. This is also a very important point when opening a profitable travel agency. To resolve this issue, there are several options that are most often encountered.
The first option is to search for managers with experience and an already established client base. This option helps to start already having some advantage, but requires an increase in labor costs.
The second option is the selection of managers without work experience, who only have a desire to learn and earn money in the tourism business. This approach allows the leader to independently grow his own staff.
The third option will be mixed, this is the hiring of managers with and without experience. In this case, there is a diversification of the wage fund, which is also not a bad option.

The sixth stage is advertising. Carrying out advertising campaigns eats up a fairly large part of the profits of a travel agency, in some cases up to 40% of the firm's net income. But what to do advertising is the engine of trade. Read more about the behavior of advertising companies below.

Now that your travel agency is open, the advertising campaign has been carried out, and the first clients have appeared, it's time to talk about running this business. As a leader, you must clearly understand your responsibilities!

Most often, people decide to open a travel agency who have already worked for hire in such a business and have learned the intricacies of this business, and these are, as a rule, former managers.
But do these managers have team management skills? Not always! And therefore, many salespeople, when opening a travel agency, begin to do their usual business and from the very beginning drive their business into a trap. In order not to make such mistakes, you should move away from the managers at some distance and try to see the work from the outside. You must understand what not a specific client wants, but most clients in general.

The work of travel agencies is to sell the tour to the client as quickly as possible. Because in any city, working travel agencies sell essentially the same tour and for about the same price. Those agencies that dump prices, as a rule, die in the off season, and tour operators do not welcome this method of work. Therefore, the management of a travel agency does not come down to controlling the client, but should control its managers so that they respond to requests as quickly as possible and offer not one option, but several trying to please the client's request. To do this, managers must constantly learn and monitor the situation in the tourism market every day when they come to work. To be able to offer a good tour at the first contact.

The next very important point is working with regular customers. A separate folder should be created for each client, where the maximum amount of information will be stored up to his relatives and his preferences. Let's say there are people who do not change their habits and every year fly, for example, to Turkey in July, in this regard, why don't you offer a tour at a bargain price in May.

In addition to working with managers, your task will include planning or, in other words, strategic planning. Strategic planning is the calculation of the assumptions for the future, how the situation will develop and how you will act. To begin with, you should come up with questions that may arise in the course of your work and try to answer them, for example, what will our travel agency do in the off season? How many tours do I plan to sell this year? And for the next one? What will I do if clients sue me? What promotions and when will we hold? How much do we plan to spend on advertising this year?

For each such question, you must provide a clear answer, for example: “What if a law on the mandatory authorized capital for travel agencies is issued, say, 2,000,000 rubles ???” Answer: "To unite with the same as our travel agency and chip off ..."
All this is called business planning, which the tour sales manager may not know, but the travel agency manager must definitely know and be able to put into practice.

Travel agency space.

About the premises for a travel agency, it was said in this article above and will be said even lower, in this section we will say that:
There are no special requirements, except for convenience for the client and aesthetic appearance, to the office of the travel agency.
The choice of premises is reduced to:

Acceptable price
Location closer to the center
Possibly human flows
Availability of minimal amenities for staff
Availability of telephone and internet lines

In any case, when renting an office, repairs, even cosmetic ones, will be necessary, so at least 50,000 rubles should be allocated for this case.

Travel agency equipment.
After the repair is done and the room is ready for work, equipment should be purchased.
The choice of equipment for a travel agency should be approached carefully enough, on the one hand, all equipment must be functional, on the other hand, to please the eyes of your customers.
The main types of equipment for a small travel agency:

Furniture.
Office equipment.
Advertising and information products.
Office.

Furniture should be functional, comfortable and beautiful.
To open a small travel agency with a staff of 2 managers and a manager, you will need:
Tables with cabinets - 3 pcs. for 15,000 rubles.
Chairs - 3 pieces (staff) for 7,000 rubles, 6 pieces (clients) for 3,000 rubles.
Sofa for clients - 1 pc. 25 000 rub.
Coffee table - 1 pc. 7 000 rub.
Style - 1 pc. storage of promotional products 12,000 rubles.
Total for furniture: 128,000 rubles.
Additionally, you can install an aquarium, which is another 30,000 to 300,000 rubles.

Office equipment should be functional and fast.
Computer -3pcs. for 30,000 rubles.
Fax -1pc. 3000 rub.
Printer-scanner -2 pcs. 5000 rubles each
Phone - 2 pcs. for 1500 rubles.
Total office equipment: 106,000 rubles.
Additionally, you can install a projector or a plasma TV, or at least an additional monitor for the convenience of presentations, which is another 15,000 to 50,000 rubles.

Advertising and information products must be presented in sufficient volume, according to the client, the longer the travel agency has been operating, the more promotional products it has.
World map on the wall - 2000 rubles.
Magazines catalogs - 20 000 rubles.
Add. Waste paper - 5000 rubles.
Total for advertising products: 27,000 rubles.

We refer to the office: paper, pens, felt-tip pens, staplers, paper clips, folders, files, etc.
Stationery costs: about 10,000 rubles.
Additionally, you can purchase magnetic boards for the convenience of training or presentations within the company.
Also, do not forget about the shelves on which you will display small gifts that your satisfied customers brought you from tour trips.

The total result for equipment without additional amenities: 271,000 rubles.

Travel agency staff.
The presence and number of staff working in a travel company can be very different. If you have a mini travel agency, then in the first couple you can organize all the processes yourself, over time you need to expand the staff in favor of tour package sales managers.
For an average travel agency, five people are enough, of which:

director is you
Two managers - sale of tours
Accountant - reporting
System administrator - website promotion

Of these people, only the director and managers can work permanently in the office, the rest can work remotely. This concept will help save on office rent.

What are the requirements for the staff of a travel agency?
It is impossible to name special requirements, since it depends only on the desires of the manager, meaning the presence of higher education and work experience.

Mandatory is: knowledge of one's work, in particular, this applies to an accountant and a system administrator.

From managers the desire to work to develop and earn. Also, a frequent requirement for managers from the employer is the presence of a pleasant appearance and charm.

First of all, managers and sales managers of tours should be trained in the tourism business. What do you need to know?
For managers:

Strategic planning
Reporting
Control of the work of managers
Interaction with competitors
Working with partners
Work to attract and retain customers

For managers:

Market research of the tourism industry
Search and selection of tours
Preparation of tour packages
Reporting
Sale of tours by phone
Sale of tours in the office in person

A good training can be obtained by opening a franchise travel agency, this topic has been discussed a little higher. Part of the necessary training can be obtained by communicating directly with hoteliers and guides via the Internet. A good experience can be gained from communicating with customers after the trip. The extraction of information for training also has a rather creative approach, like the whole business as a whole.

Marketing.

Travel agency advertisement.
Travel agency advertising is one of the most complex and interesting types of advertising in this business, and in no other way is advertising the real engine of sales.
Travel agency promotion is a creative approach to advertising companies. Mandatory is the creation of advertising that has potential customers to rest. Advertising should be bright and memorable!

The first thing a modern travel agency needs is to create its own website and pages on social networks, and in this matter the format of your business is not important, in the sense of small or medium. Advertising on the Internet is mandatory for all travel agencies.

Today's realities require the presence of a modern website, which presents ready-made offers for your destinations. There should be a section for searching and selecting tours with the possibility of booking via the Internet and various payment options, including payment for electronic money.

Do not forget that your site should be constantly updated, providing information of interest to potential customers. It is also nice to have a section with photo reports and stories of your clients who went on vacation through your travel agency, this also indicates that you need to interact and work with clients after they return from vacation.
The site must provide a registration section for users. After registration, a person automatically becomes your potential client, leaving his data for you, in return you must provide him with some exclusive information that will not be available to anonymous visitors. This can be the ability to leave comments on photos and articles, or access to the ability to download information, such as a printed guide, tourist guides, maps, routes, etc.

It is possible to create on the basis of a site and a forum dedicated to recreation and travel. But it is worth mentioning that the development of the forum will require funds from 100,000 rubles, but you will get a lot of potentially interested customers with their registration data.

Many advanced travel agencies have been able to create entire social networks on the basis of their websites, in which not only clients, but also hotels, other travel agencies and even large tour operators, as well as many other various companies and individuals who, one way or another, register. spin in the tourism business. Joining in social networks helps to create the convenience and the necessary atmosphere for the development of the tourism business and, of course, provide a large profit to its creator.

Website promotion of a travel agency on the Internet:

Registration on forums and bulletin boards
Creation and development of pages in social networks
Blogging and microblogging
Constant updating and adding new articles to the site itself
Order contextual advertising - Yandex Direct, Google Adwords
Promotion through crowded places - YaP, etc.
Conducting free mailings from your site - Subscribe, etc.
Advertising on women's thematic forums also works well, as women are more interested than men and choose a place to relax.

The second very important thing is the offline promotion of your travel agency, practically any type of advertising is also suitable for this.

Newspapers, radio, television will also work, but subject to a number of conditions. The main thing is to provide important interesting and necessary information.

In a newspaper, it is better to order a whole narrative article with your contacts inside it, there must be a headline that arouses the interest of the reader, for example, How to visit Turkey for 10,000 rubles? What awaits the tourist in 2014 in Spain? Interesting places in Europe - top 10, etc.
On the radio, advertising should be creative and memorable; in a short video, you need to interest the listener as much as possible. The question-answer format works well for radio, this is when the question is: “Is it possible to get to the Louvre without a queue?”, The answer is: “the travel agency“ name ”knows how! Contacts, France in your pocket!!!”

Advertising on television today is an expensive format, and it will be difficult for a start-up travel agency to allocate such a budget. With television, it is best to start on the scale of local TV channels, within your city.

Creative people will almost always find the best way out of this rather complicated issue - advertising for a travel agency. One of my friends, a girl who has been in the tourist business for 5 years quite successfully, ordered the manufacture of fridge magnets with the image of the sea and an island with a palm tree, of course, not forgetting to write the name of her company on top and her website on the bottom.

She distributed these magnets by delivering mail to apartments. And I can tell you that such a publicity stunt brought her many new customers. I personally saw at my friends' houses, her magnets are hanging on the refrigerator.

Here is an example of a creative creative approach to advertising a travel agency, in which the minimum investment is no more than 20,000 rubles, and the return is maximum.

Comparing clients that come from online advertising and offline advertising, we can say that clients coming from newspaper, radio and television ads ask the same question: “What can you offer me and what do you have?”. Customers coming from the site are already more aware of the tours you offer and are focused on choosing between several. This facilitates the work of managers, and it is safe to say that the conversion of people coming from the Internet will be higher.

Choosing a name for your travel agency.
The name of the travel agency should be approached very carefully and come up with at least 50 names. From all this, you need to choose the most consonant and memorable!
Here are some examples:

Rus-tour
Ali Baba - tour
Infiniti-tour
Luxury - tour
Gambit - tour
To Berlin
Three whales
Seven seas
three continents
Atlantis
heat tour
Euro tour

You can come up with a lot of names, but try to choose one that can talk about the tours you provide, taking into account future development. And it is possible, in addition to the memorable name, to make it a little bit with humor.

Sales of products.
How is the sale of the tour?
The classic tour sales scheme looks like this:

The client sees the ad
Call to the office
Manager job
Office visit
Manager job
Purchasing a service

Scheme of selling a tour on the Internet:

Search either advertising or recommendation of friends
Website visit and tour selection
Tour payment
Getting travel documents

But no matter what chain of tour sales you give, advertising will still come first, so we can definitely say that the sale of tourism business products will depend entirely on advertising.
When writing a business plan in this section, attention should be paid to retaining and developing regular customers and spreading word of mouth.

It is clear that in order to maximize the sales of our tours, we need to have loyal customers who form the key core of our business.

To ensure high sales of products, some travel agencies form their own non-standard tour packages. A tour package is a set of components necessary for a trip.

What is a standard tour package?
The standard tour package includes: visa (if required), honey. insurance, air travel (round trip), transfer to the place of residence, hotel room, meals.

What is a non-standard tour package?
A non-standard tour package differs from a standard one in that it includes additional services, such as excursions, additional services. Maybe the formation of a tour package to visit several countries at once in one trip.
In general, in order to sell your service, you can come up with a truly non-standard tour package and thereby arouse greater interest from customers. Everything will depend on your creativity.

How can a travel agency find and retain loyal customers?
Loyal customers are people whose needs are fully satisfied by your travel agency.
The search for a client should be handled by a marketer, retention - by a manager.

First of all, the client should be attracted by advertising,
in the second charm of your manager,
in the third tour price,
in the fourth round

At the same time, at all stages, your manager should interact with the client, but this does not mean being intrusive.

You need to communicate with the client and after he returns from the trip, this will help to keep the client, you need to be able to be, if not a friend, then at least a comrade, and then you will undoubtedly gain many regular customers.

In the tourism business, there is such an expression as a deadline - this refers to the sale of last-minute tours as well as possible, since your client will have a certain amount of time for which he must decide to purchase a tour for a trip.

Do not forget about holding promotions and bonuses for regular customers and hoteliers will help you with this. In many hotels there are promotions; when visiting again, the client is provided with the best room.
Discounts are also a necessary tool. The discount can be valid when you re-apply to your travel agency, and as part of ongoing promotions - bring a friend. There are also systems of cumulative discounts, the more trips, the greater the discount.

You can also provide your discounts to customers who help promote your travel agency on social networks, write articles on forums and other sites, register and post their reports, including photo reports mentioning your company.

There is another example of a profitable opening of a travel agency with a campaign to attract the first customers in a new residential neighborhood. Firstly, this approach helps to save on office rent, cheaper than in the center. Secondly, there is little or no competition.
Having opened the aforementioned travel agency, its creators thought about attracting customers. We decided to carry out the action "Passport without a queue", that is, we took over the entire process of issuing passports for the population. And what do you think, there were quite a lot of applicants. Yes, even if such an action is quite stressful and requires additional personnel, but with the competent work of managers, the return can be up to 40% or even more. Let's say you help 3,000 people for free, but sell 1,000 tours, in my opinion, not bad.

Financial plan.
Drawing up a financial plan is a prerequisite for starting any business. The standard financial plan includes calculations for the estimated initial investment and project payback assumptions with projected profits.

Investments.
Investments in a travel agency are rather small, in connection with this, this business attracts many entrepreneurs. Let's try and calculate the initial investment in a small travel agency.

We will calculate investments for a quarter, that is, the next three months of work. In the future, all items of expenses are planned to be paid from the received profit.
We will divide all investments into four parts:

Premises for rent
Purchase of equipment
payroll fund
Marketing activities and advertising

Rental of premises for a travel company - a room of 35 sq.m. was found. With already made repairs, at a rental rate of 400 rubles. per 1 sq.m. 14,000 rubles per month. + Internet, phone 3000 rub. For the quarter 51,000 rubles.

Purchase of equipment - above we calculated the minimum set required for a small travel agency, its cost was 271,000 rubles.

Payroll fund - five people will work in our small travel agency together with the head of them, the head himself with a salary of 30,000 rubles. will work in the office and two managers with a salary of 20,000 rubles. + percentage from the sale of tours will also be in the office. An accountant and a system administrator will work remotely with a salary of 20,000 rubles.
The total wage fund for the quarter is: 330,000 rubles.

As a result, our investments in opening a small travel agency amounted to 752,000 rubles.
If you take the minimum and count on an instant return on business, meaning immediately after the first month of work, then you can meet 388,000 rubles. By the way, in the calculations for the payback of the business, we will use this particular figure, since the business should start to at least somehow pay off already from the first month of work.

Payback.
To calculate the payback of the business, we will use the estimated number of sales of travel packages, as well as use the amount of the average check.

So, we plan to attract our main clients from advertising campaigns, based on the percentage of response we plan to be 0.8% out of 1000 people - 8 will book a tour, respectively, the more money will be spent on advertising, the more customers we will get.

Comparing these data from the calculation, we predict customer acquisition at the level of 600 per year. Based on these figures, we made a norm for managers of 220 tours sold per year, if a manager sells more, he receives an annual bonus, if he sells more, he receives more.
Further - the price of the average tour sold by us is 50,000 rubles, we receive 10% commission, respectively, the amount of the average check is 5,000 rubles.

Annual expenses:
Rent + internet, telephone - 204,000 rubles
Wage fund - 1,320,000 rubles
Advertising - 470,000 rubles
Result: 1,994,000 rubles

Annual income:
220 tours x2 = 440 tours multiplied by the average check of 5,000 rubles. = 2,200,000 rubles
Available funds at the end of the year: 2,200,000-1,994,000= 206,000 rubles.

The payback of the travel agency should occur in the first year of its existence, while at the end of the year additional profit should be generated, which will be spent on advertising and bonus payments, so that profits increase in the second year of operation.

Startups in the tourism business (examples):

No. 1 Recreation within the country, organization of recreation in your area.

Organization of recreation and tourism in your own region is suitable for almost any resident of our country. To do this, you need to show curiosity and activity. Each region has its own attractions that other people want to see. The main thing is to present such a service correctly.

First you need to get a camera, learn how to take beautiful photos. Having shown ingenuity and observation, you can pick up a good list of the most beautiful places in your region and region. After that, by means of the Internet, make an advertisement for yourself. We will do advertising for a startup by creating our own blog, forums, portals and of course social networks on the subject: tourism, recreation, photography, attractions, culture, art, etc.

On the Internet, we post the accumulated materials under our own authorship and with our own coordinates, while offering our services for organizing, meeting, accompanying and accommodating everyone.
With the right approach, investments in such a startup are equal to zero, and an income of 30,000 rubles per month is guaranteed. Here is the first example of a tourism business from scratch!

№2 Organization of exotic tours with an annual turnover of about 10,000,000 rubles.

To date, the market of tourist services is represented not only by the main destinations for recreation. Many people are already tired of this and want to relax according to an individual program, say, to go where no one or few people have been. As they say, demand creates supply, so there are travel companies that specialize in exotic destinations, compiling individual routes. By the way, the price of an exotic vacation has already added $ 10,000 per tour, and this is quite reasonable!

For example, how many people have conquered Elbrus? Not! What do you think, how many people want to do it? There are many and the number of them is increasing every year! The cost of such an ascent is about $ 20,000. And then there are travel agencies that every year gather several groups of exotic vacation lovers (only 20 people a year in total !!!) and make ascents.
We consider: 20 (persons) multiplied by 20,000 dollars (price per person), we get 400,000 dollars, which, translated into rubles, is about 14,000,000 rubles.

And for a startup, you can come up with a lot of such exotic tours in completely different directions and preferences, from relaxation to sports and extreme sports.

№3 Own mini business organization of youth recreation in your city.

One of my acquaintances, a frequenter of city clubs and parties, started his travel business without even suspecting it. Many regular party-goers are familiar with the phrase that the club has the same faces. This situation prompted him to meet people from other cities on the Internet and invite them to parties in his city. When the question of accommodation arose, he began to offer the second room of his apartment for rent. He takes 500 rubles per person, according to him, he didn’t have less than 20,000 rubles just for renting a room a month.

Also in big cities there are mini hotels - youth hostels where many young people come to relax and hang out, find new friends and have a good time. In such hotels, my friend also accommodates groups of young people. He cooperates with the management of the hostel for a percentage.

Recently, famous personalities often come to the clubs of our city with their concerts, which many fans and admirers want to attend, but some uncertainty prevents where to go, where to spend the night, etc.
This is where ingenuity kicks in! In groups of social networks, a friend publishes posters about the upcoming event and offers his services as a "guide" - all inclusive. There are plenty of people who want to!

For these purposes, he pre-books apartments that are rented for a day, do you know these? Such an apartment costs 1500 rubles per day. He settles in them for six people and for the weekend, only from such an apartment he earns 3,000 rubles in his pocket.
In the future, he dreams of building a house for 20 people. So that in just two days off he could earn 20,000 rubles.

№4 How to make money without having a travel agency?

Today, you can start your own startup and make money in the tourism business by selling tours and vouchers without even having your own company and even registering an individual entrepreneur. There are websites of travel agencies that offer ordinary individuals to work on their own behalf. After registration, you will be given access to their database of tours.

Why is it beneficial for travel agencies?
Travel agencies receive a commission from the tour operator from the sale of the tour and the more tours they sell, the higher the commission will be. By attracting individuals, the travel agency increases its sales.

Why is it beneficial to you?
Working in such a scheme, you get the opportunity to engage in the tourism business of selling tours without leaving your home. You also get big commissions working under the wing of a travel agency, today they are ready to pay about 35% of their profits. That is, let's say a travel agency earns 10% of the sale of each tour, let's take the average profit from one tour of 5,000 rubles. From 5,000 rubles you are paid 35%. We get 1750 rubles profit from one tour.
To earn about 20,000 rubles a month, you need to sell about 12 tours.

The advantage of such a business is obvious, you can start developing the tourism business today without investing money in opening your own company. You risk nothing!
First you need to create pages on social networks, perhaps your own website and start promoting on the Internet. Start with your friends and acquaintances. Get the first invaluable experience with minimal investment in the tourism business.

In conclusion of our article on the tourism business, I would like to say that all the same, to this day, opening a travel agency remains a fairly profitable business, the main thing is to choose the right format to start. Good luck!

It is worth registering the case as OOO to increase the level of trust from customers. Basic codes OKVED: 79.11. – “Activities of travel agencies”, as well as 79.12 . - Activities of tour operators. Other codes:

79.90. — “Other booking services and related activities”;
79.90.3. – “Activities for the provision of travel services related to booking”;
79.90.21. – “Activity of travel agencies for the provision of excursion tourist services”;
79.90.1. – “Tourist Information Services Activities”.

The work of travel agencies is regulated by law"On the basics of tourism activities in the Russian Federation".

The registration procedure will require $ 200 and a month of time.

Choosing travel destinations

How to get started? From the development of proposals and the search for tour operators. Tours are divided into domestic and international. A more promising direction is international. it is necessary to develop 5-6 main proposals, and subsequently supplement them.

Selection methods:

Hire managers with extensive experience in selling certain tours, and form an appropriate offer for customers;
Do you have personal travel experience? You can safely recommend to customers the places that you yourself have visited;
Choose directions based on the analysis of competitors and market demand (for example, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, neighboring Europe);
At your own risk, choose countries and cities that seem promising and interesting to you, and purposefully promote them.

There are agencies that specialize literally in 1-2 directions and work with VIP class tours. But to start with this, you will need good advertising and sales skills, because travel agencies with experience are always preferred.

Chasing a mass audience, offering 10-20 options at once, is not worth it. The consumer trusts more highly specialized firms that know their business thoroughly.

In recent years, theme travel has gained popularity. By dividing them into categories (children's and beach holidays, outdoor activities, ecological tourism, medical tourism, etc.), you can attract more attention to your company.

Choosing a tour operator

Profit is very dependent on the operator organizing the tour. Your task is to sell this tour and, if necessary, take over the organization of additional services (tickets, excursions).

Agency profit - commission deductions from the sale of vouchers (5-15%) and bonuses for . Financial relations are negotiated when signing a partnership contract.

A reliable tour operator is an important point. If the client remains dissatisfied with the trip, then he will complain about the company that sold the ticket. Therefore, try to pre-select 10-12 proven experienced tour operators, for each direction - at least two or three. This is necessary in order to be able to pick up a trip exactly on the dates that the customer wants. Where to find and how to choose a tour operator?

Thematic exhibitions;
specialized sites ( tourindex.ru, tour-box.ru, sletat.ru).

Among the well-known tour operators in Russia are CoralTravel, Alean, Sunmar, TUI.

room

It is best to place in the city center, in a prestigious residential area, in a business center or shopping center. It is important to attract attention with a bright signboard, promotional offers, creative outdoor design.

The office of a small agency occupies 30-40 square meters. This is 500-600 dollars for rent per month, and about 1000 dollars for repairs.

In the design of the room, pay attention to thematic paraphernalia(bright posters, souvenirs), which should set you in the right mood and entice you to travel. It is worth equipping visitors with a comfortable waiting area with a sofa, a coffee table, a cooler, and magazines. This will cost $100-150.

Equipment

The arrangement of the travel agency office includes the purchase of furniture, office equipment and the necessary communications:

Desks and chairs;
Filing Cabinets;
Several telephones, personal computers and a laser printer;
High speed internet;
Software for obtaining information about tours, booking.

The cost of setting up an office is in the region of $600-700, subject to the purchase of used computers and a printer.

Staff

A small business will need two sales managers. It is better to outsource bookkeeping. You also need the services of a system administrator as an outsourcer. You need $1,000-1,500 for a monthly salary.

Advertising and promotion

So what does it take to attract customers? The outdoor one works well (banners and railings), always with a specific indication of the offer. For example, a 20% discount on tours to Egypt and Turkey or advertising a certain tour at a fixed price. Inexpensive and effective promotion on the Internet. Create your website with current offers, advertise it in search engines, actively promote in social networks. It takes about $200-250 per month.

Costs and profits

When calculating how much it costs to open a travel agency, we get an approximate amount of 4500 $ taking into account the payment of rent for three months in advance and advertising for a month. Monthly expenses will be 1700-2000 dollars.

At the initial stage, it is worth counting on the sale of 40-50 tickets per month (income 2-3 thousand dollars, net profit - 800-1200 dollars). In six months or a year, it is realistic to reach 150-200 trips in the "peak" months (September, May, August) and net profit in $2500-4000.

Having collected all the data on how to open a travel agency, you can safely start working. But it will not pay off immediately, and in the first months you sometimes have to work at a loss. Therefore, you need to have a reserve fund and first take on the duties of a manager.

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: when 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 instructions in this case suggest two possible ways to create and grow a business. In the first case, an entrepreneur can focus on the mass sale of popular tours and take part in active competition, while in the second case, 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

Taking into account the size of the starting capital and their own ambitions, an entrepreneur can open a travel agency in 2018 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 minimal investment: it is enough to have a computer, printer and telephone 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 2018, 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 food;
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 2018? 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 also virtually 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 secondary specialized 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 placed in a business district in a building with convenient parking, while when selling mass tours, priority is given to crowded places 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 disadvantages include the possible lack of parking and increased rent.

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.

In shopping centers, you can also find a suitable place to open a travel agency: what needs to be done first of all is to assess the traffic and purchasing power of visitors in order to 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 managers' workplaces should be equipped with tables and computers, and the waiting area for visitors with comfortable sofas, coffee tables, a water cooler or a 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 are used as additional decor elements: the visitor must understand at first glance that a travel company is located here.

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
Phone 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 expenses for the purchase of specialized software that automates the work of the company and provides a quick view of the offers of all tour operators: a manager who manually opens dozens of sites is unlikely to be able to quickly serve 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, advertising campaign format, taxation system and intensity of use of communication channels (with per-minute payment for telephone calls and traffic limitation by an Internet provider):

Estimated running costs

Profit and payback periods

Where to begin

At the planning stage of the company's activities, it is necessary to determine the target audience of buyers. This is necessary to create the concept of the project, since the characteristics and preferences of your potential buyers will affect the choice of the location of the office, the range of tours, it is very likely that the name of the travel agency, and then the means and methods of promoting services.

Business plan

Then you need to write . What should you pay special attention to when writing a business plan?

Do not overestimate the number of tourists - there may be fewer than you expect.
Set aside the maximum possible amount for unexpected expenses, they may be more than you expect.
When calculating income, take into account possible discounts for clients that are deducted from the agency fee.
Do not underestimate the figures associated with the organization of the travel agency, lay prices slightly above average. By following these simple rules, you will avoid problems associated with a lack of funding or an increase in the expected payback period of the project.

Company name

The next step is the name of the future travel agency. The name of the company should reflect the essence of its activities and be unique. It should also be clear to your customers and easy to remember.

Domain and website

Having chosen a name for a travel company, you need to choose the most sonorous, easy-to-remember name (domain) of the site. As a rule, the domain matches the name of the company or reflects the specifics of the activity. If the company name is long, more than 8-10 characters, then abbreviations are used, they are easier to remember and less likely to make a mistake when typing the address on the computer. If you register a domain consisting of two words, we recommend paying for two domains, with and without a hyphen, this will reduce the number of errors and protect you from competitors.

When ordering a site, do not make quick decisions - the site is not done in one day. First, decide what functions it will perform: a simple business card or an information resource with the ability to search and order tours, with online modules (displays of airports, exchange rates, world weather), a country study block, a photo gallery, maps and schemes of resorts, catalogs hotels, etc.

Selection of major tourist destinations for sale

How to choose which tours your agency will sell? Here are some examples of how the first tourist destinations for work are determined in practice.

Your project already implies certain tourist destinations based on the name of the company (TA "Africa Safari").
You hire managers with experience in certain tourist destinations and put them as the main ones.
You have personally visited some countries, have an idea about them and will be able to successfully sell tours.
With a strong-willed decision, choose countries that are interesting, in your opinion, and carefully prepare for the sale of tours.
Nothing comes to your mind, you do not know which countries to sell tours to. Pay attention to the seasons and seasons, they determine the sales of certain destinations and the preferences of your first customers.
In addition to focusing on countries, you can choose types of tourism, such as beach holidays, medical tours, children's holidays, active tourism, eco-tourism, etc.
Study the demand and fashion trends in tourism with the help of open sources.

There is another approach: the more destinations to offer customers, the more tourists can be attracted. But statistics and surveys show that consumers prefer those companies that specialize in a particular direction, and travel agencies that can tell you in detail about the chosen vacation spot. If you are a diversified company, you will have to promote each direction separately.

Choice of tour operators

To start the work of a travel agency, you must select partner tour operators. It is advisable to have signed agreements with at least three tour operators for each tourist destination, since not always one operator will have confirmation of all hotels and dates of arrivals that suit tourists.

How to choose a tour operator:

make a list of tour operators for a particular tourist destination using professional ratings, the press, travel guides and other specialized publications, the Internet (unfortunately, the frequency of mentioning a tour operator in ratings, reviews, articles is often due to financial investments in the image of the operator and does not always correspond to the quality of the product offered) ;
get acquainted with the services of tour operators, price offers, conditions of work with agencies through websites, catalogs of tour operators;
if possible, make inquiries about the quality of work, using the recommendations of colleagues, professional forums and reviews of tourists on travel agencies on the Internet.

Selection of premises for the office of the travel agency

Search and selection of premises for a travel company is one of the important issues in the development of a business. First of all, you need to decide what kind of office you need for your project - its size, location, equipment.

What are the offices of travel companies:

the first line of houses, the second line of houses, inside the residential complex;
in a business center, administrative or office building;
in a specialized business center for tourism;
in a residential building;
in a shopping center, hypermarket;
in the lobby of the hotel complex;
in the building of railway stations and airports;
in the building of professional institutions: medical centers, fitness clubs, educational institutions, etc.;
within walking distance, transport accessibility from the metro.

After the office is found and the documents are properly executed, it is necessary to prepare it for sales of tours: organize and equip workplaces, think over convenient places for visitors, arrange it so that every client who enters the office understands that this is a travel agency.

Agency Registration

Carrying out entrepreneurial activities in the field of tourism without registering a legal entity or registering a citizen as an individual entrepreneur is illegal. Therefore, it will be necessary to form an LLC or IP.

Unfortunately, it is common among entrepreneurs to treat constituent documents as some kind of insignificant formality. Meanwhile, this is a very dangerous delusion. Constituent documents are, first of all, the order that determines the relationship between the founders of the company and with its hired management. Formally drawn up, so-called model, constituent documents can lead to serious conflicts between business partners and the company's management, or can protect the interests of the founders, protect the organization from a hostile takeover, and solve many other problems.

Also, depending on the country in which you will open a travel agency, it may be necessary to obtain a special license for this type of activity. In Russia, the law does not provide for compulsory licensing for the activities of a travel agent.

Before the travel agency starts working, it is necessary to choose a tax regime. To keep records, you need to use the services of a professional accountant; it is very difficult to figure out all the intricacies of tax legislation on your own. While your company has not yet developed enough, you can attract an “incoming” accountant, but when the number of transactions exceeds 100-200 per month, it is better to hire a permanent employee or subscribe to accounting services.

Staff

The minimum staff of a travel agency, as a rule, consists of a manager who is involved in sales, a manager and a courier. In this case, accounting is maintained by a law firm or a visiting accountant. This arrangement of personnel is very common in travel agencies. What are the disadvantages of this option? If for some reason the head or manager does not come to work, one employee cannot cope or he will work to the detriment of the quality of the services provided. This option can be "saved" if you take a second manager with no work experience or a student of a tourism university for a part-time job.

The optimal staff of a small travel company looks something like this: a leader, two managers, a secretary with an extended range of duties, a courier, an accountant-cashier, a cleaner.

In the tourism business, there is a general trend towards higher wages. This is due to the existing personnel "hunger". Specialists with experience move to another company, where they offer a slightly higher salary for the same full-time position, and this can happen every six months. The lack of qualified specialists leads to staff turnover and higher salaries in order to poach employees.

Professional universities train personnel not as high quality as required by the market, so managers without experience have to be trained in the work process. At the same time, managers with work experience "get more expensive" every month and, unfortunately, not always justified.

There is no standard generally accepted wage scheme in travel agencies. Each agency develops its own system of bonuses, fines, mandatory sales volumes and the number of tours sold, and based on these data, calculates the salaries of employees.

Advertising

To start a travel company, you must have a minimum set of promotional materials that are issued to potential customers, business partners and help in the implementation of tours.

A travel agency can do without outdoor advertising, but if there is such an opportunity, be sure to use it. Outdoor advertising attracts tourist clients from the street, from nearby offices and houses, who learn about the travel agency by seeing an attractive sign. As a rule, travel companies use the following outdoor advertising media: a signboard, an information board on the front door, a pointer on a roadside pole, a floor pillar, advertising banners in windows, advertising on transport.

Now you know how to open a travel agency from scratch and what are the first steps to take. Start making your dream come true and build a successful business!

How to open a travel agency? It turned out that our project really gives hope to young people that someday they will be able to open their own business. In the end, it is not as difficult as it seems in reality, because desire and perseverance will definitely help you achieve your goal.

Today, the heroine of our article is Angela Burmistrova, who herself loves to travel and dreams of visiting the best resorts in the world in the future.

She wants to give this opportunity to other travelers and learn how to open a travel agency.

Participant profile:

Why this particular business?

It is profitable, interesting enough, there are opportunities for travel, development, broadening one's horizons, meeting new people.

What has already been done in this direction?

Unfortunately, I have not thought about it seriously yet, so nothing serious has been done.

What funds do you have and where do you think you can get the missing amount?

There is no capital, but I will try to accumulate. Hope it works!

Before you start saving or borrowing, you should understand the essence of the business, understand how to open a travel agency , determine how many competitors there are and assess the considerable financial risks. But there are no unattainable goals - if Angela manages to stand out among other companies and works conscientiously, like the best travel agencies, trying to really provide customers with a decent vacation, and not just get their money, as many do, then everything will work out.

To register an individual entrepreneur, you need to come to the Federal Tax Service with a passport, fill out an application for opening an individual entrepreneur, pay the state fee (800 rubles), then contact the tax office with the following papers:

statement;
a copy of all pages of the passport;
receipt of payment of the fee;
application for the transition to the simplified tax system;
copy of TIN.

After registration, the organization is assigned OKVED No. 53.30 “Activities of travel agencies”.

If the registration was successful, then you should be given a certificate, an extract from the unified register of individual entrepreneurs, a notification of tax registration and registration as a payer of fixed contributions, statistics codes.

Travel agencies by law fall under the Simplified Taxation System (STS), which allows you to calculate the tax in the following ways: 6% of income or 15% of the difference between income and expenses. The first option is usually chosen, but if your company's share of expenses is high enough, consider the second option.

Do you need a license?

To open a travel agency in 2017, fortunately, a mandatory license is not required - it was canceled 10 years ago. But for a travel agency, business will go much better if you have a license, because tourists will clearly trust the licensed organization. Therefore, if there is a desire and extra funds, then a license can be obtained, but such official travel agencies do not have any additional privileges.

Entrepreneurship in the tourism industry is a serious and risky business, so the tourism business must be managed wisely. You need to know all the nuances of registration, execution of contracts with travel operators, decide whether you need a license and understand whether it is worth opening an agency at all. But when you start, you will understand that all the efforts were not in vain, since all costs are tripled. Perhaps preliminary work in a travel agency as a manager or at least an operator will help to understand all the intricacies of the business, but more on that later.

Conclusion

This article describes only the legal nuances, covers the terms that entrepreneurs who decide to open a travel agency need to know. In the next article, the theme of travel agencies will continue, and we will delve into the activities of the agency from a practical point of view.