We open a travel agency (firm). Development of a business plan for a travel company

The easiest way to open a travel agency is to buy.

But if you still want to do it yourself - we suggest you step by step instructions from the expert of the company "Sletat.ru".

Tourism, despite all the difficulties experienced recently, remains an extremely attractive business area. It gives you the opportunity to open your own business with little investment and is associated with a lot of positive emotions: helping people have a rest, and then hearing their positive impressions is very nice. And yet, the tourist industry is a tough nut to crack. In order not to break spears about him, or rather not to lose all the money, you need to take a very balanced and serious approach to opening your travel agency.

Where to begin?

First of all, it is necessary to find out how the tourist market is arranged and what it consists of. The business owner must decide whether to work with a franchisor or as an independent agency. By opening yourself, you take on more risks. Firstly, unknown travel agencies do not inspire confidence, which means they need more serious efforts and budgets for promotion. Secondly, you will have to independently resolve the issues of acquiring technologies related to the search and booking of tours. And thirdly, it is more difficult to work with tour operators - suppliers of a tourist product.

In modern conditions, it is more efficient to open not independently, but under the brand name of a large network of travel agencies.

Franchise network travel agencies can be divided into main categories, each of which has its own branches.

Travel agencies from tour operators whose task is to sell the tourist product of this supplier. Obviously, a tour operator can only offer low-cost tours to some destinations, so such a travel agency may not be profitable enough in the end.
Travel agencies that receive traffic from offline channels. Such agencies are not limited in the choice of tour providers. Their disadvantage is the weak development of Internet technologies.
Travel agencies that receive traffic from online channels. More modern networks that attract audiences using the Internet and own various online tools for finding, booking and selling tours. Minus - such a network misses the "classic" offline audience.
Networks that combine online and offline communication channels and provide technologies for automating work, as Sletat.ru does. The main mission of such companies is to give the travel agency the opportunity, with the help of modern technologies sell the most cost-effective tours and put this process on stream.

When choosing a franchisor, it is important to pay attention to his experience and the specifics of doing business. Some companies have a high risk of bankruptcy during a crisis. This is due to the fact that in a number of situations the tour operator may require an advance payment for tours in the amount of up to 100%, while tourists often pay for them in installments, and the network management company does not have sufficient financial “airbag” for such a case.

There is no definite formula for opening a travel agency that will be 100% profitable. Any business involves the establishment of business processes, and therefore a certain guarantee of success often becomes competent management and, of course, the ambitiousness of the travel agency itself.

Before opening a travel agency, it is important to analyze the presence of the target audience. If you are going to open major city- St. Petersburg, Moscow or another millionaire - it makes no sense to analyze it entirely. Choose the most attractive area and evaluate how much your company will be in demand in it.

Another important element preparation - analysis of the competitive environment. Find out what agencies are nearby, what they offer, what your competitive advantages are and what differentiates you from them. You can even go to a competitor travel agency as a mystery shopper if you really need to.

Investment size

Investments in the opening of a travel agency, as a rule, are relatively small: this business does not require expensive equipment or the purchase of goods. And yet, the amount of investment can be very different. The main expense items when opening a travel agency are office rent, purchase of equipment, promotion costs and paying a fee if you open a franchise agency.

How more city, the higher the amount of investment in rent. The rental rate in 2016 averages about 1.5–2 thousand rubles per 1 sq. m. m, but in Moscow and St. Petersburg it may be slightly higher - an average of 2.5 to 4 thousand rubles. Thus, the minimum amount of rental costs will be about 30-60 thousand rubles.

Personal experience

For high-quality customer service and minimizing queues in the office, it is optimal for two managers to work at the same time. To accommodate two workplaces and a comfortable waiting area, you need a room with an area of 15 sq.m.

Do not forget that the room is likely to need renovation. Even if it is in good condition, it will need to be brought up to certain standards. For example, our offices must be branded in accordance with the guidelines. Compliance with these requirements allows you to create a comfortable atmosphere for customers and managers and increases the loyalty of tourists to the brand as a whole.

With regard to the cost of furniture and appliances, there is a large variation in the amount of investment. You can buy inexpensive furniture and used appliances or choose more expensive options.

Don't forget about the costs associated with registering an agency. You will need to register an individual entrepreneur or LLC and pay a state duty, open a bank account (for which the bank will charge a commission), recruit staff, register employees in the labor inspectorate and the pension fund. If not strict reporting forms (BSO) are used, but a cash desk, then it needs to be registered. As for settlement and cash services, Sletat.ru, for example, cooperates with the largest Russian banks and offers favorable conditions for franchisees.

The average cost of opening a travel agency "Sletat.ru" (with furniture, appliances and repairs) will be about 150-200 thousand rubles.

The budget for promoting a travel agency can again be different: there are both expensive ways and channels that do not require any investment. On average, you need to allocate about 100 thousand rubles for this item of expenditure in the first 4-6 months of work.

Among the fixed costs of the travel agency is the payroll fund for managers. Their salary consists of a salary and a percentage of sales. In St. Petersburg or another large city, a manager can receive 15-20 thousand rubles of salary + 10-20% of the agency's profit. If we are talking about a small town, then the ratio will be 10-15 thousand rubles of salary + 10-20% of profit.

At the same time, when calculating the volume of investments, one must firmly understand that in the first six months the agency can work without profit. And this means that some kind of financial "cushion" is needed. Therefore, you should not invest your last funds in business. Also, the entrepreneur needs to understand how he himself will live. Money should not be associated with its current costs, a clear budget allocated for business development is needed.

Step-by-step instruction

At the initial stage of development of a travel agency, very important point- promotion. For it to work the best way, you need to understand which channels to attract tourists are most effective in a particular case.

See what potential partners are near your travel agency. The tourist audience is adjacent to the audience of the leisure sector - restaurants, cafes, bars, beauty salons, etc. You can establish contact with representatives of such businesses and hold joint promotions, spending a minimum of funds. For example, you can jointly provide discounts to customers, print double business cards, prepare and place table tents with information about the partner, etc. on tables.

Keep in mind that tourists come to the office where they live or work. Therefore, it is important to convey information about your discovery and existence to the residents of nearby houses. If you opened in a residential area, you can make a mailing list. And it should not be an attempt to sell a tour, but a beautifully designed invitation to visit your office.

Try to involve the local media: tell them about your discovery, advertise regularly. Remember that promotion must be constant, it must never stop. Otherwise, there will be no influx of new tourists.

The first clients are your acquaintances, so you need to call them all.

Personal experience

People spend a lot of time in in social networks and do not want to leave the comfortable space. In contact with,Facebookand other similar sites - a modern, popular and budget channel for attracting tourists. Sletat.ru has developed a special module for searching tours in social networks. Thus, the tourist can search for tours where it is convenient for him, and from there send applications for the selected tours.

If you have opened an agency in a small town, it makes sense to go to the audience in the city-forming enterprises, negotiate with their management and leisure department, offer employees to participate in interesting events etc. Remember that tourism is not limited to foreign destinations, you can also sell domestic ones. They are well suited to “accustom” the audience to themselves in particular and to trips through travel agencies in general, gradually transferring customers to foreign package tours.

Having decided on the format of work, a place to open and promotion channels, you need to start looking for managers. To determine how many people you need in the state, you need to understand how large your client base is and how many people will come to the office. Most often, 1-2 managers work in a travel agency. One of them attracts clients, calls, invites to the office, processes applications, the other sells tours in the office, works with incoming tourists, leads further work on sale. You need to understand that tourists, when they come to the office, do not always immediately buy a tour. More often than not, they simply learn information, and in order to complete the transaction, it is necessary to maintain communication with them.

Businessmen should not take on the sale of tours on their own. An entrepreneur must think strategically, promote the travel agency, follow developments, see what the business lacks, and so on. If you go headlong into the sale of tours, then it will be impossible to manage the business.

In a modern travel agency, it is important to automate the processes associated with the search and booking of tours and the processing of incoming applications. Travel agency managers have to search for suitable tours hundreds of times a day. To do this, you can use the "search engines" that are on the site of every self-respecting tour operator. In this case, the manager will actually have to work manually, open many sites and tabs to find a suitable tour from different providers, and during this time the price may change. In addition, it will take too much time to work with one tourist.

Today there are special search engines, which "collect" offers from all tour operators. They allow you to accumulate all information in one information space and save time for managers. When choosing such a service, you need to be careful: it can “limp” relevance and reliability. The system should download and update information about the composition of the package and its price online, instantly update data on places in the hotel and on the flight.

Personal experience

Sletat.ru has developed a tour search system that contains offers from all major tour operators and updates tour data in real time. The agency can install the service on its website and promote it on social networks. In this case, the lion's share of the work of finding a tour is done by the tourist himself. As a result, the time for a manager to work with one client is reduced from 2 hours to 40 minutes.

Another important point is booking a tour. It is much more convenient when the agency does not communicate with tour operators on its own, but uses the services of a booking center. Sletat.ru has created its own Central Bank, which simplifies the work of a travel agent, increases the speed of customer service, allows you to store data on all applications in one place, increases the security of tourist bases and provides more high percent from sales and additional bonuses when the plan is fulfilled.

The issue of accommodation of a travel agency should be given special attention. First of all, analyze the city in which you plan to open and the specific location. At first glance, the most successful option is an office in the city center. However, this does not always guarantee success, as well as opening in a residential area.

It all depends on specific place. If you open in a budget area remote from the center with new development, things may not work out. The bulk of the population here are young families, who often bought housing on a mortgage and do not have extra money for travel. Therefore, try to choose areas of the middle and elite class for accommodation.

You can open on the first floors of residential buildings, in separate buildings or shopping centers. In the latter case, it is better to choose modern buildings and try to avoid old buildings. low class. But again, this depends on the specific shopping center, its location, the freshness of the repair, and the brands represented.

It is also worth looking at the surroundings. For example, you can open next to a grocery store. This does not have to be an institution of a well-known network, but it is worth focusing on the price segment above the average.

Another tip: it is best to open where it is possible to place an illuminated sign.

A sign is 20–30% of the success of a travel agency. Without it, it will be difficult to find you even for those who go to your agency purposefully. And the sign will also allow you to “lure” those who are just passing by.

As for the premises itself, there are also certain requirements for it. First of all, you need to focus on the convenience of the tourist. It is desirable that the office be square shape: so it will be easier to brand and create in it comfortable conditions. It is important that there are windows in the room, otherwise the atmosphere will “put pressure” on the client. Basements and semi-basements are not the best choice.

Do not open on the upper floors. If the building has an access system, it should not be complicated. If a tourist, in order to purchase a tour or get documents, needs to take a passport, write down his data and go up to the 11th floor, then he is more likely to refuse the trip altogether - few people want to overcome so many obstacles.

It is advisable to provide a waiting area in the office. When all managers are busy, the customer should be able to wait in line comfortably. Otherwise, he will simply go to another agency. In the waiting area it is worth placing coffee, tea, a cooler with clean water.

Another important point is the children's corner. One of the key client types of the travel agency is a 30-35 year old woman with one child. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a play area in which children can do something while parents choose a tour or wait in line.

The documents

To start a travel agency, you need to register an LLC or IP. Everyone chooses the preferred form for himself, it is only necessary to make a reservation that the owner of a registered IP is liable for obligations with all his property, and LLC - in the amount of the authorized capital. Also, the owner of the tourism business needs to decide: with imputed or simplified system taxation it will work.

Many are confused by the issue of licensing a travel agency. Previously, in order to sell tours, a travel agency really needed to obtain a license. But under the current rules, licensing is not required. At the same time, a unified all-Russian register was created for travel agencies on the basis of the Turpomoshch Association. It is not yet clear whether participation in it is mandatory or the registry is advisory in nature. This issue should be clarified by additions and amendments to the law on tourism, which was released in 2016.

Living from paycheck to paycheck, spending your own time enriching another person and hoping for a meager pension is a dubious prospect. The alternative is to start your own business. A successful business idea first brings in money and then time with family and friends for travel and sports. Perhaps you need to take risks in order to live to the fullest? Great business idea - open tourist agency from scratch. It has the following advantages:

Minimum initial investment. Salary of employees, purchase of office equipment and office rent.
Operational cost coverage. With proper planning, already during the first high season after the opening of the travel agency will be profitable. Due to fierce competition, management miscalculations, the lack of stable effective demand and dozens of other factors, the business pays for its costs in 1-2 years after the organization enters the market.
Stable product price. The cost of a tourist voucher depends little on economic factors. It is stable for a long time or costs even more.
Ease of getting started. You can plunge into the world of business on your own or seek help from an experienced organization.

Having decided to open a travel agency from scratch, decide what services you will provide. They are divided into two groups:

planning travel routes and solving other organizational issues (tour operator);
implementation of the operator's tours and receiving commissions for this (travel agency).

For now, let's stick with the second option. Decide which trips you will provide: abroad or within the country. Discover and carve out your business niche and select a key customer category.

Activity registration

The first thing you need to open a travel agency is registration. Choose the organizational and legal form of activity. According to the tax code, a travel agency is registered as an LLC or sole proprietorship. In the first case, operators are willing to cooperate and you will get more trust from customers. The disadvantage is the creation of authorized capital. Freezing funds that you could spend on advertising or wages workers.

Opening an organization in the form of an individual entrepreneur is more profitable from a financial point of view. No share capital is required, you don't pay most taxes, and you submit a minimum package for registration.

Other organizational issues

You have decided on the form of activity. Now, for FLP and LLC, solve the following questions:

select the name of the travel agency;
determine the address of registration;
indicate the types of activities, taking into account those declared in the classifier;
pay the state registration fee;
contact a notary (if necessary) and draw up an application for registration.

To open a travel agency in the form of an LLC, you also need:

form the authorized capital (minimum - 10,000 rubles);
if there are several founders, determine the nominal share of each of them and reflect it in the statutory documents.

To open a business, a room of about 20 square meters is enough. m. It should be located in crowded places with developed infrastructure and the availability of parking spaces. Optimal - in the central part of the city.

Don't waste money on a sign. It should be different from the inscriptions of competitors and not merge with neighboring inscriptions. Lighting is required at night. The working day is over, and the sign invites potential customers to take a break and your business is working.

Travel agency office interior

Don't waste money on renovations. These expenses are more of an investment. The attitude of clients to the travel agency depends on the interior design of the premises.

A comfortable sofa, soft chairs and a table are indispensable prerequisites for the comfort of customers. Decorate the interior in a unique corporate style. Don't forget bright cards, souvenirs, exotic plants and animals.

Do not save on workplaces for employees. Need to purchase:

work tables and armchairs;
telephones;
pens, notebooks and other stationery;
office rack;
office equipment: printer, scanner and copier.

Choose a reliable Internet service provider. Let customers enjoy fast WiFi. And workers are quickly looking for necessary information about weather conditions or changes in tour conditions. Let the slow Internet or its regular outages do not prevent you from opening a travel agency and successfully developing your business in the future.

Recruit staff for a travel agency

The universal rule of any business is not to hire friends and relatives. You, as a leader, will not be perceived by them or other employees. Close relationships almost never develop into business.

Your ideal candidate should have a relevant successful work experience. If not, then pay attention to the following personal qualities:

positive attitude towards life;
openness to communication;
responsible performance of tasks;
consistent and correct formulation of thought;
the ability to focus on the main thing;
purposefulness;
ability to find mutual language with strangers;
conflict resolution skills.

Working in a travel agency requires the ability to communicate. Sometimes sociable, motivated and responsible employees with no experience are better than unmotivated individuals with 10 years in the field.

To open a travel agency and ensure its activities, 2-3 employees responsible for selling tours, building up and retaining a client base will be enough. However, a few weeks after the start of work, you need to hire an accountant and a cleaning lady.

Wages should motivate employees. Set a fixed salary and a percentage of the sale of tours. Do not regret bonuses for the implementation of the plan.

Choice of travel operator

To minimize risks by opening a travel agency, cooperate with at least 10 operators. At least half of them should specialize in your main line of business.

Consider the popularity, reliability and duration of the operator in the market. On average, travel agencies receive from 5 to 16% of the cost of sold vouchers. For the first sold tours - the minimum commission. However, as package sales increase, so does your reward. Operators are interested in increasing sales volumes, so they are ready to pay more to promising travel agencies.

Look for clients

Immediately after opening a travel agency, create your own website. Do not spare money for its design, filling it with text content and unique photographs. Update information regularly, remembering to notify customers about new tours and promotions.

Do not lose relevance and classic approaches to attracting customers:

advertising in newspapers and magazines;
radio messages;
videos on television;
billboard advertising;
distribution of leaflets by promoters.

In a special journal, write down how visitors learned about your organization and why they decided to use its services. Invest in effective ways to attract customers and discover other options.

Try to keep your customers loyal. Immediately after opening, a travel agency should be associated with promotions and bonuses.

The cost of opening a travel agency

It will not be possible to unequivocally answer how much it costs to open a travel agency. This is determined individually. The minimum amount to start a business is 300,000 rubles. This includes expenses for:

rental of premises (minimum - 30 thousand rubles per month, from 60 thousand in the capital);
staff remuneration (salary and interest);
office equipment and software(from 100 thousand rubles);
communications and the Internet (depending on the tariffs of providers);
advertising (according to your financial capabilities).

The performance indicator of an average travel agency is the sale of 500 vouchers during a calendar year. Then the monthly net profit of the business is up to 100 thousand rubles.

How to extend activity

The most important thing for a new travel agency is to open a niche and stay in the market. Unfortunately, after a year of work, 5 such organizations out of 10 are closed.

The tourism business is seasonal. New organization should plan losses for the spring and autumn months.

When the number of those who want to relax decreases, the travel agency is obliged to attract them with the help of a system of discounts. It is worth informing about profitable offers even during the sale of tours in the season.

You also need to diversify the sources of business income. In particular, you can open additional services: help you get visas or sell air tickets.

Don't forget your core business. During the off-season, offer regular customers a weekend at one of the local recreation centers.

From travel agency to operators

After several years of successful activity, a travel agency can move on to the next stage of business development, becoming an operator. The organization will continue to be responsible for the sale of vouchers and start organizing holidays. In fact, the volume of work and responsibility will increase. We need to compete with former partners and dozens of other organizations. However, all income will remain in the company's account.

To become an operator, a travel agency needs:

buy a liability insurance policy;
enter the organization in the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators.

To get started, continue to work with regular customers of the travel agency. Consider their wishes and open individual tours. The cost of vouchers is better to put a little lower than the average market. the main task The first step is to gain experience. However, no one canceled the minimum yield.

Opening a travel agency is an interesting business opportunity own business. In any case, such activity will be interesting experience in your life. BUT proper planning, hard work and a share of luck will allow you to realize a business idea, doing what you love for more than one year.

Business plan - ready-made example

Before you open any travel agency, you need to know that tourism is a fairly competitive industry. That is why at the very beginning you doom yourself to hard and painstaking work. All this must be foreseen in advance.

You should always be prepared for the fact that it will be necessary to conduct tedious negotiations with people for days and try to indulge all their whims. If you are not sure that you can handle it, then it is better to think again whether it is worth opening such a business.

In such a business, you need the ability to find a personal approach to everyone, to interest the client so that he purchases a tour from you and returns to you more than once. Here it is important not to sell vouchers, to sell your consultations. The most important thing in this business is the ability to mobilize yourself and get used to the situation as quickly as possible.

Where to begin?

The possibility of opening a travel agency at home is not ruled out. The most important thing is the presence of a phone and a computer. However, if you want the business to not only survive, but also bring in a good income in the future, then you need to think more broadly.

Look through those areas that are not yet covered by the tourism business and try to start your business there. You can also try to provide services that do not require an office.

How much does it cost to open a travel agency?

Before you open your travel agency, you need to allocate the budget.

Office. In order to save a little on this, you can rent an office in an area where it is cheaper. But you should definitely take into account its transport accessibility for future customers.
Staff. However, this can be a disadvantage when hiring staff for a job. You need to try to find such people who have at least some experience in this area and thereby avoid the learning process.
Advertising. Before opening an agency, think about how to make sure that the maximum number of people know about you as quickly as possible. Advertising in newspapers is not very cheap and effective, radio and television is also not an option, since the return on them is very short-lived. Most effective method advertising in tourism is the promotion of the company's website, which must be approached with all responsibility. In addition, it is not enough just to successfully promote the monetary pages of the site, you must also very effectively place information about your services on them. Since website promotion takes a lot of time, at the initial stage it is recommended to use contextual advertising, the return on which you will feel in the very near future.

Opening process

Steps to implement the plan:

Plan development. It is necessary to develop a realistic and most effective plan. Remember that you will need to compete with all available agencies that have been on the market for more than one year. If you have no experience at all, then you can work a little in tourism to get comfortable. Then you will have at least the slightest idea about tourism and how it can be made successful.
Niche Definition. Focus on those distinguishing features that only you have. It is best to do the work that will be most interesting to you and where you will be most competent. If you like to organize tours to Europe, for example, and you have experience, then it is best for you to deal with this direction.
Create connections. You need to convey to the maximum number of people that you are a good and reliable travel agency that has experience in carrying out such activities. Based on your knowledge, you can significantly save not only your time, but also the time of customers.

Profit

In this case, your fame and popularity is very important. Since the profit of the company is nothing more than the commission received by the company for the sale of the tour operator's voucher. Naturally, tour operators are unlikely to provide a good commission to an unknown company.

The minimum commission starts from 8%. For well-known operators, it reaches 18%. This is another important point, since the difference between your commission and the commission of other travel companies operating for more than one year will, unfortunately, not be in your favor. Think about it.

How to open a franchise

If you want to open a travel agency and not go bankrupt in the first year, then a franchise is a great option. You will be provided with a ready-made brand, business model, and much more. You will have to pay for this, but the fee is not too high.

What is needed for this? Contact any travel company that is engaged in franchising and you will be provided with all the conditions for cooperation with them.

If you are still a beginner, then a franchise will be the best option for you.

Popular destinations

clients who have a rest in another place, and your travel company fully organizes the delivery, collection of documents and negotiates with the host;
also accept travelers from other cities and countries. According to this scheme, the business of such countries as Egypt, Turkey and others works.

As for the first direction, it is fashionable to divide business into 2 directions: travel operators and agencies. Travel agencies carry out the sale of ready-made tours, and tour operators are directly involved in the organization and formation of tours.

How to become a travel agent

Suppose you decide to sell tours of several or one tour operator. You do not bear significant risks. However, there is a marketing problem. In addition, you need to decide on the direction of activity.

When you find the answers to all questions, then think about how you will attract tourists.

How to become a tour operator

In this case, you need a fairly serious initial investment. In most cases, tour operators are formed from successful travel agencies.

Opening without starting capital

This is quite possible, but do not forget that you will have to give up all the benefits that are associated with high costs. As long as you have a few clients, you can work on your own, and only then you have to take care of hired staff.

How to start a corporate client company

This, as a rule, is a separate niche of the tourist business. New companies are constantly appearing that have not yet established relationships with agencies. In this case, you have many advantages to lure them to you. You can also be an independent travel agent who works from home. If you want, you can earn good money.

Your responsibilities

You must remember about the existing obligations and responsibility for their failure. In addition to all the features available, firms can also provide services such as:

search for "hot tours";
organization of high-quality delivery of tourists to the airport;
assistance in obtaining various foreign passports and visas;
fulfillment of special requirements of managers and more.

Your potential clients

You must remember that almost any travel agency is your future potential client. Most likely, among your clients will be:

too small companies to maintain their staff;
departments dealing with the organization of tours in larger companies;
athletes and musicians;
senior executives who travel quite often. After all, they need the person who will deal only with their plans.

In any case, the decision to open a travel company or agency must be approached comprehensively and be sure to weigh all the nuances in advance.

useful links

http://forum.turizm.ru/common/forum34/ - Forum for travel industry professionals

The tourism sector, despite the fact that it has been experiencing certain difficulties for several years, remains quite profitable. Any person who does not have large savings can engage in the tourism business. In addition, such entrepreneurial activity brings a lot positive emotions, because there is an opportunity to help people in organizing recreation. However, there are still some nuances that should be taken into account 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 you open 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 learn the meaning of some concepts.

A travel company is an institution that acts as an intermediary between a travel operator and a person who wishes to go on a trip. 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;
A travel agent is a company that implements tourist tours: makes transfers, sells tickets, takes care of the accommodation of customers and organizes excursions for them.

You also need to know before you open a travel agency in Russia what will be the responsibility of your company. As a rule, a travel agency provides the following services:

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

Issue to customers a full package of documents necessary for the trip:

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

Advantages and disadvantages

If you have decided to open a travel agency from scratch with no experience, think over and calculate what positive and negative moments may come 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 big profits;
You will have big choice a travel operator, besides, you will be able to conclude cooperation agreements not with one operator, with several at once - this is the first thing you need to open a travel company;
The flow of those wishing 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 look at a few negative points, which you should know before you open a travel company:

Quite a high level of competition - a lot of aspiring 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 due attention to the advertising campaign to promote your travel agency, then 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 controversial issue, after all, 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 need to carefully read the State Law “On Tourism”, which describes all the requirements for how to open 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 enterprise LLC or as a private institution of FLP.

To register a new institution in the public register, one resident is enough, who can sell tours domestically and abroad.

You will have to obtain a written commitment from any banking institution that will guarantee to pay for the services of a travel operator if this cannot be done by a travel agency (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 information;
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 need to provide a document confirming ownership);
The passport;
A copy of the TIN of the head;
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 should be written in these contracts: 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 them, 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 an agreement with an insurance company, however, this is an optional moment. If you want your clients to be insured, then it is better for them to provide a medical policy and other types of insurance for property (for example, for a car).

Recommends to conclude a sub-agency 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.

Draw up a rough business plan on how to open a travel agency in order to know what expenses await you, how to act so that they are reimbursed faster and begin to turn into consistently high incomes.

Site 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 put together a few location options that you can consider before starting a travel agency in 2018:

You can open a travel company in central area cities. It is desirable that:

The room was at least 20 m² in area;
It should be located on the first floor of any apartment building, but still it is better to choose office buildings;
A bright sign with advertising should be hung 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 confident in your prestige and high level client service).

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

The premises should 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;
There is a pass system at the checkpoint in any business center, which will repel customers.

You can choose a room 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 (for this, it is better to consider departments that 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 your city:

There is always a large crowd of people who can become potential clients of your agency;
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 another very important point that you need to know before you open a travel company from scratch - it must be designed in a modern, fashion style. You must understand that if you have an old room at your disposal, then repair 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 customers, when they come to the office, can completely relax and unwind in it. This is especially true when there is a queue of people. You need to lay out different magazines, catalogs, coffee makers on the tables. Also hang interesting things on the walls that will inspire your customers to go on a trip.

To open a travel agency from scratch without work experience, you need to purchase furniture and 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 conditioner;
Coffee makers with appropriate utensils;
Phones;
WiFi.

Financial investments

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

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

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

In order to put the chosen room in order (it must meet certain standards), buy the necessary furniture, appliances and arrange everything Required documents, you will need to have at your disposal approximately 200,000 rubles.

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

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

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 reserve, through which you can build a business.

Approximate profit

Living in conditions economic crisis, for sure you will have a question whether it is profitable to open a travel agency, whether others will use your services. Definitely will be, because, as a rule, people who could afford to travel before will be able to do it now. Therefore, do not hesitate to open a travel agency in 2018 if you have the desire to work in this interesting field and the necessary amount of savings.

If you learn how to sell more than 500 tours a year, then your travel agency will make a profit of 50-100 thousand rubles a month. This is enough to establish itself as a popular segment of the tourism business. The more tours you sell, the more you can earn. If such layouts suit you, 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 of those who decided to open a travel agency in 2018 from scratch is how long it will pay off. Here you need to be aware that this moment largely depends 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 the invested personal funds.

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

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

If you wondered how to open a travel agency at home, then for promotion you only 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. At least you can save the extra 200,000 rubles. It is better to invest some of this money in creating a unique site. Consult with experts on how to open a travel agency at home so that your activities are official and in demand;

The travel agency acts as an intermediary between the tourist and the tour operator and receives for this cash reward. The tourism industry is highly competitive. Let's take a look at what a travel agency does, is it a profitable business, and is it worth opening another travel agency in this market.

What does a travel agency do

Travel agencies are one of the areas entrepreneurial activity dealing with selling tours population.

The tour may include a certain number of services individually selected for individuals or have the form of a fully formed (package) tour.

A tour that incorporates a standard set of services: a booked hotel room, a round-trip flight and insurance is called package tour.

A tour that includes all the same services, but selected individually depending on the preferences of the customer, is called individual.

In the event that you have not previously had to work in tourism business, it makes sense to start by selling certain types of tour: either a package or an individual one. What type of tour to prefer for implementation, everyone chooses for himself.

If you have no experience in the travel business at all, then you can first work for some time in an existing travel company to understand everything from the inside. Or you can open a franchise travel agency.

Travel companies that have chosen for themselves a market segment consisting of VIP persons sell only individual tours. The percentage of orders here is, of course, lower, but the cost of tours is many times higher. As a result, the income from the sale of individual tours is much more significant than from package tours.

In turn, the implementation package tours much easier - in this case, everything has already been selected. Often, potential tourists know what they want and apply only to arrange, book and pay for everything. Package tours help to reduce the time of selecting a particular service and eliminate the possibility that the customer will be disappointed.

The agency's profit is the difference in prices for tours between the purchased tour from the tour operator and the sold tour to an individual. The tour is organized directly by the tour operator: draws up contracts with the embassies of the host countries, concludes contracts and monitors the obligatoriness of their implementation with insurance and transport companies, hotels, etc.

The requirements for paperwork when applying for a visa are strictly regulated by each tour operator in its own way. Responsibility for obtaining travel documents such as vouchers, transfers, insurance and incorrect paperwork for obtaining a visa lies with travel companies.

In order for the tour operator to be able to provide tourists with a full package of ordered services, travel agencies are required to complete all the necessary documents and transfer payment for them on time.

Tour operators provide for penalties if the customer decides to terminate the contract for the provision of services. The amount of fines is specified in the contract and may vary depending on the selected tour operator.

Is it profitable to open a travel agency?

Many entrepreneurs, having opened their own travel agency, prosper. But experts are convinced that before you open your travel agency, need to think very carefully weighing all the pros and cons.

If you are willing to change your measured life for constant unrest and stress (and you can’t do without it!), You can start planning your business. After all, with him you will receive a good income and constant travel around different countries- after all, the head of a travel agency is obliged to establish business ties.

Among other things, it is necessary to mention the high competition in this area of business. Statistics show that 30% of travel agencies live no more than a year.

If you still decide to work in the field of tourism, you need to think through everything to the smallest detail and make every effort. So, what does it take to open a travel agency?

What do you need to open your own travel agency?

Stages of registration of a tourism agency.

The most important principle in the tourism business is trust level travel agency chosen by the customer. Therefore, when registering a travel company, LLC, an individual entrepreneur should be preferred, since such an organizational and legal form of management inspires more confidence in the customer.

At the same time, the main thing in trust and reputation is how you will work with clients, and the legal form of your travel agency can be any.

For travel companies, a lightweight form is provided tax deductions. For example, for the simplified tax system, two calculation options can be applied: at a rate of 15% on the difference between expenses and income, or at a rate of 6% of the total income. The most favorable tax rate is 15% if the company has a significant part of the costs.

Travel agency licensing.

Currently no license required. Although until 2007, licensing was mandatory for travel agencies. Now it has become a voluntary matter, that is, at the discretion of the owner.

If the manager wants to increase the level of trust of potential customers, then the license should still be issued.

Selection of tour operators for cooperation.

After registering an agency, the first thing you should pay attention to is choice of tour operator.

And there is someone to choose from - there is a large selection of tour operators on the market. In this case, you should not enter into cooperation with dubious operators. Exaggeratedly low prices for services should alert you, this will not lead to anything good. Travel for a tourist can be disrupted by different reasons, and a dubious operator, in pursuit of profit, is unlikely to warn about this.

Main emphasis when choosing a reliable operator need to do the following:

company priorities,
the duration of its operation in this area,
financial security.

It will be very convenient for you to choose an operator if its main office is located in your city. In this case, the paperwork will take place without intermediaries.

Staff

Location selection

Advertising, clients

In order for a client to come to you, you need, so that the client knows about you. Any means can be used here. mass media: newspapers, magazines, banners, as well as advertising on radio and television, advertising in transport. It all depends on the amount you are willing to invest in advertising.

So, if you decide to open your own travel agency, you need to:

correct preparation and execution of documents;
select qualified workers;
choose a crowded place for the office;
properly advertise your services.