How to open a travel agency: market analysis + 5 steps for starting a business + detailed financial plan + calculation of business profitability.

Capital investments: from 425,000 rubles.

Payback period: from 8 months.

Do you have a good knowledge of geography and have excellent organizational skills? Or maybe you just want to give people joy and organize them an unforgettable vacation that they want to repeat? Or are you a quick learner and want to experience the joy of financial independence and start your own business?

Then the information about how to open a travel agency, will be relevant to you. Today we will find out the intricacies of doing this business, as well as how much money will be needed to start it.

Tour operator and travel agency: find out the difference

Before moving on to the answer to the question of how to open a travel agency, let's start with the fact that many of them are with a tour operator. And knowing the difference between these two categories is useful not only for those who are going on vacation, but also for those who wish in this industry.

Firstly, it is the operator who "creates" the tour from start to finish: forms, promotes and sells. Its specialists book a hotel, pay for a flight ticket, select excursions, and provide transport for tourists.

As for the implementation of the tour, he can do it on his own or through agencies. The second is to sell the ticket. The travel agency selects the necessary option for the client, informs him about all its nuances

Therefore, the number one difference: the tour operator forms the tour, and the travel agency only implements it.

Secondly, to start a tour operator, you need to register only as a legal entity with a certain amount of financial support. While a travel agent can be both an individual entrepreneur and a legal entity.

Difference number two: you can open a travel agency in any organizational and legal form, and it does not need to have financial support, since, unlike a tour operator, it does not pay insurance.

Thirdly, the tour operator is responsible for setting the price. That is, the agency sells the tour at a certain price. And his reward will be a commission, which is set by the company that provides the trip.

Difference number three: the travel agent does not affect the cost of the tour, he works for a fee from the tour operator. In addition, sometimes in order to achieve large volumes of sales, specialists can reduce the price, unfortunately, to the detriment of their commissions.

Fourthly, by default, the operator is responsible for the "failed" tour, and the claims from the clients will be brought against him.

The travel agency is responsible only under the contract, and most often its responsibility is related to the fact that it must fully inform the client, pay for his ticket and tell him about all his rights and obligations.

Therefore, the difference number four: the tour operator is responsible for the quality of the tour, unless otherwise provided by the contract.

Typical travel agency work scheme

Having decided to open a travel agency, you need to understand the scheme of its work:

1. The current travel agent is looking for proven operators, with whom he signs a contract for further cooperation.
2. The travel agent studies the offers offered by the tour operator to the smallest details and starts looking for clients.
3. If one is found, then the travel agent concludes an agreement with him and submits an application for booking services with the operator.
4. The tour operator accepts the application and, which must subsequently be paid.
5. After that, the funds received by the travel agent minus the established commission (as a rule, it is 10-15%) are transferred to the account of the tour operator.
6. The tour operator transfers all the necessary documents to the agent, who subsequently issues all the information to the tourist.
7. After completing the transaction, the agency sends the report to the operator, who prepares an invoice for him.

Note: if the client refuses to travel after payment, then you will be forced to pay the operator a fine. Such a "pitfall" must be taken into account if you want to open a travel agency according to this scheme.

The situation on the Russian tourist market

Opening a travel agency and not analyzing this industry is extremely reckless. Any business should start by studying the market situation, finding out its strengths and weaknesses.

The tourist market in Russia does not stop constantly developing. Even in small towns you can find travel agencies that offer their services. Often they are approached by those who wish to travel abroad for impressions.

But at present, under the influence of many factors (exchange rate, unstable situation in a number of foreign countries, etc.), domestic tourism has begun to be in demand. And this is not surprising, because our country is famous for many beautiful places that also attract foreign tourists.

Therefore, deciding to open a travel agency, look for operators who are engaged in such tours.

It is also worth noting that in 2017 the situation in the tourism market has improved significantly compared to the last two years. And by the way, Russian tourists began to prefer more exotic countries than Europe. Therefore, opening a travel agency is now quite profitable due to the development of this area.

Special attention is paid to online sales. Nowadays, people are buying more and more on the Internet, so creating your own website with the possibility of online booking and payment is mandatory.

As for the strengths of the business, everything will depend only on the quality and organization of your work.

Therefore, deciding to open a travel agency, you need to bet on:

• providing a wide range of services;
• competent employees who are focused only on the number of tours sold, but also on quality customer service;
• cooperation with trusted and well-known tour operators.

Opening a travel agency is associated with risks that must be taken into account:

• Seasonality - it so happened that for the most part people like to travel abroad in summer and for the new year.
• High competition- the tourism business is a fairly filled niche, new players are constantly appearing on the market who can provide customers with something new and better.
• Lack of stability- changes in the course, the political and economic situation in the country, inflation affect the work of travel agencies, since as a result of these factors, the purchasing power of customers may decrease.

Inability to accurately predict the results of work- even with a detailed study and analysis of tour sales, it is impossible to accurately calculate the estimated profit.

For this reason, you need to focus on advertising in order to attract as many customers as possible.

Step by step instructions on how to open a travel agency

When answering the question of how to open a travel agency, you need to understand that the main expenses will go to the arrangement of the office, the creation of a website and, of course, promotion.

The very process of opening a "tourist" business will consist of the following stages:

Stage	1 month	2 month	3 month	4 month
Choosing the name of the travel agency	+
Business registration	+
Search for premises and its arrangement	+	+
Operator search		+
Website creation			+
Recruitment			+
Advertising				+
Business start				+

With well-coordinated and properly organized work, it will be possible to open a travel agency in 3-4 months.

Step 1. Choosing a name for a travel agency and registering a business

So, you have analyzed the market, assessed your capabilities and are sure that this business is for you. Now you need to start taking specific actions. And the first step is for your travel agency. It should be simple but memorable, and also evoke associations with relaxation.

You can come up with a sonorous name yourself, or you can use the services of specialists.

After that, you can proceed to registration. You can open a travel agency as an individual entrepreneur or a legal entity. It all depends on your ambitions, so if your plans include expanding your business and creating a whole network, or you want to start a business with a partner, then choose an LLC.

When applying for registration, do not forget to indicate the OKVED code. But remember that the classification is constantly changing. As of 2017, for the tourism business it looks like this:

As for the taxation system, according to the law "On the basics of tourist activities in the Russian Federation" it is allowed to use the simplified tax system: "Income" 6% or "Income-Expenses" 6-15%.

Step 2. Search and arrangement of premises for a travel agency

A well-chosen location is the key point in how to open a travel agency. If you plan to start your business in a small town, then do it only in the center.

In a large city, the choice of premises is more extensive:

• crowded places;
• sleeping areas in which competitors are not yet "operating".

The room itself should not be large, 25-35 sq.m. is enough. But at the same time, it must be carefully equipped with furniture, office equipment, decor items.

The approximate expenses for the repair and arrangement of the premises will look like this:

Name	Quantity, pcs.	price, rub.	Total cost, rub.
Total:	-	-	RUB 147,000
Workers' table	2	4 000	8 000
Chairs	4	1 000	1 000
Customer sofa	1	10 000	10 000
Rack	1	10 000	10 000
Laptops	2	30 000	60 000
IFIs	1	15 000	15 000
Electric kettle	1	1 000	1 000
Modem	1	2 000	2 000
Telephone line	2	15 000	30 000
Internet	1	3 000	3 000
Decor items	1	2 000	2 000
other expenses	-	-	5 000

Step 3. Search for tour operators for cooperation

The next step in how to open a travel agency will be the search for operators. This step must be approached with all responsibility, since if any inconsistencies arise, the client will remain dissatisfied with your work.

So, when choosing operators, pay attention to the following factors:

• time spent on the market;
• recognition;
• the size of the commission;
• terms of cooperation.

The most popular travel operators in Russia:

Step 4. Recruitment of staff for opening a travel agency

The success of the business depends on the quality of the work of the staff. And for starters, you can only hire two sales managers who will receive a salary and a percentage of the number of transactions made.

The responsibilities of these specialists should include:

• selection and consulting of clients;
• monitoring of attractive tours and their prices;
• conclusion of transactions with tourists;
• booking vouchers and their registration with a tour operator;
• tracking novelties in the field of tourism.

If you decide to open a travel agency, then initially take the reins into your own hands. At the beginning of work, this will be correct and expedient, since you will be able to fully control the process and instantly identify errors in the work.

Positions such as accountant, system administrator, cleaning lady may not be on the permanent staff. For this you can.

Step 5. Promotion and advertising for opening a travel agency

You can't just open a travel agency and wait for clients ...

No one will know about your services if you do not declare yourself. And you need to engage in active promotion on an ongoing basis, especially if you want to lure tourists not only in the summer and New Year's season.

You can use advertising tools such as:

• sign at the entrance;
• distribution of leaflets on the street;
• advertising in local publications;
• radio advertising;
• advertising in social networks of the city and on the Internet.

How much does it cost to open a travel agency?

And now we have come to the culmination of the answer to the question of how to open a travel agency - the financial component.

So, capital investments will consist of the following items of expenditure:

Expenditure item	Amount, rub.
Total:	RUB 425,000
Business registration	25 000
Payment for the first month of renting the premises	20 000
Indoor renovation	50 000
Room equipment	147 000
Site development	30 000
Payroll for the first month of work	40 000
Outsourcing	40 000
Advertising costs	60 000
other expenses	13 000

But opening a travel agency is not all. It is necessary to constantly invest in it.

Therefore, the approximate monthly costs of opening a travel agency will look like this:

Calculation of the profitability of the business and the payback period of investments in a travel agency

Having in hand the approximate costs of starting a travel agency and maintaining it, you can predict the level of profitability of the business.

Successful agencies with two managers can conclude up to 300 deals per month. But more often than not, such indicators are characteristic of an already established business in the market.

Let us imagine that the average cost of one sold tour is 28,000 rubles (we take the current dollar rate into account). The commission from the transaction is 10%. And in order for income to exceed expenses, you need to conclude at least 70 transactions per month (2-3 transactions per day):

70 * 28,000 * 10% = 196,000 rubles. (at an expense of 175,000 rubles)

And with this course of business, the profit will be penny:

196,000 - 175,000 = 21,000 rubles.

Profit after tax:

21,000 - 3,150 = 17,850 rubles.

But let's suppose that such indicators will be only in the first 3-4 months, while you declare yourself. And soon you will bring them to 120-140 transactions per month.

Then your projected income for the same expenses will be:

130 * 28,000 * 10% = 364,000 rubles.

With such work, the profit will be: RUB 160 650

Based on such financial calculations, it can be assumed that investments in starting a business will pay off in 8-10 months.

The main emphasis is how to open a travel agency, you need to do on advertising and, of course, cooperation only with trusted operators. Also, do not discount the motivation of specialists. Come up with rewards for a job well done. The simplest thing is to pay a percentage of tour sales.

How to start a travel agency from scratch?

From idea to first profit - in one video:

The tourism business itself is constantly evolving, so be sure to keep an eye on the novelties in this area and fully devote yourself to the business, and then success will not be long in coming.

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* Calculations use average data for Russia

Fragment of the book by Yulia and Georgy Mokhovykh "Travel agency: where to start, how to succeed" by the publishing house "Peter. Published with permission from the publisher.

Do I have enough money to open a travel agency? Risking your last savings or not? How long will the investment in the tourist business pay off? How much will I earn? Create your own travel agency or buy a ready-made one? Or join a franchise network? Is it difficult to make a business plan for a travel agency? What are the requirements for a travel agency office? How many employees will you have to hire? Where to find personnel? What tour operators to work with? Which countries to sell tours to? Limit yourself to a narrow specialization or sell everything? To open air and railway ticket offices immediately or later? How to attract customers? How much to spend on advertising? Do tourists have a lot of complaints? And still…

TO OPEN A TOURFIRM FOR ME OR NOT?!.

We will try to allay all your fears and support the desire to open a travel agency. But we guarantee: everything that is written here is a real reflection of the state of affairs in the tourism business, without exaggeration and omissions.

Development of a business plan for a travel company.

We will offer for review a scheme that reflects the main parameters and cost items that can be used when drawing up a business plan for a travel company (agency).

1. The concept of a travel agency

Kind of activity:

• travel agent;
• tour operator;
• mixed activities.

Additional services:

• sale of air and railway tickets;
• transfer services, ordering limousines;
• visa processing;
• insurance;
• preparation of documents for registration of passports;
• services of an individual guide, accompanying;
• translation services;
• sale of guidebooks;
• sale of related travel products;
• sale of gift certificates;
• booking and ordering tables in restaurants, tickets for events;
• rental of tourist equipment;
• Car rent.

Priority tourist destinations:

• by type of tourist destination;
• by the cost of the tours;
• by country;
• by type of tourism.

2. Organizational plan

Travel agency office location:

• center;
• outskirts;
• remoteness from the metro.

Office status:

• rent;
• own premises;
• other.

Office type:

• showcase office on the first line;
• in the business center;
• in an administrative office building;
• in the mall;
• on the first floor of a residential building.

Office size:

• two jobs, three jobs;
• one-room, two-room, three-room, more than three rooms;
• free planning (number of meters).

Office furniture (costing):

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tables with reception areas, chairs for employees, chairs for visitors, bedside tables with keys, a rack for catalogs, a wardrobe, hangers, a hanger rack,
board for information and special offers, sofa for visitors, coffee table, safe, blinds, mirror, dishes (for employees, for receiving visitors), frames for photos and permits, plants.

Office equipment (costing):

computers, telephones, fax, printers (2 pieces minimum), scanner, copier, TV, CD and DVD player for showing films about countries and resorts, air conditioner, water cooler, first aid kit, clock, stationery, wall map of the world or a globe.

Office design project:

• space zoning;
• design of the premises according to the concept of a travel company;
• floor plan.

3. Competitive environment

Competitors in selected tourist destinations.
Competitors in the radius:

• building;
• district;
• cities;
• countries (if necessary).

The predominant competitive qualities of the future travel agency.

4. Production plan

Staff:

• staffing table;
• wage formation policy;
• training.

Tour sales technology:

• search and booking of tours;
• scheme of interaction with partners;
• registration of payment for tours;
• document flow;
• delivery and issuance of documents.

Range of travel agency services:

• by seasons;
• by directions;
• by country;
• by price;
• by target audience.

Travel agency pricing policy.

Features of the tours sold.

Corporate identity development:

• contractor;
• list of required items;

Website creation:

• the concept and functions of the site;
• contractor;
• cost and terms of work.

Office decoration for sales.

• signboard;
• pavement sign;
• pointers;
• a plate with the operating hours and company details.

Printing products(description, circulation, contractor, production time, cost):

• booklet;
• Business Cards;
• letterhead.

Opening presentation.

• the size of the budget for 3 months, 6 months, 12 months;
• advertising media.

The structure and rules for maintaining a client base.

6. Legal aspects of opening a travel company

Legal form of a legal entity.

Taxation system.

Registration of a lease agreement.

Required permits depending on the type of tourist activity.

Registration of a trademark.

Purchase and registration of cash register equipment (if necessary).

Order forms of strict reporting "Tourist voucher".

Accounting (independently, with the involvement of an accountant, consulting company).

Legal support of activities

7. Financial plan

Sources of funds.

The size and duration of the investment.

Initial cost plan.

Fixed expenses plan.

Income plan.

Payback plan.

8. Conclusion

Long-term development plan.

9.Applications

Estimated costs of setting up a travel agency in Moscow,
one-time:

Registration of a legal entity and registration of the necessary permits for travel agency activities: 20,000-25,000

Furniture and office preparation for sales: 50,000-100,000

Office equipment and communications 100,000-150,000

Development of corporate identity 15,000-25,000

Website development and registration 20,000–45,000

Registration of a trademark 50,000-100,000

Employee training 5,000-30,000

Additional possible costs

• Purchase of a ready-made tourist business, payment for legal services to support the transaction
• Payment for services for the selection of premises
• Payment for recruiting services
• Payment for connection services
• Internet and additional telephone lines
• Payment for the services of a consulting company

The cost of tours even in one category of hotels is different, and the choice of tourists does not always fall on the 3 * level of accommodation. Therefore, in order to make an income plan, it is necessary to analyze the prices of the season for the selected destinations with the data of 3 *, 4 *, 5 * hotels and compare them with the expected amount of income.

An approximate plan of the monthly expenses of a travel company in Moscow (rubles)

Office and infrastructure

Rent of premises 25 m2 - 50,000

Communication services 3000

Internet 5000

Water (cooler) 500

Stationery 2500

Other administrative expenses 6,000 Staff salaries

Wage

• Director 35,000 +%
• Manager 19,000 +%
• Manager 16,000 +%
• Secretary-manager 12,000 +%
• Courier 16,000
• Accountant (outsourcing) 10,000
• Cleaning lady 3000

Advertising budget

• Legal subscription service 7000 rubles. month
• Payment for the online booking and tour search system 1200 rubles / month.
• Refueling of cartridges 400 rubles / month.

Unforeseen expenses 10,000 rubles.

Total RUB 241,500 + percentage to salary

Choosing the status of a travel company. Tour operator or travel agent?

After the licensing of tour operator and travel agency activities was canceled in 2007, a mandatory state procedure was established only for tour operator activities. Any legal entity or individual entrepreneur can engage in travel agency activities. The only thing that determines the status of a travel agent today is the existence of an agreement with a tour operator, according to which the travel agent, on behalf of and at the expense of the tour operator, sells a tour product formed by the tour operator. At the same time, the travel agent must comply with a number of requirements established by law, which we will discuss below.

But first of all, it is necessary to find out why it is so important to understand the difference between travel agency activity and tour operator's activity and to take the necessary legal actions on time. The fact is that the law establishes a mandatory requirement - all tour operators registered in the territory of the Russian Federation are required to have financial support. Financial security is a guarantee of a tour operator in case of non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of an agreement on the sale of a tour product, insurance of its civil liability to consumers by tourists.

From the funds of financial support, the injured tourists are compensated for the real damage they suffered, for example, the cost of the tour, if it did not take place, or the difference in cost, if the rest time was reduced. Financial support is provided by an insurance company or a bank guarantee. The law establishes the minimum amount for which an insurance contract or a bank guarantee contract must be concluded; today it is 10,000,000 rubles. for international tourism (enter and exit) and 500,000 rubles. for domestic tourism.

The cost of servicing financial support is on average 1–1.5% per year of the amount of the collateral.

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For example, from the minimum amount of financial support for international tourism at 10,000,000 rubles. the cost of the insurance premium will be 100,000–150,000 rubles. It is this amount that will need to be paid annually to the insurance company for the tour operator's civil liability insurance contract.

The contractual scheme of the travel agent's work in the implementation of tours is approximately as follows:

1. the tour operator enters into an agency (commission) agreement with the travel agent, according to which the agent is instructed to sell (sell) tours formed by the tour operator for a fee;
2. the travel agent attracts a client (tourist) and concludes an agreement with him on the sale of a tourist product, receives the documents necessary for the registration of the tour;
3. the travel agent sends the tour operator an application for booking specific travel services for the client (tourist) - indicating the dates, number and data of tourists, hotel, level of transportation, excursions and other components of the tour;
4. the tour operator confirms the travel agent's application and issues an invoice for payment;
5. the travel agent gives the tour operator the documents (or information) necessary for the tour (for example, for a visa);
6. the travel agent accepts the final payment from the tourist (in case of cash payment, he issues a cashier's receipt or a strict reporting form);
7. the travel agent pays the tour operator minus the remuneration due to him (by bank transfer or in cash at the ticket office of the tour operator);
8. the tour operator issues to the travel agent the travel documents necessary for the tourist to travel;
9. the travel agent issues the tourist documents for the tour and all the necessary information to the tourist;
10. the travel agent reports to the tour operator - sends the agent's report (act) indicating the amount of the tour sale and the amount of remuneration;
11. the tour operator signs the agent's report and issues an invoice for the services provided under the agency agreement.

But it should be borne in mind that the outlined scheme reflects only the ideal version of the document flow.

In practice, the travel agent can expect various surprises; firstly, the tour operator may refuse to conclude an agency agreement with you and will offer a sale and purchase agreement, as a result, your legal status will change, it will be necessary to adjust the accounting and document flow;

secondly, making payment under the tour operator's agreement, you suddenly find that the invoice has been issued for payment to the address
another company or, by paying through the ticket office of the tour operator, you will be given a cash receipt for a physical
a person stamped "paid" without the seal of the organization.

Travel company staff

The optimal staff for a small travel company looks like this:

• ¦ leader;
• ¦ manager1;
• ¦ manager2;
• ¦ a secretary with an extended range of responsibilities;
• ¦ courier;
• ¦ accountant;
• ¦ cleaning lady.

Director.

The head of a travel company is a key figure and solves a large number of issues, both economic and strategic, but in addition to him, it is desirable to have at least two selling managers.

The manager can be a chief accountant, a cashier, sign documents and register the receipt of funds.
If the head of a travel agency is a hired employee, he must have at least two years of work experience, this is the minimum time for which a specialist can go through all the "seasons" of a travel agency - high, low, "dead" - and learn how to manage a company. If the head - the founder of the travel agency has no experience in tourism, this is not a tragedy. It is necessary to invite managers with experience to work and together with them develop a strategy, assortment, advertising policy of the company.

Travel company manager.

His responsibilities include: negotiating with clients and partners by phone and in the office, arranging tours with tourists, booking tours and preparing documents with tour operators, monitoring the execution of orders, changing prices, requirements for the documents provided, terms of cooperation, special offers.

A universal manager must maintain and improve his qualifications (master classes, seminars, advertising tours), work at exhibitions and workshops. Requirements for managers: higher education, experience in tourism, absence of bad habits, presentable appearance, competent Russian speech, communication skills , initiative, ability to resolve conflict situations, responsibility.

A manager without work experience should at least strive to work in tourism and have a secondary specialized or higher (incomplete higher) education, since this significantly affects the general level of culture. On the
teaching someone who strives for knowledge is a rewarding business, but find out the long-term plans of this candidate so that
the invested efforts and funds were not wasted, - perhaps he will use the knowledge gained already in another travel agency.

Travel agency secretary

accepts incoming calls, distributes them according to the specialization of managers, answers general questions ("How to get to you?" , carries out orders of the head, receives visitors and guests of the office. It is necessary to understand that sometimes it is very difficult to do without the help of a secretary, especially in the high season - in summer, when the phone rings and the client is sitting in the armchair at the same time.

Secretaries are also charged with filling out questionnaires, accounting and registering incoming and outgoing mail, answering corporate emails, ICQ, Skype.

As a rule, a secretary is hired after several months of the start of a travel company, when the phone rings constantly, and clients come to the office demanding attention.

Courier

A very important and responsible position. By the forces (feet) of this person, money, passports, documents must go to the tour operator. Therefore, when choosing a candidate for this position, be guided by a simple rule: a person must be checked in all possible ways - call the previous place of work, confirm the compliance of the place of registration and place of residence, call your home phone and talk with relatives, ask for recommendations. These measures are not superfluous. The problems that may arise from the actions of the courier are, without exaggeration, catastrophic - the loss of foreign passports and documents, theft of funds that the courier transports daily. The best option is a relative or an acquaintance, but, unfortunately, such candidates are not always found.

Accountant-cashier,

certainly a necessary specialist, but the cost of his services for a small travel agency is too high (in Moscow from 30,000 rubles). Therefore, most travel agencies use the services of law firms or a visiting accountant. Such a personnel solution makes it possible to reduce the costs of accounting by at least three times.

Remuneration schemes and bonuses in the tourism business

In the tourism business, there is a general trend towards an increase in wages. This is due to the existing personnel "hunger". Experienced specialists move to another company, where they offer a slightly higher salary for the same full-time position, and this can happen every six months.

Tourism Manager Payroll Options

The tour is considered sold at 100% payment.

1.Interest-free system: salary 22,000-30,000 rubles.

2. Salary + interest:
Salary 10,000-15,000 rubles. + 10% off the tours sold by the manager.
Salary 15,000 + 10% after the implementation of tours for more than 150,000 rubles.
Salary 15,000 + 10% of proceeds from sold tours, divided among all managers.
Salary 18,000–20,000 rubles. + 5% off the tours sold by the manager.
Salary 18,000–20,000 rubles. + 10% of all sold tours divided among all managers.

3. Planning system: fixed wages are paid when the plan is fulfilled; for example, from 50,000 rubles. (meaning the company's income, not the total cost of the tours). If the plan is overfulfilled over 50,000 rubles. + 10%, more than 100,000 rubles. + 15%, more than 250,000 + 20%.

During the low season (January, February, May, June), the plan is 50%. In this case, the previous fixed salary is paid.

If the plan is not fulfilled, with the exception of the low season, the system of penalties works:

• ¦ first month - no fines, an analysis of the reasons associated with a decrease in sales is required;
• ¦ second month and beyond: 40,000–49,000 rubles. - 10% is withheld from the fixed payment (30,000–39,000 rubles - 20%; 20,000–29,000 rubles - 30%).

In the first months after the opening of a travel agency office, the planned payroll system is usually not applied.

Options for calculating the salary of a courier of a travel company

1. Salary 12 000-15 000 rubles, payment of a ticket, a mobile phone, working hours: Monday-Friday.

2. Salary 15,000–20,000 rubles, payment for a ticket, a mobile phone, working hours: Monday-Saturday.

During the high season and the increase in sales, it is customary for couriers to give a bonus of 20-30% of their salary. The courier is an important employee of the travel agency, so it is better to pay extra on time, write out bonuses and work calmly.

On the market, you can find offers from courier companies that deliver documents to anywhere
cities, they enter into an official contract, bear full financial responsibility for the funds and documents in the parcel.

Options for calculating the salary of the director of a travel company

1. Salary from 40,000 rubles.
2. Salary 18,000–20,000 rubles. + 1-5% of monthly income
agencies after deducting expenses.
3. 12,000-15,000 rubles. + 5-10% of monthly income after deducting expenses.

It was just a small fragment of the book by Julia and Georgy Mokhovs "Travel agency: where to start, how to succeed" by the publishing house "Peter".

In the guide itself, you will find detailed advice on choosing a tour operator, organizing document circulation, taxation, recommendations for promotion, working with a client base and many valuable links to specialized Internet resources for practitioners of the tourism industry.

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

But if you still want to do it yourself, we offer you step-by-step instructions from an expert from Sletat.ru.

Tourism, despite all the difficulties experienced recently, remains an extremely attractive business area. It gives you the opportunity to start your own business with little investment and is associated with a lot of positive emotions: helping people arrange a vacation, and then hearing their positive impressions is very pleasant. Nevertheless, the travel industry is a tough nut to crack. In order not to break off the spears about him, or rather not to lose all the money, you need to very carefully and seriously approach the opening of your travel agency.

Where to begin?

First of all, you need to find out how the tourist market works 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 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 of a large network of travel agencies.

Network travel agencies offering franchises can be categorized into major categories, each with its own offshoots.

1. Travel agencies from tour operators whose task is to sell the tourism product of this supplier. It is obvious that a tour operator can offer low cost permits only in some destinations, so such a travel agency in the end may not be profitable enough.
2. Travel agencies receiving traffic from offline channels. Such agencies are not limited in their choice of travel providers. Their disadvantage is the weak development of Internet technologies.
3. Travel agencies receiving traffic from online channels. More modern networks that attract audiences using the Internet and own various online tools for finding, booking and selling tours. The downside is that such a network misses the "classic" offline audience.
4. 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 travel agencies the opportunity to sell the most profitable tours with the help of modern technologies 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 in times of crisis. This is due to the fact that in a number of situations a tour operator may require an advance payment for tours in the amount of up to 100%, while tourists often pay for them in parts, and the network's management company does not have a sufficient financial "safety cushion" 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 is often competent management and, of course, the ambition 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 in a large city - St. Petersburg, Moscow or another millionaire - there is no point in analyzing it entirely. Choose the most attractive area and estimate how much your company will be in demand in it.

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

Investment size

Investments in opening a travel agency are usually 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 items of expenses when opening a travel agency are office rent, purchase of equipment, promotion costs and payment of a fee if you open a franchise agency.

The larger the 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 can be slightly higher - on average from 2.5 to 4 thousand rubles. Thus, the minimum rental costs will be about 30-60 thousand rubles.

Personal experience

For high-quality customer service and minimization of 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, a room with an area of ​​15 sq.m. is required.

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

As for the costs of furniture and appliances, there can be a wide variation in the amount of investment. You can buy inexpensive furniture and used appliances, or opt for 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 take a commission), recruit staff, register employees with the labor inspection and the pension fund. If not the strict reporting forms (SRF), but the cash desk are used, then it must 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 the Sletat.ru travel agency (with furniture, appliances and repairs) will amount to 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 expense item in the first 4-6 months of work.

Among the fixed expenses of the travel agency is the salary fund for managers. Their salary consists of salary and 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 the profit.

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

Step-by-step instruction

At the initial stage of travel agency development, a very important moment is promotion. For it to work in the best possible way, you need to understand which channels of attracting 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 sphere - restaurants, cafes, bars, beauty salons, etc. You can establish contact with representatives of such businesses and carry out 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 partner information on the tables, etc.

Be aware 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 have opened in a residential area, you can create a mailing list. Moreover, this should not be an attempt to sell a tour, but a beautifully designed invitation to visit your office.

Try to use the local media: tell them about your discovery, post regular announcements. Remember that progress must be constant, it must never stop. Otherwise, there will be no influx of new tourists.

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

Personal experience

People spend a lot of time on social networks and do not want to leave the comfortable space. In contact with,Facebookand other similar sites - a modern, popular and budgetary channel for attracting tourists. Sletat.ru has developed a special module for searching tours in social networks. Thus, a 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 reach out to the audience in the city-forming enterprises, negotiate with their management and the leisure department, offer employees participation in interesting events, etc. Remember that tourism is not limited to overseas destinations, you can also sell domestic ones. They are well suited to "accustom" the audience to themselves in particular and to travel through travel agencies in general, gradually transferring clients to foreign package tours.

Having decided on the format of work, the place for opening and the promotion channels, you need to start looking for managers. To determine how many people you need on your staff, 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 customers, calls, invites to the office, processes applications, the other sells tours in the office, works with incoming tourists, and carries out further work on the sale. You need to understand that tourists, coming to the office, do not always buy a tour right away. More often than not, they simply learn the information, and in order to complete the deal, it is necessary to maintain communication with them.

Businessmen should not start selling tours on their own. The entrepreneur must think strategically, promote the travel agency, follow the development, see what the business lacks, etc. 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 requests. 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 website of every self-respecting tour operator. In this case, the manager will have to actually work manually, open many sites and tabs in order to find a suitable tour from different suppliers, and during this time the price may change. In addition, it will take too long to work with one tourist.

Today there are special search engines that "collect" offers from all tour operators. They allow accumulating all information in one information space and save managers' time. When choosing such a service, you need to be careful: relevance and reliability can be “limp” in it. The system must online download and update information about the composition of the package and its price, instantly update the data on the 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 data on tours in real time. The agency can install the service on its website and promote it on social networks. In this case, the tourist himself does the lion's share of the work of finding a tour. 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 tour booking. It is much more convenient when the agency does not independently communicate with tour operators, 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 requests in one place, increases the security of tourist bases and provides a higher percentage of sales and additional bonuses when fulfilling the plan.

The placement 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 best option is an office in the city center. However, this does not always guarantee success, nor does a discovery in a residential area.

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

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

It's also worth taking a closer look at the surroundings. For example, you can open next to a grocery store. This does not have to be an establishment of a well-known chain, but it is worth focusing on the price segment above the average.

Another tip: it is best to open up where there is an opportunity 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 on purpose. And the signboard will also "lure" those who just pass 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 in shape: this will make it easier to brand and create comfortable conditions in it. 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.

You shouldn't open up on the last floors either. If a building has an access system, it doesn't have to be complicated. If a tourist, in order to purchase a tour or receive documents, needs to take a passport, write down his data and go up to the 11th floor, then he will rather refuse to go on a hike 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 client should be able to wait comfortably for their turn. Otherwise, he will simply go to another agency. It is worth placing coffee, tea, a cooler with clean water in the waiting area.

Another important point is the children's corner. One of the key types of travel agency clients is a woman aged 30–35 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 for their turn.

The documents

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

The travel agency acts as an intermediary between the tourist and the tourist operator and receives a monetary reward for this. There is a lot of competition in the tourism sector. Let's take a look at what a travel agency is doing, 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 of entrepreneurial activity that deals with selling tours the population.

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

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

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

In the event that you did not have to work in the tourism business before, it makes sense to start by selling certain types of tours: either a package or an individual one. Everyone chooses what type of tour to prefer for implementation.

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

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

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

The agency's profit lies in the difference in prices for vouchers between the tour purchased from the tour operator and the tour sold 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 their compliance with insurance and transport companies, hotels, etc.

Requirements for paperwork when applying for a visa are strictly regulated by each tour operator in its own way. The responsibility for obtaining travel documents such as voucher, transfer, insurance and incorrect paperwork for obtaining a visa rests 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 draw up all the necessary documents and transfer the payment for them in due time.

Tour operators are subject to fines if the customer decides to terminate the service agreement. The amount of fines is stipulated in the contract and may vary depending on the selected tour operator.

Is it profitable to open a travel agency

Many entrepreneurs are thriving by starting their own travel agency. But experts are convinced that before you open your travel agency, you need to think very well, having weighed all the pros and cons.

If you agree to change a measured life for constant excitement and stress (and you can't do without it!), You can start planning your business. After all, together with him, you will receive a good income and constant travel to 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 nevertheless decide to work in the field of tourism, you need to think over everything to the smallest detail and make every effort. So what does it take to open a travel agency?

What you need to open your 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, one should prefer an individual entrepreneur, 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 organizational and legal form of your travel agency can be any.

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

Travel agency licensing.

Currently no license required... Although, until 2007, licensing was compulsory 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 to look out for 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 be alarmed, this will not lead to anything good. Travel for a tourist can be disrupted for various reasons, and a dubious operator, in pursuit of profit, is unlikely to warn about this.

The main focus when choosing a reliable operator you need to do for the following points:

1. company priorities,
2. the duration of its functioning in this area,
3. 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

Seat selection

Advertising, clients

In order for a client to come to you, you need so that the client knows about you... Here you can use any 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:

• correctly draw up and execute documents;
• select qualified workers;
• choose a crowded place for an office;
• competently advertise your services.

In the tourism business, not only the financial side of the issue is close, but also his idea of ​​the possibility of traveling around the world. This business makes it possible to make new acquaintances and learn a lot of new things.

What does it take to open a travel agency from scratch?

Before deciding to open a travel agency, it is important to understand that there are two types of services in this market:

• services of a tour operator who develops the route and takes care of all organizational issues
• travel agency services. It sells ready-made tours of the operator and receives a percentage of the commission for this.

In turn, the agencies work in two directions:

• domestic tours
• international tours

It is necessary to immediately determine the priority line of business. Choose the main category of tourists with which you are going to work.

More cost-effective for a large city is to open a car wash. Read the instructions about: what difficulties await, what profitability and how to build a business process.

When opening a travel agency, a guide to an LLC will undoubtedly come in handy: where and how to register, which premises to rent, which tour operators to choose and whom to hire.

How to start opening a travel agency?

1. Choosing an organizational and legal form. The Tax Code offers two optimal options:

• registration of a travel agency as an LLC (legal entity)

No tour operator will refuse to work with a legal entity. LLC registration is a more solid and fundamental approach to doing business. The level of trust among clients is higher than in a travel agency registered as an individual entrepreneur.

The presence of the authorized capital is required. As a result, the registration of an LLC requires a larger amount of financial investment than the registration of an individual entrepreneur.

• registration of a travel agency as an individual entrepreneur (individual)

Low costs compared to opening an LLC, the package of documents is minimal.

But not all tour operators work with travel agencies that are registered as individual entrepreneurs. The level of trust among clients is lower than in a travel agency registered as an LLC.

Special documents for opening a travel agency are not required.

2. When we have decided on the form of registration, there are still several organizational issues.

Necessary:

• choose a suitable name
• decide on the registration address
• choose activities in accordance with the classifier
• pay the state fee
• sign the registration application in the presence of a notary

Additionally for LLC:

• determine the size of the authorized capital (minimum - 10,000 rubles)
• if there are several founders, it is necessary to fix the size and par value of the share of each founder

Choosing a room

For a travel agency that has opened, it is better to choose a cozy room of modest size. The best option for a travel agency is to rent small premises. 20 sq. M. In a passing place with a developed infrastructure and convenient parking is sufficient.

The city center or a place where potential tourists gather is the best option for renting an office for a travel agency.

Particular attention should be paid to the sign. It should be bright and vibrant colors. A neon light box or volumetric letters will do.

We decorate the interior of the travel agency

If the room requires repair, then it will have to be done. The important thing to remember here is that travel agency clients are not poor people. They value coziness and a comfortable environment highly.

For a client's corner, for the first time, it is enough to put a coffee table and a sofa. Add corporate identity and tourist attributes to the overall interior of the office.

Workplaces need to be prepared for employees. For 2-3 people, you will need desks, chairs, computers, telephones, stationery, one rack for the office and a multifunctional device with a copier, printer and fax.

Take your choice of Internet service provider very seriously. This link with the outside world can very well spoil the business if there is a weak Internet speed or, even worse, systematic accidents.

After all the preparations, you can take the staff.

What to be guided by when recruiting

A rule that applies to any business.

Don't hire your relatives and best friends! This is not a field where they can help you as much as possible. Friendship very rarely turns into a business relationship. Accept people from whom there will be returns.

Ideally, if they already have experience working in a travel agency. But first of all, try to discern the personal qualities of the candidate:

• his manner of speaking
• how correct is speech and competent presentation of thoughts
• does he know how to separate the main from the secondary
• can I focus on the task at hand
• how serious about the case
• how he presents himself to others
• how to communicate with strangers
• how wide is his outlook
• how to deal with conflicts.

Travel agency is about working with people. Therefore, the qualities of the applicant are more important than the accumulated experience.

Enough 2-3 managers who will be engaged in sales, search and customer service. At first, you can do without an accountant, programmer and cleaner.

The salary that motivates the staff consists of the minimum wage (5554 rubles). Everything else is interest (bonuses) from the conclusion of contracts with clients. You should not save on this part of the salary if you want to have productive employees in your agency.

Choosing a tour operator

The question is no less important than the choice of an Internet provider. The wrong choice of operator can also cause big losses for the company.

To minimize all risks, it is worth concluding an agreement with at least ten tour operators. Half of them should specialize in your main area.

For example, if a travel agency operates on a route to Egypt or Bali, then half of the operators with whom you are going to sign a contract must work strictly in this direction.

When choosing a tour operator, do not forget to be guided by his degree of fame, reliability, how long he has been working in this market. The percentage of the travel agency's remuneration for the sold vouchers is 5-16% of their value.

Initial rewards are small. But as soon as the first group of tourists returns from the trip, the percentage of commission increases depending on the sold tours. Any tour operator is interested in increasing sales, so the terms of cooperation with promising travel agencies are being revised.

A good help is a single database for searching for tours and tour operators. The most common tourindex.ru. Acquiring access to the database will greatly facilitate the work. The cost of annual maintenance on the site is about 26,000 rubles.

Registration on the site tour-box.ru will help a young travel agency. After registration, access to the tour booking system will be provided.

All preparatory work has been completed. You can accept the first customers, but where can you get them?

Attraction of clients

The first clients are remembered for a long time. There are many ways of attraction and ... a lot.

Even at the stage of opening a travel agency, it is advisable to create your own company website. This will greatly facilitate the work of finding clients. Today it is the most effective tool for finding clients.

Professionally created and competently launched contextual advertising can dramatically increase the flow of people wishing to use travel services.

It is equally important to master e-mail marketing and build your own subscriber / customer base.

Do not neglect and write off the well-known search options:

• media advertising
• advertising on banners and billboards
• radio announcements
• broadcast on television
• connection of promoters for distribution of leaflets
• word of mouth

Customers sometimes have a habit of showing up suddenly, from where you don't expect them at all. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly maintain an electronic journal of the channel of new customers. On its basis, conduct analytics and statistics.

In order for new customers to become regular, more often provide discounts, bonuses, periodically hold promotions.

Is it profitable to open a travel agency: payback and profitability

Three main questions before opening a travel agency.

• How much does it cost to open a travel agency?
• How quickly will the investment pay off? Is it profitable?
• What returns should you expect?

Before answering the first question, it's worth remembering how much money was spent. Each has its own investment size. Everything is individual, so the numbers are very approximate.

According to the most conservative estimates, investments are from 300,000 rubles. and higher.

With the right strategy and the absence of "pitfalls", you can count on the return on business in six months.

And then the most crucial moment comes. Hold on, gain a foothold and confidently take your place in the business of providing travel services.

An indicator of confidence that you have reliably strengthened your position is the sale of 500 vouchers per year. When this figure is reached, you can count on a stable monthly net profit in the range of 50,000-100,000 rubles.

What is the profit made up of?

This is a percentage of the tours sold by the travel agency of the tour operator with whom the contract was concluded. After the sale, the travel agency takes its interest and transfers the remaining amount to the operator's account or vice versa. First, he gives the entire amount to the operator, and the operator then transfers the percentage to the agency.

A fairly wide corridor of the border of the net profit range depends on the season. The travel business is a seasonal type of business.

Off season: forewarned is forearmed

For a newly minted travel agency, the off-season is the biggest challenge. For the first two years, planning losses will be the wisest decision. But this is not enough.

If you approach this issue wisely, then you need to start preparing for winter in April, before the upcoming May holidays.

During the off-season, there is a system of discounts. This is specifically done in order to at least somehow attract tourists and stay afloat.

Additional types of income when there are no people willing to go on vacation:

• visa processing services
• self-sale of air tickets

The main work is to build up the client base. During the low season, you can always offer your clients vouchers to holiday homes and domestic tours in Russia.

How to develop a travel agency: further strategy

When the travel agency is firmly on its feet, it is worth moving to a new stage of development. It makes sense for a travel agency to move to a new status by registering as a tour operator.

There may be some difficulties with mass tours due to the great competition. Therefore, at first, it is better to focus on the formation of an individual tour for your regular clients. Here you are free to set your own prices.

Additionally, you will need:

• purchase a liability insurance policy
• enter the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators

How to open a travel agency for a franchise

A very good option for beginners in the travel business. There are two types of franchising:

• independent travel agencies of federal significance with a developed regional network
• tour operator retail

Isn't it easier to buy a travel agency franchise?

This is by far the simplest solution. With the acquisition of a franchise, you have all the conditions so as not to go bankrupt in the first year and not fly out of this market.

You are getting:

• a ready-made business model
• ready brand
• contact with the tour operator
• streamlined business processes

You just have to choose a quality franchise. It costs money, of course, but this investment is guaranteed to keep your travel agency safe from bankruptcy.

There are well-known travel franchises on the Russian market:

• Hot tours (http://www.hott.ru)
• Orange (http://apelsin.travel)
• Tour 1001 (http://www.1001tur.ru)

And in order to keep abreast of developments in the tourism business market, do not forget to follow the news of Rostourism, keep your finger on the pulse and periodically look into the Law "On Tourism".

How to open a travel agency at home?

Unfortunately, experts advise against doing this. There are practically no successful examples. Opening a travel agency at home is not solid, does not inspire the trust of tourists and creates additional minor problems. And inviting people to the office is much more respectable than to your apartment. Of course, you can make appointments with tourists in public places, but the effect of such meetings is questionable.