Open a travel company. How to open a travel agency

Opening a travel agency is not as difficult as opening a car dealership or an insurance company. But to withstand the crazy pace of the market and oppose yourself to thousands of competitors is not an easy task.

The tourism business is very attractive for budding entrepreneurs, because it does not require large financial investments, and the demand for tours is always high. But only a few, the most prepared, manage to avoid the pitfalls of which there are a great many in the “leisure industry”.

Today tourism is widespread; according to forecasts, the number of travelers will only grow every year. The number of travel agencies is increasing, new hotels and restaurants are being built, new airports are opening, and the tourism infrastructure is developing rapidly. The tourism business is experiencing a significant boom, and for many businessmen there is a real opportunity to become a participant in this interesting business.

So, let's look step by step at how to open a travel agency from scratch as a novice entrepreneur.

Before deciding to open a business, you need to at least generally imagine the state of affairs in the industry in which you plan to work.

So, what are the characteristics of the tourism business today:

• The average market growth dynamics over 10 years is 5.8% per year.
• The retail market (travel agents) is poorly consolidated; independent agencies dominate the market; large chains account for no more than 8-10% of the market volume.
• Competition in the retail (travel agency) market is very high.
• A large percentage of new travel agencies close without even one year of operation. The average rotation in the small tourism industry is 30% per year. That is, out of 100 agencies created at the beginning of the year, no more than 70 firms survive until the end of the first summer season.
• Tourism is subject to dumping, that is, an artificial reduction in the price of supply on “last minute” destinations; even in the high season, you can find tours and air tickets significantly lower than the average price.
• The tourism business is highly susceptible to external influences, be it bad weather, natural disasters, strikes, political instability or terrorist attacks. Each such event forces travel companies to react quickly and take emergency measures to protect their clients and not suffer financially themselves. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. At the same time, every event in the world can become a reason for a tourism boom. Sports competitions, festivals, exhibitions, concerts, public holidays, opening of new hotels and resorts - you can’t count everything. Therefore, the tourism industry has the opportunity to constantly develop, and its participants make a profit through the skillful use of tourism resources.

Where to begin

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

Business plan

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

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

Company name

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

Domain and website

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

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

Selecting the main tourist destinations for sale

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

1. Your project already implies certain tourist destinations based on the name of the company (TA “Africa Safari”).
2. You hire managers with experience in certain travel destinations and make them your main ones.
3. You have personally visited some countries, have an idea about them and can successfully sell tours.
4. By a strong-willed decision, you choose countries that you think are interesting and carefully prepare for selling tours.
5. Nothing comes to your mind, you don’t know which countries to sell tours to. Pay attention to the seasons and seasons; they determine the sales of certain destinations and the preferences of your first customers.
6. In addition to targeting countries, you can choose types of tourism, such as beach holidays, medical tours, children's holidays, active tourism, eco-tourism, etc.
7. Study demand and fashion trends in tourism using open sources.

There is another approach: the more destinations you offer to clients, the more tourists you can attract. But statistics and surveys show that consumers give preference to companies that specialize in a certain destination, and travel agencies that can tell in detail about the chosen vacation spot. If you are a multidisciplinary company, you will have to promote each area separately.

Selection of tour operators

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

How to choose a tour operator:

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

Choosing premises for a travel agency office

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

What types of travel company offices are there:

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

After the office has been found and the documents have been properly completed, it is necessary to prepare it for the sale of tours: organize and equip workplaces, think over convenient places for visitors, arrange it so that every client who comes into the office understands that this is a travel agency.

Agency registration

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

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

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

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

Staff

The minimum staff of a travel agency, as a rule, consists of: a manager who is involved in sales, a manager and a courier. In this case, accounting is carried out by a law firm or a visiting accountant. This arrangement of personnel is very common in travel agencies. What are the disadvantages of this option? If for some reason the director or manager does not come to work, one employee will not be able to cope or will work to the detriment of the quality of the services provided. This option can be “saved” if you hire a second manager without work experience or a student at a tourism university on a part-time basis.

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

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

Professional universities do not train personnel as well as the market requires, so managers without experience have to be trained on the job. At the same time, managers with work experience “become more expensive” every month and, unfortunately, not always justifiably.

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

Advertising

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

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

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

It is worth registering a case as OOO to increase customer confidence. Basic codes OKVED: 79.11. – “Activities of travel agencies”, as well as 79.12 . – “Activities of tour operators.” Other codes:

• 79.90. — “Other booking services and related activities”;
• 79.90.3. – “Activities for the provision of travel services related to booking”;
• 79.90.21. – “Activities of travel agencies in providing excursion tourism services”;
• 79.90.1. – “Activities for the provision of tourist information services.”

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

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

Choosing tourist destinations

Where to start? From developing proposals and searching for tour operators. Tours are divided into domestic and international. A more promising direction is international. it is necessary to develop 5-6 basic proposals, and subsequently supplement them.

Selection methods:

1. Hire managers with extensive experience in selling certain tours and create an appropriate offer for clients;
2. You have personal travel experience. You can safely recommend to customers places you have visited yourself;
3. Choose destinations based on an analysis of competitors and market demand (for example, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, near Europe);
4. At your own peril and risk, choose countries and cities that seem promising and interesting to you, and purposefully promote them.

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

It’s not worth chasing a mass audience by offering 10-20 options at once. Consumers place more trust in highly specialized companies that thoroughly know their business.

In recent years, themed travel has become increasingly popular. By dividing them into categories (children's and beach holidays, active recreation, eco-tourism, medical tourism, etc.), you can attract more attention to your company.

Choosing a tour operator

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

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

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

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

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

Room

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

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

When decorating the room, pay attention to thematic attributes(bright posters, souvenirs), which should set you in the appropriate mood and entice you to travel. It is worth setting up a comfortable waiting area for visitors with a sofa, coffee table, cooler, and magazines. This will require a cost of $100-150.

Equipment

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

1. Desks and chairs;
2. Filing Cabinets;
3. Several telephones, personal computers and a laser printer;
4. High-speed Internet;
5. Software for obtaining information about tours and bookings.

The cost of setting up an office is around $600-700, provided that you purchase used computers and a printer.

Staff

A small business will need two sales managers. It is better to outsource accounting. The services of a system administrator as an outsourcer are also required. You need $1000-1500 for a monthly salary.

Advertising and promotion

So, what does it take to attract clients? Outdoor ones work well (banners and railings), always with a specific indication of the offer. For example, a 20% discount on tours to Egypt and Turkey or advertising a specific tour at a fixed price. Promote yourself on the Internet inexpensively and effectively. Create your website with current offers, advertise it in search engines, and actively promote it on social networks. It costs about $200-250 per month.

Costs and profits

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

At the initial stage, you should expect to sell 40-50 tours per month (income 2-3 thousand dollars, net profit - 800-1200 dollars). In six months to a year, it is realistic to reach 150-200 trips in the “peak” months (September, May, August) and net profit in 2500-4000 dollars.

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

* The calculations use average data for Russia

A fragment of the book by Yulia and Georgy Mokhov “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? Should I risk my last savings or not? How long will it take for investments in the tourism business to 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 look for footage? Which tour operators to work with? Which countries do you sell tours to? Limit yourself to a narrow specialization or sell everything? Should we open air and railway ticket offices immediately or later? How to attract clients? How much to spend on advertising? Do tourists have many complaints? And still…

SHOULD I OPEN A TRAVEL AGENCY OR NOT?!

We will try to dispel all your fears and support your 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 or omission.

Development of a business plan for a travel company.

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

1. Travel agency concept

Kind of activity:

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

• sale of air and railway tickets;
• transfer services, ordering limousines;
• visa processing;
• insurance;
• preparation of documents for registration of foreign passports;
• services of an individual guide and accompanying person;
• 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.

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

2. Organizational plan

Travel agency office location:

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

• rent;
• own premises;
• other.

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

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

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

Office equipment (cost calculation):

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

Office design project:

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

3. Competitive environment

Competitors in selected tourist destinations.
Competitors within the radius:

Ready ideas for your business

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

4. Production plan

Staff:

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

Tour sales technology:

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

• by season;
• 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;

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

• signboard;
• pillar;
• signs;
• a sign with operating hours and company details.

• booklet;
• Business Cards;
• letterheads.

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

6. Legal aspects of opening a travel company

Legal form of a legal entity.

Tax system.

Drawing up a lease agreement.

Required permits depending on the type of tourism activity.

Trademark registration.

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

Ordering strict reporting forms “Tourist voucher”.

Maintaining accounting records (independently, with the assistance of an accountant, consulting company).

Legal support of activities

7. Financial plan

Sources of funds.

Amount and duration of investment.

Initial expenses plan.

Fixed expenses plan.

Income plan.

Payback plan.

8. Conclusion

Long-term development plan.

9.Applications

Approximate costs for creating a travel agency in Moscow,
one-time:

Registration of a legal entity and preparation of 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

Trademark registration 50,000-100,000

Employee training 5,000–30,000

Additional possible costs

Ready ideas for your business

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

The cost of tours even in the same hotel category 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 season prices for selected destinations with data from 3*, 4*, 5* hotels and compare them with the expected amount of income

Approximate plan of monthly expenses of a travel company in Moscow (rub.)

Office and infrastructure

Rent of premises 25 m2 - 50,000

Communication services 3000

Internet 5000

Water (cooler) 500

Stationery 2500

Other administrative expenses 6000 Staff salaries

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

• Legal subscription service RUB 7,000. months
• Payment for the online booking and tour search system is 1200 rubles/month.
• Refilling cartridges 400 rub./month.

Total 241,500 rub. + percentage of salary

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

After the abolition of licensing for tour operator and travel agency activities 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 the tour operator, according to which the travel agent, on behalf of and at the expense of the tour operator, sells the tourism product generated by the tour operator. At the same time, the travel agent is obliged to 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 activities and tour operators and take the necessary legal actions in a timely manner. The fact is that the law establishes a mandatory requirement - all tour operators registered on the territory of the Russian Federation are required to have financial support. Financial support is a guarantee of the tour operator in case of non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of the contract for the sale of a tour product, insurance of its civil liability to consumer tourists.

From financial support, injured tourists are compensated for the actual damage they suffered, for example, the cost of the tour if it did not take place, or the difference in cost if the vacation time was shortened. Financial security is provided by an insurance company or banker. 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 (entry and exit) and 500,000 rubles. for domestic tourism.

The cost of servicing financial security averages 1–1.5% per year of the amount of security.

Ready ideas for your business

For example, from the minimum amount of financial support for international tourism of 10,000,000 rubles. the cost of insurance compensation will be 100,000–150,000 rubles. This is the 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 a travel agent’s work when selling tours looks something like this:

1. the tour operator enters into an agency (commission) agreement with the travel agent, according to which the agent is instructed to implement (sell) tours generated by the tour operator for a fee;
2. a travel agent attracts a client (tourist) and enters into an agreement with him on the sale of a tourism product, receives the documents necessary to register the tour;
3. the travel agent sends a request to the tour operator to book specific travel services for the client (tourist), indicating the dates, number and details of tourists, hotel, level of transportation, excursions and other components of the tour;
4. the tour operator confirms the travel agent’s request and issues an invoice for payment;
5. the travel agent provides the tour operator with the documents (or information) necessary to process the tour (for example, for a visa);
6. the travel agent accepts the final payment from the tourist (if paying in cash, issues a cash receipt or a strict reporting form);
7. the travel agent makes payment to the tour operator minus the remuneration due to him (by bank transfer or in cash to the tour operator's cash desk);
8. the tour operator issues the travel agent with tour 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 presented scheme reflects only the ideal version of document flow.

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

secondly, when making a payment under a tour operator agreement, you suddenly discover that the invoice has been issued for payment to
another company or, making payment through the tour operator’s cash desk, you will be given a cash receipt order for a physical
a person with a “paid” stamp without the organization’s seal.

Travel company staff

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

• ¦ leader;
• ¦ manager1;
• ¦ manager2;
• ¦ secretary with an expanded range of responsibilities;
• ¦ courier;
• ¦ accountant and cashier;
• ¦ cleaning lady.

Director.

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

The manager can also be the chief accountant, 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 during which a specialist can go through all the “seasons” of a travel agency’s work - high, low, “dead” - and learn how to manage a company. If the head - founder of a travel agency has no experience in tourism, this is not a tragedy. It is necessary to invite managers with work experience and, together with them, develop the strategy, assortment, and 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 processing documents with tour operators, monitoring the fulfillment of orders, price changes, requirements for documents provided, terms of cooperation, special offers.

A universal manager must maintain and improve his qualifications (master classes, seminars, promotional 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 specialized secondary or higher (incomplete higher) education, since this significantly affects the general level of culture. On
teaching someone who strives for knowledge is a rewarding task, but find out the long-term plans of this candidate so that
the invested effort and money were not wasted - perhaps he will use the knowledge gained in another travel agency.

Travel agency secretary

receives incoming calls, distributes them according to the specialization of managers, answers general questions (“How can I get to you?”, “What time do you work until?”), ensures timely ordering of the necessary office supplies, household goods, and monitors the courier’s work schedule , carries out instructions from the manager, receives visitors and guests of the office. You must understand that sometimes it is very difficult to do without the help of a secretary, especially in the high season - in the summer, when the phone is ringing at the same time and the client is sitting in the chair.

Secretaries are also tasked with filling out questionnaires, recording and registering incoming and outgoing mail, and responding to corporate emails, ICQ, and Skype.

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

Courier

A very important and responsible position. With the strength (legs) of this person, money, passports, documents must get to the tour operator. Therefore, when choosing a candidate for this position, follow a simple rule: the person must be checked in all possible ways - call the previous place of work, confirm the correspondence of the place of registration and place of residence, call the home phone and communicate with relatives, ask for recommendations. These measures are not unnecessary. The problems that may arise due to the actions of the courier are, without exaggeration, catastrophic - loss of foreign passports and documents, theft of funds that the courier transports daily. The best option is a relative or acquaintance, but, unfortunately, such candidates are not always found.

Accountant-cashier,

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

Remuneration and bonus schemes in the tourism business

In the tourism business there is a general trend towards increasing wages. This is due to the existing personnel “hunger”. Specialists with experience move to another company, where they offer a slightly higher salary for the same full-time position, and this can happen every six months.

Options for calculating salaries for a tourism manager

The tour is considered sold when 100% payment is made.

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

2. Salary + interest:
Salary 10,000–15,000 rub. + 10% of 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 revenue from sold tours, divided among all managers.
Salary 18,000–20,000 rub. + 5% of tours sold by the manager.
Salary 18,000–20,000 rub. + 10% of all tours sold, divided between all managers.

3. Planned system: fixed salary is paid when the plan is fulfilled; for example, from 50,000 rub. (this refers to the company's income, not the total cost of the tours). If the plan is exceeded by more than 50,000 rubles. + 10%, more than 100,000 rub. + 15%, over 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 met, with the exception of the low season, there is a system of fines:

• ¦ the first month - no penalties, an analysis of the reasons associated with the 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, a planned payroll system, as a rule, is not used.

Options for calculating wages for a travel company courier

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

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

During the high season and increased sales volumes, it is customary to give couriers 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, issue bonuses and work calmly.

On the market you can find offers from courier companies that deliver documents anywhere
city, they enter into a formal agreement and bear full financial responsibility for the funds and documents in the parcel.

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

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

This was just a small fragment of the book by Yulia and Georgy Mokhov, “Travel Agency: Where to Start, How to Succeed,” published by Peter Publishing House.

How to open a travel agency from scratch? You can open your own travel agency. It’s not difficult to do this if you want. However, then pitting your agency against thousands of other competing agencies and constantly studying and controlling the frantic rhythm of the tourism market niche in the fight against competitors for first place is a rather difficult task.

The tourism business niche attracts many small and large entrepreneurs. This is due to the fact that opening such a business does not require large investments. In addition, there is always a demand for tours - today not a single travel agency is left without orders. That is, this business is quite attractive for businessmen. But there are also “pitfalls” that not everyone can avoid.

Due to the growing number of tourists, the number of travel agencies is also growing. Businessmen are building new restaurants, hotels, airports - the infrastructure of the tourism business niche is developing at a frantic pace. Today there is a rise in the tourism business, which is why entrepreneurs have recently had a wonderful opportunity to try themselves in this interesting work activity.

This article provides step-by-step instructions on how to open a travel agency from scratch.

Analysis of the tourism market: pitfalls.

When it comes to opening a travel agency, you must understand the state of affairs in the field of tourism business. If you are planning to try yourself in this business, then first analyze this market and study the stumbling blocks. This way you can understand what characteristics this business has.

Let us list the features that an entrepreneur who wants to open his own travel agency simply must know.

Firstly, from these issues we should highlight the growth dynamics of the tourism market. Its growth today is 5.8% per year.

Retail travel agents are not sufficiently consolidated. There are quite a few independent agencies in this market. Therefore, the share of large agencies accounts for only about 10% of the volume of this market.

Many new travel agencies are closing today without even having worked in this area for a year. Rotation at the lower end of this market is approximately 30% per year. This suggests that out of hundreds of such travel agencies, only 70% stay afloat for more than a year.

Dumping issues have a strong impact on the tourism business today. That is, prices for tours often fall sharply, because small agencies, in pursuit of clients, strive to reduce prices. Thus, even in any season, there are always vouchers and tours at a fairly low price - noticeably lower than the market price.

The prosperity of this type of work activity is greatly influenced by weather conditions. Any whim of the weather - a natural disaster or simply adversity forces travel agency workers to quickly take measures to protect clients.

The tourism business is also influenced by external political moods, be it political instability, any strikes, pickets, terrorist attacks, etc., which also force travel agency workers to urgently take measures to protect clients.

These “pitfalls” - the peculiarities of the tourism business - greatly hinder budding entrepreneurs from working in the field of tourism.

Where to start opening a travel agency

If you are interested in the question of how to open a travel agency from scratch, you should know where it all starts. In the process of planning the work scheme of your travel agency, special attention should be paid to the target audience. Study this first. After all, it is the preferences of the buyers of your tours - their desires - that will determine the questions of where to open the main office, how to plan tours, what to offer to customers, what should be the range of tours? These same buyer preferences will ultimately determine the name of the travel agency. In other words, defining your target audience will allow you to create the core concept of your entire enterprise.

After you decide on the questions of the target audience, proceed to drawing up a business plan. When approaching this issue, do not overestimate the possible number of tourists who will buy your tours. There may be fewer of them than expected. In your business plan, also try to take into account that unexpected expenses sometimes occur. To ensure that your income is not lower than the expected level, do not forget to take into account possible discounts on tours, etc. in your business plan.

Staff gathering

A business like opening a travel agency initially implies that you cannot do without employees. You will have to look for employees. That is, in questions of how to open a travel agency from scratch, you must remember that you cannot do without employees.

Typically, the staff of any travel agency includes a director, a manager, a courier and sometimes an accountant. This is the standard state. A visiting accountant can act as a person acting as an accountant.

There is one drawback to this arrangement of personnel: two employees will not be able to cope with running a business if it suddenly happens that one of the employees does not show up for work. Well, or they will work to the detriment of quality. In this regard, experts recommend hiring two managers.

The above staff is a list of employees that a travel agency cannot do without. You must remember that if you decide to open a travel agency from scratch, then you simply must include this staff in your business plan. Next, when you get a little promoted, you can hire more employees, of whom you will need an accountant-cashier, a cleaner, and a secretary-assistant.

In the tourism business, one can recently observe a trend towards increasing wages and partner remunerations. This is due to the fact that there is a so-called personnel “hunger”. Highly qualified specialists move to other travel agencies because they are offered higher salaries. The fact that there are not enough qualified specialists leads to staff turnover, which entails an increase in salaries, because in order to win over a qualified specialist, you need to offer him a higher salary. In this regard, whether you like it or not, you will have to offer more if you don’t want to barely stay afloat.

Registration

If you have already thought about how to open a travel agency and have decided to open your own travel agency, at some stage you should register your business. It is impossible to start such a business without registration. You are required to register it - formalize it either. If you don’t know which form is better to choose as an individual entrepreneur or LLC, we recommend studying the material - “”. Some entrepreneurs treat constituent documents inappropriately. They don't see them as much of a formality. However, they must be treated as necessary documents. After all, these documents are the order that determines the relationship between staff and management. In addition, the legislation of the Russian Federation does not recognize such shadow agencies, since they, as a rule, do not pay taxes. And this, in turn, leads to liability, sometimes criminal.

Along with registering an LLC or individual entrepreneur, you will need to obtain a license giving you the right to engage in such type of work as organizing tours. Licensing a travel agency is a necessary stage of registration. But it does not work in all countries. For example, in Russia, to open a travel agency, you do not need to license it.

Before starting your agency, be sure to also choose the tax option that is convenient for you. As is known, different forms of taxation imply different amounts of tax payments. In order not to pay more to the state treasury than you would like, it is recommended to choose an option that is convenient for you. How to do this, we read in the material - “”.

Selection of premises and interior

The choice of premises and interior is a separate question, the answer to which should be answered by every entrepreneur who wants to open a travel agency.

Choose a small room for the location of the travel agency. In the early stages of your agency, a small room will do. The main thing in these matters is that your agency is not far from large crowded places. This could be any place where people constantly walk.

As for the interior of the premises of your travel agency, this is an equally important issue, since those people who will buy tours from you are people of the wealthy class. Average middle-level citizens will also contact you, but wealthy people will contact you more often. Therefore, the interior must correspond to them. It is unlikely that any wealthy person would want to stay in an office that does not have good repairs. Therefore, to solve these issues, prepare thoroughly - create a cozy interior.

At the beginning of your travel agency, it is enough to place a coffee table, an armchair and a mini-buffet in the client corner. The interior of your office itself should have a corporate style. Filling it with tourist paraphernalia will not be superfluous. Also carry out work stations for employees in a proper manner.

Advertising campaign

All steps to open a travel agency have been completed. You can welcome your first visitors. To do this, you need to conduct an advertising campaign.

The first visitors will be remembered for a long time. Where can I get them? There are many ways to attract your target audience. In this age – the age of computer technology – it is recommended to create a website for your organization. In addition to other types of advertising, this type of advertising of your services in the tourist environment will not be superfluous.

You can also advertise the services of your travel agency by placing advertising banners in places with large crowds of people. Along with this, advertising can be placed on live radio and television. All these types of advertising are good and can significantly increase the number of your visitors. Today, advertising is an effective tool for finding clients.

By the way, a visitor often has a habit of appearing completely out of nowhere. Therefore, keep a journal in which you will record statistical data, through which you can later determine which type of advertising is best suited for your agency.

Profitability issues: “every hunter wants to know...”.

Any entrepreneur is interested in knowing how much money can be earned in the tourism business? Is it profitable to open a travel agency? How quickly does investment in this type of work pay off? We need to dwell on this issue in more detail.

Before you start researching this issue, you need to remember how much money was invested in opening a travel agency. These questions are strictly individual, so preliminary calculations can only be approximate.

According to businessmen, the profitability of this type of business at the initial stage is currently about 300 thousand rubles. per year and above.

The return on investment for this business depends on the chosen business strategy and currently amounts to about half a year.

When you start working in the field of providing services in tourism, strengthen yourself, become recognizable, take, so to speak, your place in this area, the most important and anxious moments will come - everyday work. And if you manage to reach the level at which you already sell about 500 trips per year, your monthly income will be approximately 80 thousand rubles. and higher.

Further development

If you do everything correctly - draw up a correct work plan in the field of tourism, choose the right business strategy, then business expansion issues will not keep you waiting. At this stage, you may already be thinking about changing the status of your travel agency - becoming a tour operator.

In these matters, you will probably encounter a lot of difficulties and surprises - immediately turning from a travel agency into a tour operator is not always easy or simple. Therefore, it is recommended not to rush into moving to another formation, but to focus on continuing to provide tourism services to the same already regular clients. By continuing to provide services in the sale of tours, you can gradually transfer the travel agency to the status of a tour operator.

As you can see, opening a travel agency is a good and rewarding endeavor. How to open a travel agency from scratch is a completely solvable question. If you competently approach the issues of organizing the sale of vouchers, then success and luck will not keep you waiting. All you need to open a travel agency in Russia is desire.