How to Start a Travel Agency : Definitive Guide to Build Your Dream Business

If You want to start your own travel agency and don’t know how to start and what are the requirement and what the knowledge required. You can find all the steps involve to set your own business. Lets start now.

The fist thing is that you need to choose the type of travel Agency.

There are many types of travel agency which you can select and open for your interest.

Types of travel agency:

• Travel agency for Air Ticketing:  For Domestic and International sectors
• DMC Destination Management Company: Organize the tour for a particular destination like Dubai and Thailand
• Inbound Tour Operator: Get your foreign customer to have a chance to travel in your lovely country. The inbound tour gives huge profit as you offer multiple services as a package. Generally, you can accept 25% profit in this sector. But make sure you must provide quality service and meet the customers expectations.
• Outbound Travel agent: send your domestic customer abroad for the foreign tour.
• Luxury Travel: Full the requirement of your elite & rich customer.
• Adventure Tourism: Plan trip for youngsters for adventure activities
• Corporate travel: provide your service to all companies and offices
• Destination weddings or honeymoons: plan and execute the marriage plan
• Cruise travel: provide cruise destination like Alaska and provide great entertainment
• Car Rental: Get involve for car rental service for the tour management
• Working as a B2B Agent: Provide platform to small level sub agent for the air ticketing
• Pilgrimage Tour Operator
• VISA management

Make clear and strong Business Plan:

Any travel agency runs successfully if you have brand image in market and people chose your product frequently. Make sure you provide quality service and do not forget to take their feedback and publish it on social media platforms.

This helps you organize your goals, strategy, and finances. Include:

• Mission & vision: Set a long-term mission like I need to be a top 10 travel agent in next 5 years and work on it.
• Target market: Study the Local and International market carefully and target the customer like you can start pilgrimage package to your customers if ample leads are available like Hajj and Umrah or Any Temple tour.
• Services offered: Try to offer all kind of services like VISA management, Flight tickets and tour Packages. Make sure your service must have quality so that you can get benefits of word of mouth.
• Marketing strategy: Focus on social media and corporate Sectors and must hire some young high energetic professional to handle sale opportunity for corporate sectors requirements.
• Budget & financial forecast: It completely depends on your and what size and type you want to set up your agency. Generally a entry level travel agency need 2-3 lakhs for set up.

Choose a Business Model

You can be:

• Independent travel agent: You will have full control of your own business and you can plan and work on it.
• You can take Franchisee: Not recommended as growth is based on Mother Company you will be depend on them.
• Host agency affiliate: you work independently but under a host agency that provides systems, support, and commissions again not recommended as growth will be decided by them
• B2B: At the initial stage you can take help as you will have more option to choose.

Register Your Business:

You can set PVT LTD/Sole proprietorship/LLP and partnership but best will be sole proprietorship as the liability will be less in initial stage.

• Choose a name of your company make sure it should have any travel related word. Avoid complicated and word not in use.
• Register with your local government.
• Get IATA license like you can opt IATA Go Lite as it has less cost involve. But at large level you must chose IATA standard.
• Get Proper training for air ticketing, GDS training (Amadeus & Galileo), Tour Management, Hotel, Car, Rail, cruise  & VISA Management etc.

Chose your office Location:

You can set up your office as per your budget and market but keep in mind office must be accessible to your clients. You can use Home as an office or you can opt fully online but you need more advertisement in which huge cost might be involved. You can open your agency at any business center location like mall etc.

• Retail storefront
• Online-only (virtual agency)

You must have the following thing in your office:

• High Speed internet
• Booking software like GDS Galileo and CRM (Customer Relation Management Software)
• Phone, email, printer etc.

You must have good contact and professional Relationships with Suppliers

You’ll need good relationships with:

• Airlines
• Hotels
• Tour operators
• Cruise lines
• Car vendor
• Vendor for activities

You must have additional certificate:

• SATTE– It is a platform and event organization company and every year organize travel meet where thousand of travel company gather under one roof and meet each other.
• TAFI– Travel Agent Federation of India
• TAAI– Travel agent association of India.

Social media:

You must understand the importance of social media impact on your business. You should always post your services and views and videos related your services. The videos mut have good contents related to travel industry. For the social Media and digital marketing you must learn from a well reputed digital marketing company.

Your online presence is crucial.

• Build a professional, mobile-friendly website
• Include booking options, destination content, and contact information
• Use social media to share deals, travel tips, and client success stories

Make your travel agency presence every where

• Use SEO and Google Ads for your website. A google ad can cost you heavily so be wise.
• Promote on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest
• Start a travel blog or YouTube channel
• Network with local businesses and event planners

Get a proper training for the following to setup travel agency:

You must join a top leading Travel training institute to learn every angle of travel sectors.

We India Travel and tourism institute can help you to train and guide to set up your own travel agency business.

We can teach you on the following topics.

• GDS- Galileo with ticket issuance and Cancellation with refund
• IATA Geography and Flight connections
• VISA filing and form filling
• Air Ticketing
• Hotel Management
• Car Booking
• Cruise Booking
• Tour Management: Domestic and International with hot destinations
• Learn how to design and plan the tour
• Sales technique
• Office Management
• Email management

You can contact us on +91 8586818292

You can write us for more information. Kindly contact us on [email protected]

Our course duration is 6 months and once you join this industry you can make money and fulfil your dream.