There are several travel businesses you can start. First of all you can start a travel franchise and open a office in the town where you live or a home based travel agency. Nowadays you can set up a website to sell flight tickets. No matters what type of travel business you start it comes with challenges like hard work, taking this business serious. Also you need lots of dedication and keeping an open eye on the track records such as finance and supply chain to grow in due time.
Open a travel agency in a town where you live.
Lots of people say that opening a shop is not that profitble. A traditional retail shop is an fantastic option you can choose from. Then you have to offer the right travel options and in addition you can offer the right brands and also accomodation to the potential buyers who are visiting your store. It is not cheap to start a travel agency shop because you often have to rent a space and find suppliers. Now that Internet is getting terrain this is far more cheaper option.
Set up a travel website.
Setting up a travel website might sound easy. It is not because it takes time if you can code or if you outsource it takes money to invest. Then the competition is out there. There are big game hunters bagging elephants. You might be one of them if you start a travel blog and grow in due time. Then you will have to spend lots of money on ads and visitor that come to your travel website and leaving without buying can be a major let down. Big brands spend millions of dollars on TV, Radio and online ads to generate profits. They have the largest market share. Starting a travel website on a budget will be headache if you do not offer the customers value for their money.
What does it take to start a travel agency?
You will have to get a the legal issues done like getting a license. There are no prior experience needed to start a travel agency but having knowledge and background information is the backbone of any business to grow. If you have the knowledge you can offer this to the customers to experience the holiday of their life. If you take a travel franchise then you get all the training and support to learn from a personal coach who assist you.
You can join an association to become a reputable travel agency. This means you can gain trust because you will get all the benefits because you have joined an association. Depending on your country you can choose from various associations to join. You also need be eligible to obtain a Air Travel Organisers Licensing (ATOL). Otherwise you can not sell flight tickets. Then you can only sell ground transport and accomodation. This means you will leave lots of money on the table if you do not sell flight tickets.
Sell reputable products.
It is plain to understand if you do not have something to sell you are not running a travel agency. You need to make a list of reputable brands and ask their permission to sell their products such as flight tickets, accomodation, transfers and even ground transportation. More established operators will have lots of requirements if you want to sell their brand products. In the begining your pecentage of the commission will be lower than those big time travel agencies who have been around for years. Then you have to sell lots of units of package holidays to get the return on investments. Then you need to negotiate with the right channels and sources to get a good deal. This is not all, you will have to maintain a good relationship with companies and customers and grow with the market trends to keep up with the competition.
Specialize in a niche.
When you are starting out you might want sell all the company’s brand to every traveller. Finding the right segment to offer tailor-made products which fits the budget and the needs of the customers can generate you lots of profits. You need to specialize in a certain niche such as package holidays or city trips in America, Australia, Canada or Europe for example. You will label your self as an expert and gain more trust from customers. Set your travel business apart from others. Try to find that gap in the market and serve to the right targeted market. If you like vistiting museums then you must have visited lots of museums over time. This will give you the idea to sell museum tickets plus sight seeing trips in the cities like New York, London or Paris.
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