How to Start Your Travel Business, Become a Travel Agent
If you are someone who loves travel, meticulous planning and helping others have great experiences, consider becoming a travel agent and starting your own business today.
Becoming a travel agent or starting your own Travel Business are the same but difficult things. They can be inexpensive as business ventures go, and you can often get started with limited staff and little upfront cost in this business plan.
Travel is a big part of many people across the globe in virtually every country. Hereby, there is a wide variety of travel things that people tend to do, which includes domestic, international, adventure, pilgrimage, eco-tourism, food, and wine-related family gathering, etc. For these reasons, the travel industry is gigantic. In fact, according to the US Travel Association, every year the travel and tourism industry generates trillion of revenue as the economic activity.
The modern travel business provides services:
- Honeymooners and newly weeds
- The retired and old age people
- Families with kids and grandkids
- Spring breakers like solo travel
- Specialty groups (Christian, Hindus, LGBT, Musicians, etc.)
- Business travelers and companies travel
This business in travel services can also tailor the services for groups who are willing to have someone else arrange their travel, such as:
- Technologically- or internet-challenged luxury flights
- Travelers with complex demands such as a comfortable travel
- first-time cruisers services to the coastal area
- Travelers with special demands, like eco-tourism, visiting Amazonian tribes, etc.
- Travelers who simply want to save time and money – Budget-friendly travel
In the past, traditional travel business was established businesses with many employees and agents all around the world. However, nowadays that is not necessary. Previously, the travel business is just like to book a hotel and flight to plan a travel. Nowadays it turns its back and moves further in the form of booking party halls in cities, taxi services for whole travel, sightseeing tickets and demands, cruise or helipad services if needed, breakfast to dinner meals, pick-ups, and drop-offs if you are traveling and any other specialization as per customers.
You can start your Travel Business from your own home and become a travel-based traveling agency with much lower overhead and similar revenues. If you have ever considered turning your passion for travel into a business, now is the perfect time to start over and plan further.
Below are certain actionable pointers that will help you to plan your travel business gain an edge over your competitors as a new emerging start-up in Tour and Travel market.
Concrete on a plan of Action
Govern your tour-planning business agency. If you plan to establish a home-based travel agency or small-scale travel business, you need to tie up with a host travel agency (Bigger one), which will provide you with the status of an independent contractor for planning and plotting of tours. Alternatively, if you want to set up an online travel business, you should have a well-designed website that compels visitors to sign up with you and get your services directly.
Maintain your trust in the Market
The primary motive is to provide your customers with the best services as a service business of travel. Secondly, this business is to stand apart from your competitors, so you can support your travel website with WordPress. A WordPress certified website provides a higher level of security as well as business in terms of your web and e-commerce applications by employing encryption technology. Make a section of feedback for maintaining trust over society.
Know your Costumers Security Demands
In addition to signing up for a travel website, you need to go a step further to secure the confidential information of your customers. It is because everyone wants data security. It is the need of the hour for your travel agency to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) guidelines. Adhering to these rules and explain these to customers make you an industry pro for the travel market.
Meet the Legal Requirements
It is indeed a simple task to set up a travel agency, but it can be difficult when it comes to legal stuff. However, all the entrepreneurs should meet certain requirements as per the law of the land. Certifications and licenses are some of the legal requirements that your business should meet for opening a traveling agency. Additionally, you should also come up with a formal name for your business along with applying for a Tax ID number.
Funds and Money Matters
Planning a travel agency involves a lot of thought about the funding requirements. In the event you plan to set up a brick and motor travel agency, you need to manage your funds through bank loans as they provide this business easily. On the other hand, if you were planning to launch an online travel agency, you would need a smaller investment to just cover some low overhead costs of the website and IT services.
Both these types of travel business structures should set aside some funds for advertising tools like business cards and flyers along with social media advertising. All in an attempt to enjoy a fast cash flow and your travel business can avail other funding options like venture capital funding, angel investment or personal loans from lenders or banks.
Irrespective of the business type, separating your business bank account from your personal account is necessary, especially if you opt for an LLC business structure. For instance, if you are looking to start an LLC in Georgia, or any other state, having separate bank accounts can help protect your personal assets during insolvency.
Uncover the Power of Social Media
For any business, acquiring a new customer is a huge challenge in itself. Entrepreneurs in the travel space should also aim at building a strong customer base through social media and by employing the principles linked to community building social media. Research and Development by social platforms indicate that the travel business enjoys 50% of the total business coming from repeat business and referrals by the internet.
It is for this reason that travel agencies should invest in building strong customer relationships through social media interactions via direct and clear and information about tours and services. Another factor is the feed baking process to allow your tourists to share all their travel experiences on social networking sites so that others can have an idea about your services and it will add new customers to your travel database. Personal recommendations can help you build a strong tourist community when you maintain a constant touch with your customers.
It is very important that you hire the professional services of a web developer and SEO expert for your travel website if you are not an IT pro. You should ensure that your website shows up compelling content. An easy-to-update website is a boon to travel agencies. Entrepreneurs should strive to optimize their online travel interfaces so that their website gets the top search engine rankings.
Participate in Travel Business Events
Another actionable tip that will work for opening a travel business is to attend trade events that are organized in your locality. Such meetings for the travel business will provide you with invaluable information about your travel industry and its trends. Alongside helping, you to meet some important and notable people connected to your travel industry. You will simply get a chance to interact with the participants and spread the word about your upcoming travel agency.
Build Customers Relationship
While aiming to carve a niche for yourself in the already competitive travel business space, entrepreneurs and home-based small-scale business persons should aim at specializing their business. For this, you simply need to select a couple of potential itineraries and aim at resolving all the queries of your target audience who connected with your business.
Given the fact, the internet provides volumes of travel-based information, you are deliberate and consistent attempts to offer help to your target audience can differentiate you from others. Therefore, the trick here is to identify the specific travel needs of tourists and address them by providing personalized solutions and ease of travel. This way, you will be able to build long-term business relationships with your clientele.
