The travel agency acts as an intermediary between the tourist and the tour operator and receives a monetary reward for this. The tourism industry is very competitive. Let's look at what a travel agency does, whether it is a profitable business, and whether it is worth opening another travel agency in this market.

What does a travel agency do?

Agency for the sale of tourist vouchers is one of the areas of business activity dealing with sale of tours to the population.

The tour may include a certain number of services selected for individuals individually or take the form of an already fully formed (package) tour.

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

A tour that includes all the same services, but selected individually depending on the customer’s preferences, is called individual.

If you have never worked in the tourism business before, it makes sense to start by selling certain types of tours: either packages or individual ones. Everyone chooses for themselves which type of tour they prefer to implement.

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

Travel companies that have chosen the market segment consisting of VIP persons sell only individual tours. The percentage of orders here is, of course, lower, but the cost of tours is many times higher. As a result, 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 has already been selected. Often, potential tourists know what they want and apply only to arrange everything, book and pay. Package tours help reduce the time it takes to select a particular service and eliminate the possibility that the customer will be disappointed.

The agency's profit lies in the difference in prices for tours between the tour purchased from the tour operator and the tour sold to an individual. The tour operator is responsible for organizing the tour.: draws up contracts with the embassies of host countries, concludes contracts and monitors the mandatory implementation of them 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. Responsibility for obtaining travel documents such as voucher, transfer, insurance and incorrect visa paperwork 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 obliged to prepare all the necessary documents and transfer payment for them within the prescribed period.

Tourist operators provide for fines if the customer decides to terminate the contract for the provision of services. The amount of fines is specified in the contract and may vary depending on the selected tour operator.

Is it profitable to open a travel agency?

Many entrepreneurs prosper after opening their own travel agency. But experts are convinced that before opening your own travel agency, you need to think very carefully, after weighing all the pros and cons.

If you agree to exchange a measured life for constant worries and stress (and you can’t do without it!), you can start planning your business. After all, with it you will receive a good income and constant travel around different countries, - after all, the head of a travel agency is obliged to establish business connections.

Among other things, it is necessary to mention the high competition in this business area. Statistics show that 30% of travel agencies operate for less than a year.

If you decide to work in the tourism industry, you need to think through 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 own travel agency

Stages of registering 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, an LLC should be preferred to 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.

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

Travel agency licensing.

Currently no license required. Although until 2007, licensing was mandatory 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 clients, then a license should still be issued.

Selecting tourism operators for cooperation.

After registering an agency, the first thing you should pay attention to is choosing a tour operator.

And there is plenty 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. You should be wary of exaggeratedly low prices for services; this will not lead to anything good. A tourist’s trip can be disrupted for various reasons, and a dubious operator, in pursuit of profit, is unlikely to warn about this.

Main focus when choosing a reliable operator you need to do the following:

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

It will be very convenient for you to choose an operator if its main office is located in your city. In this case, paperwork will be completed without intermediaries.

Staff

Selecting a location

Advertising, clients

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:

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

How to open a travel agency? It turned out that our project really gives hope to young people that someday they will be able to open their own business. In the end, it is not as difficult as it actually seems, because desire and perseverance will definitely help you achieve your goal.

Today the heroine of our article is Angela Burmistrova, who herself loves to travel and in the future dreams of visiting the most best resorts peace.

She wants to give this opportunity to other travelers and learn how to open a travel agency.

Participant profile:

1. Why this particular business?

It is profitable, quite interesting, there are opportunities for travel, development, broadening your horizons, meeting new people.

1. What has already been done in this direction?

Unfortunately, I haven’t thought about it seriously yet, so nothing serious has been done.

1. What funds do you have and where do you think you can get the missing amount?

I don’t have any capital, but I’ll try to save up. I hope it works!

Before you start saving or borrowing, you should understand the essence of the business, understand how to open a travel agency , determine how many competitors there are and assess the considerable financial risks. But there are no unattainable goals - if Angela manages to stand out among other companies and works conscientiously, like the best travel agencies, trying to really provide clients with a decent vacation, and not just get their money, as many do, then everything will work out.

To register an individual entrepreneur, you need to come to the Federal Tax Service with a passport, fill out an application for opening an individual entrepreneur, pay the state fee (800 rubles), then contact the tax office with the following papers:

• statement;
• a copy of all pages of the passport;
• fee payment receipt;
• application for transition to the simplified tax system;
• copy of TIN.

After registration, the organization is assigned OKVED No. 53.30 “Activities of travel agencies.”

If registration is successful, then you should be given a certificate, an extract from the unified register of individual entrepreneurs, a notice of registration with the tax office and of registration as a payer fixed contributions, statistics codes.

Travel agencies by law fall under the Simplified Taxation System (STS), which allows you to calculate the tax in the following ways: 6% of income or 15% of the difference between income and expenses. Usually they choose the first option, but if your company's cost share is high enough, consider the second option.

Do you need a license?

To open a travel agency in 2017, fortunately, you will not need a mandatory license - it was abolished 10 years ago. But for a travel agency, business will go much better if you have a license, because tourists will clearly trust a licensed organization. Therefore, if you have the desire and extra funds, you can get a license, but such official travel agencies do not have any additional privileges.

Entrepreneurship in the tourism sector is a serious and risky business, so managing a tourism business must be done wisely. You need to know all the nuances of registration, drawing up contracts with travel operators, decide whether you need a license and understand whether it’s worth opening an agency at all. But once you start, you will understand that all your efforts were not in vain, since all costs will be reimbursed threefold. Perhaps preliminary work in a travel agency as a manager or at least an operator will help you understand all the intricacies of the business, but more on that a little later.

Conclusion

This article describes only the legal nuances and covers the terms that entrepreneurs who decide to open a travel agency need to know. In the next article, the topic of travel agencies will continue, and we will delve into the activities of the agency from a practical point of view.

Have you decided to start your own business, but don’t know how to open a travel agency (firm)? Then the information below is just for you. Here you can download ready-made example business plan for a travel agency (company), find out why

If you can't compete with the big players, then you just need to work hard to make sure your services are worth the money they ask for. It is important to remember that the important services are those that significantly distinguish you from everyone else. This is the most important key to success.

Business plan - ready-made example

Before you open any travel agency, you need to know that tourism is quite a competitive industry. That is why, from the very beginning, you doom yourself to hard and painstaking work. All this must be foreseen in advance.

You should always be prepared for the fact that you will need to conduct tedious negotiations with people for days and try to indulge all their whims. If you are not sure that you can handle it, then it is better to think again about whether it is worth opening such a business.

In such a business, you need the ability to find a personal approach to everyone, to interest the client so that he purchases a tour from you and returns to you more than once. The important thing here is not to sell travel packages, but to sell your consultations. The most important thing in this matter is the ability to mobilize yourself and get used to the situation as quickly as possible.

Where to begin?

The possibility of opening a travel agency at home cannot be ruled out. The most important thing is to have a phone and a computer. However, if you want the business to not only survive, but also generate good income in the future, then you need to think more broadly.

Look through those areas that are not yet covered by the tourism business and try to start your business there. You can also try to provide services that do not require an office.

How much does it cost to open a travel agency?

Before opening your own travel agency, you need to allocate a budget.

• Office. In order to save a little on this, you can rent an office in an area where it costs less. But you should definitely take into account its transport accessibility for future clients.
• Staff. However, this can be a disadvantage when hiring staff. You need to try to find such people who have at least some experience in this field and thereby avoid the learning process.
• Advertising. Before opening an agency, think about how to make sure that as many people as possible know about you as quickly as possible. Advertising in newspapers is not very cheap and effective; radio and television are also not an option, since the return on them is very short-term. The most effective way to advertise in tourism is to promote the company’s website, which must be approached with all responsibility. In addition, it is not enough just to successfully promote the monetary pages of the site, you also need to very effectively place information about your services on them. Since website promotion takes a lot of time, at the initial stage it is recommended to use contextual advertising, the impact of which you will feel in the very near future.

Opening process

Steps to implement the plan:

1. Developing a plan. It is necessary to develop a realistic and most effective plan. Remember that you will need to compete with all available agencies that have been on the market for several years. If you have no experience at all, then you can work a little in tourism to get the hang of it. Then you will have at least the slightest idea about tourism and how it can be made successful.
2. Defining a Niche. Focus on those distinctive features that only you have. It is best to do the work that will be most interesting to you and where you will be most competent. If you like organizing tours to Europe, for example, and you have work experience, then it is best for you to pursue this direction.
3. Create connections. You need to convey maximum quantity people that you are a good and reliable travel agency that has experience in carrying out such activities. Based on your knowledge, you can significantly save not only your time, but also the time of your clients.

Profit

In this case, your fame and popularity are very important. Since the profit of the company is nothing more than the commission received by the company for the sale of a tour operator's voucher. Naturally, tour operators are unlikely to provide a good commission to an unknown company.

The minimum commission starts at 8%. For well-known operators it reaches 18%. This is another one important point, since the difference between your commission and the commission of other travel companies operating for more than one year will, unfortunately, not be in your favor. Think about it.

How to open a franchise

If you want to open a travel agency and not go bankrupt in the first year, then a franchise is an excellent option. You will be provided with a ready-made brand, a business model, and much more. You will have to pay for this, but the fee is not too high.

What is needed for this? Contact any travel company that is engaged in franchising and you will be provided with all the conditions for cooperation with them.

If you are still a beginner, then a franchise will be the best option for you.

Popular destinations

• clients who are vacationing in another place, and your travel company fully organizes delivery, collection of documents and negotiates with the receiving party;
• also receive travelers from other cities and countries. Businesses in countries such as Egypt, Turkey and others operate according to this scheme.

As for the first direction, it is fashionable to divide business into 2 areas: travel operators and agencies. Travel agencies sell ready-made tours, and tour operators are directly involved in the organization and formation of tours.

How to become a travel agent

Let's assume that you decide to sell tours from several or one tour operator. You do not bear any significant risks. However, there is a marketing problem. In addition, you need to decide on the direction of activity.

When you find the answers to all the questions, then think about how you will attract tourists.

How to become a tour operator

In this case, quite a significant initial investment is required. In most cases, tour operators are formed from successful travel agencies.

Opening without starting capital

This is quite possible, but do not forget that you will have to give up all the benefits that are associated with large expenses. While you have few clients, you can work independently, and only then you will have to take care of hired staff.

How to open a company working with corporate clients

This is, as a rule, a separate niche of the tourism business. New companies are constantly appearing that have not yet established relationships with agencies. In this case, you have many advantages in luring them to you. You can also be an independent travel agent who works from home. If you want, you can earn good money.

Your responsibilities

You must be aware of your responsibilities and the responsibilities for not fulfilling them. In addition to all the available functions, firms can also provide services such as:

• search for “last minute tours”;
• organizing high-quality delivery of tourists to the airport;
• assistance in obtaining various foreign passports and visas;
• fulfillment of special requirements of managers, etc.

Your potential clients

You must remember that almost any travel agency is your future potential client. Most likely, your clients will include:

• companies are too small to support their staff;
• departments involved in organizing trips to more large companies;
• athletes and musicians;
• high-ranking executives who travel quite frequently. After all, they need that person who will deal only with their plans.

In any case, the decision to open a travel company or agency must be approached comprehensively and be sure to weigh all the nuances in advance.

useful links

http://forum.turizm.ru/common/forum34/ - Forum for tourism industry specialists

After compulsory licensing of tourism activities in Russia was abolished in 2007, many entrepreneurs began to wonder how to open a travel agency from scratch, and the Internet was full of step-by-step instructions for this type of business. It’s not surprising, the start-up investment is minimal, but it pays off profitable business with small investments after selling only 500 vouchers. What do you need to open a travel agency and where to start?

There are 2 types of service providers in the tourism services market - travel agencies and tour operators. Travel agencies sell ready-made tours, while operators develop them: they select hotels and book rooms in them, organize air travel, and they also set the amount of commission that the travel agency will receive for selling tours.

Travel agencies, in turn, come in two types: some specialize in domestic tours, while others specialize in international ones.

Opening a profitable travel agency from scratch

So, before opening a travel agency from scratch, you need to choose a priority direction for sending tourists - abroad or within the country. In the first case, they usually offer some unique thematic trips, for example, visiting all the major churches of Russia in 7 days or an eco-tour with a demonstration of how they organize the cultivation of strawberries using Dutch technology, and you can also accept foreigners. In the case of international destinations, they usually rely on popular beach holidays and luxury expensive tours.

What do you need to open a travel agency?

• Registration of agency in quality legal entity– LLC or individual entrepreneur. In most cases, the form of an individual entrepreneur is more profitable, since it is less expensive and does not require authorized capital. However, some tour operators refuse to work with companies registered as individual entrepreneurs.
• Renting premises. It is enough to find a room with an area of ​​20 m2 and preferably in the city center. There is also an opinion that it is better to locate an office next to other travel agencies, since clients love choice and will happily go to all nearby companies to choose the best tour and the best price.
• Repair and arrangement of premises. Cosmetic renovation of an office with an area of ​​20 m2 will cost from 50,000 rubles. Another about 18,000 rubles will have to be spent on two telephone lines, as well as Internet. In total, about 100,000 rubles will need to be spent on furnishings and purchasing equipment.
• Before 2007 step-by-step instruction how to open a travel agency included obtaining a license from scratch and collecting documentation, but now paperwork has been reduced to a minimum, which is why everyone is attracted to this type of business.
• Receiving statistics codes and opening a bank account, not forgetting to report this to the tax office.
• Purchasing access to a unified search database for tours and tour operators. The most common example is tourindex.ru. Access costs from 13,000 rubles for six months and allows you to quickly show the client all possible offers without going to the website of each tour operator. Any step-by-step instructions on how to open a travel agency from scratch certainly notes that access to the base of tour operators is the most important step. If funds allow, you can also purchase special software to simplify document flow, it costs approximately 9,000 rubles and is designed for 4 seats.
• Search and hiring of personnel. You will need at least 2 sales managers, and the business owner himself usually combines customer service and administrative work. They usually don’t hire an accountant, but pay a part-time employee 5-8 thousand rubles a month. The managers' salary is approximately 10,000 rubles + 1-3% from the sale of tours. Employees are also periodically sent on study tours to popular destinations.
• Signboard, advertising and website creation - searching for clients. Here, too, you need to decide on your priorities - to rely on the Internet or traditional advertising, because today both directions are expensive. However, all the companies that have thought about how to open a travel agency and what is needed for this ultimately agree on one opinion - best advertising This is word of mouth, recommendations from satisfied clients.

The average price of a tour in popular destinations is about $700-800. On average, the agency earns a 10% commission from the sale of a tour, that is, $70-80. In the first year of operation of the company, there will be few orders, approximately 40 contracts per month in the summer and only 15-20 in the winter. The most difficult thing is to survive the low season in the first year, as well as send 400-500 clients abroad. If the company successfully survived the first year of operation, then in the future the number of clients will constantly grow by 2-3 times.

And when the travel agency gets stronger, it can try to become a tour operator. To do this, you will need to buy a liability insurance policy for 5 million rubles and enter the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators. This will allow you to independently create tours, satisfying the demand of regular customers for exotic destinations and set your own prices.

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Required resources: finished object or plot of land. Desired resources: builders, labor personnel.

Opening a travel agency in a third world country

Business idea: opening a travel company in one of the third world countries. Who is it suitable for: everyone. Necessary resources: premises in which the company will be located; qualified guides who speak foreign languages.

You can't beat the big players by cutting prices, so you'll have to work hard to make sure your services are worth the money you charge. Those services that set you apart from the rest are very important. Overall service quality is the key to success.

Tourism is an extremely competitive industry, and by opening a travel agency, you are dooming yourself to a large number of hard work. And when you start a business, you won't be able to take advantage of free or extremely cheap vacations—you simply won't have the time. So the motivation should be related to the work and the service you provide.

You'll spend your days negotiating with people, either in person or over the phone, which takes effort, even if you enjoy talking to people. If you don't have the stamina for this, you shouldn't open a travel agency.

In the tourism business, it is more important not to sell trips, but rather to sell consultations. Your customers want to make sure they can rent a car, go for a walk, or get vegetarian food. It is very important to provide them with a personal approach.

You do not need to have experience in tourism. He will, of course, help, but the most important thing is to be prepared to learn quickly.

How to start

It is quite possible to open a travel agency at home with a computer and a telephone. You can start building a client base with friends and family, so technically it's not difficult to get started.

But you need to think bigger if you want your business to survive. Competition at the local or street level is not enough high level for business success. A truly local business will not survive in such a market. It needs to be available throughout the country.

Look at areas that are not yet well covered by travel agencies and start a business there. Or you can start a business that provides specialized travel services and does not require an office.

How much does it cost?

Office costs can be very expensive, but if your travel agency has a narrow specialization, you can save money on an office by renting it in an area where it is cheapest.

Staff:

However, a remote but cheaper office can be a disadvantage when it comes to hiring staff. This is not an industry where workers receive very high salaries, but there is competition for good staff.

Look for people who have experience in tourism and who would be attracted to a cheap vacation and offer them good conditions work. Roughly speaking, you will need to spend the same amount on salaries as on renting an office, but you need to be prepared to pay more for experience or knowledge of foreign languages.

Before you open a travel agency, you need to think about how clients will find out about your company. Local newspapers, yellow pages, teletext – good ways, but they are not cheap.

Word of mouth advertising is effective, but know that this is not a business where good service will definitely bring you back again. Your customers will tell their friends about the great service they received, but high price competition will force people to explore other options, even if they end up coming to you.

Opening a travel agency

Develop a plan

Develop a realistic business plan for opening your own travel agency. You will need to compete successfully both with existing agencies and with sites that allow people to book their own hotels and plane tickets. If you do not have experience in the tourism business, then you can work for several months in an existing travel agency to get one.

You should also have a realistic financial plan. After compiling it, consult with an accountant.

Define a Niche

When developing a travel agency business plan, focus on your distinctive features. Extended vacations, trips that involve more than one flight and hotel reservations and guided tours are much more difficult to plan using online services. Many companies also prefer to independently organize trips using the Internet to working with a specific travel agency. When defining your niche, focus on what you are interested in and what you are competent at. If you have extensive experience, for example, in excursion tours to Europe, it is better to open a travel agency that specializes in such tours. If you have connections in the business environment and experience in organizing corporate trips, it is better to open a travel agency focused specifically on companies.

Create connections

Advertise your travel agency by highlighting your specialization and targeting potential clients. In your promotional materials, such as a brochure or website, describe your experience organizing tours and why people would find it difficult to organize them themselves. Based on your knowledge, you may be able to save clients money by combining tours or organizing them at less busy times of the year.

Travel agency profit

A travel agency's profit is the commission it receives for selling a tour operator's package. The fame of your travel agency is important, because international tour operators will not provide a large commission to an unknown organization. Commissions can vary greatly.

The minimum commission starts at 10%, and for well-known travel agencies it reaches 18%. So it will be difficult for you to compete if you are just starting out.

For example, if the average cost of a voucher is 25,000 rubles, then by selling 4 vouchers a day, you can earn an income of 300,000 rubles. per month, which should be enough to cover costs.

How to open a franchise travel agency

How to open a travel agency and not go bankrupt in the first year? (and this happens with 90% of new companies) One solution to this problem is to open a franchise travel agency. You will be provided with a business model, a ready-made brand, connections with a tour operator, and streamlined business processes. Of course, you will have to pay for this, but, as a rule, the fee is not very high.

If you are new to business, then a franchise is for you. The best way open a travel agency. Unfortunately, today there are not very many travel agencies on the Russian franchising market, so the choice of franchisees will be limited.

How to open a tourism business

You need to understand that the tourism business is a much broader concept than a travel agency or travel agency. The tourism business includes hotels, transportation, organizing excursions, etc. In general, two areas of tourism business can be distinguished:

1) Your clients are vacationing somewhere else. Your company organizes the collection of documents, delivery and negotiates with the receiving party, which is engaged in servicing tourists. Almost the entire tourism business in Russia operates under this scheme.

2) Another option is to receive tourists from other cities and countries. Most of the tourism business in countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Spain, Greece, etc. operates according to this scheme. Although there are travel agencies there that provide local residents with the opportunity to relax in another country.

Organizing a tourism business in the first direction is much simpler, since it does not require the creation of infrastructure, construction of hotels, keeping attractions clean, ensuring the safety of tourists, etc. Usually, when people in Russia talk about organizing a tourism business, this is what they mean.

The tourism business related to the first direction can be divided into 2 areas: travel agencies and tour operators. Travel agencies engage in the resale of finished tourism products, and usually do not require large investments to open them. Tour operators organize tours and often rent planes and hotels abroad. They bear significant risks, but also receive significant profits. They implement their tours both themselves and with the help of travel agencies.

In the tourism business, there is no need to confuse a travel agency and a tour operator. The difference is that travel agencies sell tours, and tour operators organize them. You can open a tour operator company, but you need to compete with large companies that buy seats on planes and hotels in bulk, which allows them to reduce the cost of their tours.

How to become a travel agent

So, you have decided to become a travel agent, that is, to sell tours from one or more tour operators. You do not bear significant risks, but you are responsible for the most difficult problem of business - the problem of sales.

Business idea: opening a travel agency from scratch

And you need to solve it well, because commissions are the only source of your income.

First of all, you need to decide on the direction of activity. Will you work only in the most popular destinations (Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt) or will you provide tours to almost all countries? Will you specialize in beach holiday or skiing? Which tour operators will you work with?

Once the answers to these questions are ready, you need to think about how you will attract customers. Use advertising in print media and the Internet, give the company a good name, come up with a twist. And don’t forget to serve your customers well - then they will come to you again and bring friends.

How to become a tour operator

Becoming a tour operator requires a significant initial investment. It is tour operators who organize tours and set prices for them, as well as the size of the commission for travel agents.

Most often, tour operators emerge from successfully developing travel agencies, thus immediately having a market for their services.

How to open a travel company without starting capital

It is possible to open a travel company without start-up capital, but you need to understand that you will have to give up all the benefits associated with large expenses. And this, first of all, is the office, advertising and personnel. The problem of lack of staff is easily solved. While your profits are small, you can do everything yourself. When the number of clients increases, and, consequently, the volume of work and profits, you can hire staff to help you. Lack of an office due to lack of staff is also not a big problem. You just need to find another place to meet with clients.

The lack of money for advertising is a serious problem. You need to look for clients yourself, without spending a lot of money, and build a client base. You can use the Internet, communicate with as many people as possible and tell them about your services... By and large, opening a travel company without start-up capital is the solution to this problem.

How to open a travel agency working with corporate clients

Working with corporate clients are identified as a separate niche of the tourism business, and if you open a travel agency focusing on them, you can get many advantages. But entering this market can be difficult. Many companies have their own staff who deal with tours, or travel agencies with whom they have been cooperating for a long time. However, new companies regularly appear that do not yet have established relationships with travel agencies, and some companies are not happy with the travel agencies they work with, so starting a travel agency may be a good idea. Or you can find a position as an independent travel agent working from home. In any case, with the right approach you can earn very good money.

Responsibilities

Owners of travel agencies working with corporate clients often have to deal with various responsibilities. In addition to purchasing air tickets (and adding a markup to their cost) and performing other functions typical of travel agents, corporate travel agencies can also provide the following additional services:

• Search for last minute tours
• Assistance in obtaining visas and passports
• Arranging delivery of clients to the airport
• Fulfilling special requirements of managers (for example, renting limousines, delivering cardio equipment to the room, etc.)
• Making all arrangements required to enable the client's company to attend all conventions and conferences
• Providing planning services for all other meetings
• Providing cost management services to help clients keep costs under control

The nature of the corporate business model is such that many services may be required with very short notice.

But rather than being a nuisance, rush work is always an opportunity to earn larger commissions, although in this situation you need to act according to the circumstances. It may not be worth raising your prices for an important client who makes a lot of orders, unless they are always urgent.

Potential clients

Almost any company is your potential client, although it is more likely that large companies with a large number of employees will work with travel agencies. Most likely, your clients will also include:

• Companies too small to support tour staff and too busy to do so
• Departments involved in organizing tours in large companies. They may need your help
• Travel agencies that cannot cope with the volume of work
• High-ranking executives who travel so frequently that they need someone to focus solely on their plans.
• Musicians (including bands) and professional athletes

Some people can visit several countries at once in a year. That's why the idea of ​​opening a travel agency is just perfect for starting your own business. There are travel agents and tour operators in the tourism services market.

Tour operators are engaged in creating a tourist package, which includes: developing routes, purchasing charters, booking hotel rooms, organizing transfers, organizing the reception and departure of tourists, and helping in choosing excursions.

Travel agents are essentially sellers of travel packages (like intermediaries); they are directly connected with tour operators, having entered into an agreement with them to provide their services. The earnings of travel agents is a percentage of the income of the trips they sell.

Before you open a travel agency you need to know:

1. A crowded place is perfect for opening a travel agency; it is advisable that there are some public institutions nearby: banks, offices, business centers, etc., because in the future they will be your regular clients. Don’t skimp on arranging the room, make it as beautiful as possible, you can create a thematic style, in general it should show the level of your services and attitude towards the client.

2. All information about your agency should be in a visible place so that the client can read it without any problems. Although you don’t need a license now, you should have insurance for your activities, so hang it on the wall. Also, in each season of work, you will receive positive feedback and gratitude from travel agents, this can also improve your reputation in the eyes of clients.

3. Please note that before opening a travel agency, you will face a lot of difficulties and it will take a lot of time. Therefore, it is recommended to immediately buy a travel business; this will save you from many organizational issues.

4. Depending on the amount of finances you have, you can even think about an already well-promoted and successful travel business; this will be a very big advantage in your future work. Success will be influenced by factors such as: famous name, a positive reputation, a large client base, as well as the agency’s location, known to everyone. If you agree to keep your previous employees, this will also be a significant advantage, because qualified workers who know their job are in short supply in our time.

5. But before you take a ready-made tour. business, carefully familiarize yourself with its background, find out about its reputation, popularity among clients, what share of the market it occupies, this is necessary because the competition is very, very strong. Be sure to find out about the reviews, whether there are any complaints or complaints, and most importantly, whether this agency is suing.

Detailed business plan for a travel agency and travel agency:

If you decide to open your own travel company, then we will tell you in detail where to start this business, so that in a short period of time you can make money from it.

1. To begin with, the right step would be to draw up a business plan for your agency, analyze the budget, it should be selected with reserve. Familiarize yourself with the demand for tourism services in your area, as well as the level of competition, because it is very high. If you do not trust your own views on the situation, then it would be best to turn to people who specialize in the specifics of marketing research.

2. Before registering any entrepreneurial activity, you need to go through many legal nuances. To register a travel agency, you can go in two ways: as a private entrepreneur or as a company with limited liability. Since these days the requirement for licenses for travel agencies has been abolished, when concluding an agreement with a tour operator, you can immediately begin your activities.

3. If you are still determined to obtain a license for the full right to engage in tourism activities, then for this you will need to go through a number of legal procedures that meet the requirements of the state. These requirements include the following conditions: your staff must be 20% of employees with secondary specialized education in the field of tourism, or from people who have worked for more than three years in this field, and they must also have well-developed communication skills.

4. The director of a travel agency must have a higher, secondary specialized education, and his work experience in the field of tourism must be more than three years.

5. An office with an area of ​​25 sq. m. or more is ideal as premises for a travel agency. meters. The city center will be the ideal location for its opening. The premises should have a main entrance and preferably a parking space.

Business idea: How to open a travel agency from scratch?

The location for a new travel agency should be chosen near other similar agencies. This will make it convenient for customers to choose between offers. The main criteria by which a client chooses a travel agency are the quality of the hotel being booked and the amount of the discount provided. The office premises should please the client’s eye, because people who want to use your services rely on the agency big hopes and have a lot of money in their pockets, so their expectations should not be disappointed. No matter the size of the room, the sign should attract attention and be memorable.

6. Agreement with tour operators. Before choosing several tour operators, decide what target audience your travel agency will have and what area of ​​recreation it will operate in. Also decide on the specialization of tours, usually international and domestic.

7. For greater confidence, it is recommended to enter into an agreement with ten tour operators. About half of them should correspond to the key areas that your travel agency specializes in, good example There will be Egypt and Türkiye, because these are some of the most popular holiday countries. The remaining operators can be divided into other, less popular areas; this is necessary to expand the range and load the agency with work. This division will be correct because at the end of the season of main offers, people who prefer to travel all year round, will be able to choose from many other tours.

8. An important factor when choosing an operator will be its time in the tourism services market, as well as customer trust and, of course, reputation.

Do not get hung up on any of the tour operators, basing this on your personal attraction and fame of the company. It would be more correct to distribute contracts, each of which would correspond to its own direction. Thus, the client will be able to choose the most suitable price for the provision of hotel services. You won’t always have clients with full wallets, so you need to balance your prices so that they suit everyone.

The tour operator is the main factor in earning your capital. The commission amount can vary from 5 to 16 percent for each tour sold.

9. After you open a travel agency, the next step will be to promote and promote your agency. You'll have to spend a lot of money on advertising at first, so factor that cost into your business plan from the start. As a rule, there will be expenses: on advertising on the Internet, on TV and in newspapers. Never resort to one-time advertising, as experience shows - this is money down the drain, the frequency of publications should be high, only thanks to this method you will reach a large number target audience. Please note that depending on the level and cost of the services you offer, it is necessary to place advertising in those places where it will be seen by citizens who can afford these services.

10. You should not count on clients in the form of acquaintances and friends, no matter how strange it may sound, but these people are the least likely to resort to your services. Although this is contradictory information, as statistics show, the influx of this group of people comes only after your company is sufficiently promoted and becomes quite famous. We wish that your business in the tourism sector will bring you positive results in a short time, and that your travel company will gain many satisfied and wealthy clients who will return again and again.

The travel agency organizes day trips around the city. Should the agency issue travel vouchers?

Answer: If a travel agency organizes one-day excursion trips around the city, then it should not issue tourist vouchers.

Rationale: In order to determine whether tourist vouchers are required when organizing day excursions, it is necessary to determine what constitutes a tourist voucher.

According to Art. 1 Federal Law dated November 24, 1996 N 132-FZ "On the fundamentals of tourism activities in Russian Federation"(hereinafter - Law N 132-FZ) a tourist voucher is a document containing the conditions of travel, confirming the fact of payment for the tourist product and being a strict reporting form.

Tourism is temporary departures (travels) of citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and stateless persons from their permanent place of residence for medical, recreational, educational, physical education, sports, professional, business, religious and other purposes without engaging in activities related to obtaining income from sources in the country (place) of temporary stay.

A tourist product is a set of transportation and accommodation services provided for a total price (regardless of the inclusion in the total price of the cost of excursion services and (or) other services) under an agreement on the sale of a tourist product.

A tourist is a person visiting a country (place) of temporary stay for medical, recreational, educational, physical education, sports, professional, business, religious and other purposes without engaging in activities related to generating income from sources in the country (place) of temporary stay, for a period from 24 hours to 6 months in a row or spending at least one night in the country (place) of temporary stay.

The customer of the tourism product is the tourist or another person ordering the tourism product on behalf of the tourist.

Tourist activity is the activity of organizing travel (Article 1 of Law No. 132-FZ).

These definitions allow us to identify signs of activity directly related to tourism activities. Such signs, in particular, include: travel outside the place of residence for a period of more than 24 hours and less than 6 months, the presence of certain purposes of departure (educational, medical and recreational, etc.), placement in the country (place) of temporary stay, etc.

For persons visiting a country (place) of temporary stay for educational purposes for a period of less than 24 hours without spending the night in the country (place) of temporary stay and using the services of a tour guide (guide), guide-interpreter, Law No. 132-FZ allocates a special term - excursionist .

Tourist agency

One-day excursions around the city do not fall under the definition of travel and tourism, and are not fully considered a tourism product, since they do not involve the departure of citizens from their permanent place of residence and the provision of accommodation services. This means that the activity of a travel agency in organizing one-day excursions is not a tourist activity.

However, day trips (excursions), although not directly related to tourism, may be indirectly related to tourism activities if services for organizing day excursions are provided as part of a single tourism product. In this case, one-day excursion trips are partially regulated by Law N 132-FZ.

If a travel agency organizes one-day excursion trips as an independent service, then this activity is subject to regulation in accordance with Chapter. 39 Civil Code RF on the provision of paid services.

In addition, according to Art. 4.1 of Law N 132-FZ, organizations providing excursion services on the territory of the Russian Federation for no more than 24 hours in a row are not required to have financial support in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Thus, based on an analysis of the legal nature of organizing one-day excursions within the city, we can conclude that this activity, carried out as the provision of independent services, does not relate to tourism activities and is not subject to regulation by Law N 132-FZ.

According to the provisions of the Federal Law of May 22, 2003 N 54-FZ “On the use of cash register equipment when making cash payments and (or) payments using payment cards,” organizations and individual entrepreneurs carrying out cash payments and (or) payments using payment cards are required to use cash register equipment included in the State Register. Organizations and individual entrepreneurs, in accordance with the procedure determined by the Government of the Russian Federation, can carry out cash payments and (or) payments using payment cards without using cash registers in the case of providing services to the population, provided that they issue the appropriate strict reporting forms (clause 2 of Art. 2 of Federal Law N 54-FZ).

A tourist voucher is a strict reporting form, and its form is approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 07/09/2007 N 60n “On approval of the strict reporting form form”.

Forms of strict reporting forms approved before the entry into force of the Government of the Russian Federation Decree No. 359 of 05/06/2008 “On the procedure for making cash payments and (or) settlements using payment cards without the use of cash register equipment” are used by organizations and individual entrepreneurs providing to the population such services for which these forms are approved by orders of the Ministry of Finance of Russia.

Consequently, an organization engaged in tourism activities has the right to carry out cash payments without the use of cash register equipment in the case of providing services to the population, subject to the execution and issuance of a strict reporting document “Tourist voucher”.

Registration of a tourist voucher is mandatory for organizations engaged in tourism activities (Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 10, 2010 N 03-01-15/4-120, Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated November 1, 2010 N 17-15-114738; clause 3 Letters of Rospotrebnadzor dated August 31, 2007 N 0100/8935-07-32 “On the peculiarities of law enforcement practice related to ensuring the protection of consumer rights in the field of tourism services”).

This means that for carrying out other non-tourist activities, including activities for organizing one-day excursion trips as an independent service, issuing a tourist voucher is not mandatory.

M. R. Zabelina

Auditing company LLC "INSEI"

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