Increasingly, citizens of our country spend their holidays abroad, travel across different country. But tourist trips around the country do not stop. , following this trend, is also developing. New agencies, tour operators appear, hotels are being built. Not good difficult process. The biggest difficulty is the huge competition. And before joining their close ranks, you need to decide in the role of whom you will act. Currently, two types of organizations are most common: Tour Operator or Travel Agent. So who are they. 
What is a tour operator and travel agent
Tour operator - a legal entity that is engaged in the formation, promotion and sale of a tourist product, in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation "On the basics of tourism activities in the Russian Federation". Simply put, it is an organization that prepares and promotes tourism offers. The tour operator arranges food and accommodation at the hotel. Provides transport, excursions, etc.
There are several ways to sell a product. For example, using travel agencies. In this case, the entire responsibility for the quality of the services provided lies with the tour operator.
A travel agency is an organization that promotes and sells a tour operator's tourism product. In accordance with the law of the Russian Federation "On the basics of tourism activities." A travel agency can be opened as a legal entity or individual entrepreneur. This is an intermediary between tourists and the tour operator, who receives his commission. The travel agent buys a tourist product formed and ready for sale from the operator. And offers it to the end user. For this sale, receiving a cash reward.
Quite often, a travel organization combines the functions of a travel agent and a tour operator. For example, a travel organization forms and offers a tour of Italy, acting as a tour operator. And at the same time, this travel agency acts as a travel agent, implementing a tour to France, formed by another tour operator.
It is important to know that tourism happens:
- inbound - travel within the territory Russian Federation people who do not permanently reside in Russia;
- exit - travel of citizens of the Russian Federation abroad;
- internal - travel within the Russian Federation of Russian citizens.
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To open and operate a travel agency, special permits are not required by law. That's why this species tourism business, as practice shows, is more common. Let's look at the main stages of creating a travel agency (travel agent).
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Business plan
At the first stages of opening any business, it is necessary to draw up a business plan. First you need to decide for what purpose it is compiled and for whom. For example, to obtain a loan, for a private investor, for oneself. It is necessary to calculate the amount of capital investments for a year, six months, a month. You can draw up a business plan yourself or order it from a consulting company.
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Choosing the name of the travel agency
Much depends on the successful name of the travel company. It helps to promote the company's services on the market, creates an associative range and style associated with the company. A successful name is well and quickly remembered, which is very important when there is a lot of competition.
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Site creation
Nowadays, to organize your business, you need the support of the Internet. Take care of creating your own company website. This service can be ordered from professionals, but it is possible to make a simple website on your own. To do this, you need to choose a hosting (the place of "physical" storage of your site) and a domain name. This is the address of your page, which should overlap with the name of your company. This will make it easier for potential customers to remember and find you.
There are many free and highly detailed website builders out there. Choose one and, following the instructions and tips, create your site. To begin with, it is enough to make a one-page site, where there will be information about you, contacts, a short list of services.
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Choice of tourist destinations
As experts advise, a narrowly focused business sells its goods and services better. Buyers often turn to specialized stores. The same rule applies in the tourism business. It is better to offer specific tours to your clients. For example: “Our agency selects medical tours in Russia according to unique methodology for children and adults." Instead of the sentence "We will pick up any tour." The first option is more informative and understandable.
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How to choose partner tour operators
When signing a cooperation agreement with a tour operator, pay attention to the availability, validity period and amount of financial security. To the number in Federal Register tour operators. For the duration of work in the tourism business. Pay attention to the number of employees in the state of this company, the presence of diplomas and awards. Find out where the tour operator's office is, its size and presentability, availability of management information, etc. There are no exact criteria for selecting the best and most reliable partners. Try to learn as much as possible about them.
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Where does the tourism business start?
So, where should you start when opening a tourism business:
- office selection. In order to organize a tourism business, it is necessary to find a suitable premises. It is worth choosing an office space in places with maximum traffic. In a popular shopping center, in a business center, on the central streets of the city, next to the metro;
- preparation of a business plan;
- recruitment. According to experts, decency and diligence are the most important criterion in recruitment. Quite often, aspiring entrepreneurs hire their friends and relatives. Perhaps this is not such a bad choice in the tourism business;
- advertising. Print business cards, advertise on the Internet, post or distribute flyers. Students can be hired for this work;
- paperwork. Find out about what documents you need to draw up to open your own tourism business in the relevant authorities. The main thing is to make everything legal.
The mass development of tourism is one of the signs of modernity. Tourism plays important role in the development of mutual understanding among peoples and contributes to the prosperity of many countries and regions. The development of tourism is the largest generator of the gross world product and contributes to the employment of the population. Tourism accounts for almost a tenth of these global figures, and investment in tourism, as before, remains very significant.
The large-scale development of international tourism began in the middle of the 20th century. and continues to this day. If in 1950 there were 25 million international trips, the receipts from which amounted to 2.1 billion US dollars, then in 2006 - 842 million trips gave receipts of more than 700 billion dollars. The average annual growth rates of these two indicators are 7.2% and 12.2%, respectively. By 2014, it is projected that 1 billion people will travel the world every year. According to statistics, every day 1 million inhabitants of the planet make tourist trips.
The development of tourism in Russia is somewhat behind the development in economically developed countries, although in terms of its tourist and recreational potential, Russia has every opportunity to become a world-class tourist power. Extension international relations opens up great opportunities for promoting the national tourism product to the world market, attracting to the world information space, best practices in organizing tourism activities.
Tourist trips to Russia are generally educational in nature. Sociological surveys of foreign tourists visiting our country confirm this conclusion. Potential tourists today are interested in both the historical monuments of Russia and its cultural heritage, as well as socio-political processes. Among them you can see political scientists, sociologists, public figures, teachers of higher and special educational institutions, lawyers, doctors, students, engineers and technicians, religious figures, businessmen, representatives of culture and theater. For these tourists, acquaintance with Russia is of particular importance, since participation in excursion programs makes it possible, through personal contacts and assessments to get an objective picture of the life of the country, its people.
Travel programs are concluded taking into account the audience, socio-demographic characteristics of the tourist audience and the country of permanent residence of tourists, their interests and preferences. For tourists arriving in groups, programs are prepared in advance, both at the request of foreign companies and independently by travel agencies, taking into account the purpose of the trip of a particular group (educational trips, recreation and treatment, sports, hunting, business trips, meetings with relatives, participation in international exhibitions, conferences, festivals, training and pilgrimages, incentive tours), its composition and route.
Policy instruments sustainable development tourism is ensured by the complicity of three parties:
1) the tourists themselves - consumers of the tourist product and services;
2) travel agencies - manufacturers and sellers of tourist products and services;
3) government agencies performing administrative and legal functions.
State programs for the development of tourism in Russia provide for the creation of a modern, highly efficient infrastructure and a competitive tourism industry, which, on the one hand, provides ample opportunities to meet the needs of domestic and foreign citizens in tourism services, and, on the other hand, contributes to the development National economy through tax revenues to the budget, inflow foreign exchange, increasing the number of jobs, maintaining and rational use cultural and natural heritage.
Together, firms' specific travel programs must take into account both competitive conditions and the needs of tourists.
First of all, they should contain information:
— About the travel route, timetable Vehicle on international and domestic lines, about accommodation facilities (hotel, motel, a private house, boarding house, sanatorium, etc.), their addresses, classification, tariffs;
- About the sights (days, hours of operation, taking into account national and religious holidays, events, etc. and working conditions in different time of the year);
- About the work of theaters and their repertoire, festivals, competitions and concerts.
Already at the stage of program development it is necessary to foresee possible Additional services for participants of the trip, which will help to profitably highlight the trip, and for the travel agency to receive additional income. The trip program should also take into account the ability of tourists to perceive the information: a large amount of information causes overwork, women - dissatisfaction. The balance of educational and entertaining aspects of each program has a positive effect on tourists and generally increases the efficiency of the trip.
In Russia, the tourism sector is gaining its growth very quickly, as it is very highly profitable, and is best suited for creating own business. What actions need to be taken for this? And how to turn this business into a successful and profitable one? In our article we will talk about this in more detail.
Business registration
From this article, you can learn about how to start a travel business. Due to the fact that tourism activities do not have to be licensed, private businessmen and legal entities. However, in order to profit from this, you need to remember some nuances.
Before creating this type of activity, it is necessary to register with the relevant authorities. The tour operator must have financial security, or he must have a bank guarantee Money for the following types of tourism activities.
- Inbound tourism - 11 million rubles,
- International tourism - 35,
- Domestic tourism - 500 thousand rubles.
It is not necessary to have this amount available. You just need to carry out the procedure for insuring your business. The price for the policy will be approximately 0.5% of the total amount. The tour operator needs to without fail register at unified register. In addition, you will need to get a certification certificate that will certify all the services provided by this company in accordance with established standards.
If your office has big number all kinds of certificates, then customers will treat you with great confidence.
Start-up capital
How is it necessary to organize a highly profitable travel company in Russia?
You can get additional profit from providing your customers with various consultations, as well as selling air tickets. If we consider in more detail the commissions received by the travel agency from the sale of vouchers, then in small companies they amount to 15-18% of the total price of the tour, for well-known operators the figure will be higher - 20-25%. From this we can conclude that the profit of this business is quite good. If you try to sell at least 4 vouchers a day, you can get a monthly income of 180 thousand rubles.
franchise travel agency
It should be noted that the tourism business in our country may be exposed to great risks. Most of the newly opened travel agencies are closed in the first six months after opening. To be able to avoid these troubles, you need from a popular travel company. Beginner businessmen can use this brand and use all business methods. But this procedure costs money. According to many experts in the field, becoming a franchise owner is much more profitable than trying to run a loss-making business.
Tourism is developing in our country with great speed. This is a fairly profitable industry, which is ideal for starting a tourism business, and how to make it successful, you will learn in this article.
Business registration
Tourist activity is not subject to licensing, it can be carried out by both legal entities and private entrepreneurs. Before you start a tourism business from scratch, you must complete all legal steps established by law.
The tour operator must have financial security or a bank guarantee:
- International tourism - 30 million rubles;
- Inbound tourism - 10 million rubles;
- Domestic tourism - 500 thousand rubles;
It is not necessary to have such an amount in the bank account. It is enough just to insure your activity. The cost of the insurance policy is 0.4% of the total amount. The tour operator must be registered in the Unified Federal Register.
In addition, you need to obtain a certification certificate, which is a confirmation that all services provided by your company meet the established standards. The more different diplomas and certificates you have in your office, the more clients will trust you. These can be diplomas issued for charity, or for participating in various advertising campaigns.
Start-up capital
If you do not have funds that you can invest in a business, at first you can not rent an office space. It is enough to have many acquaintances and friends, a phone and a computer with Internet access. Sell tours offered by major travel companies and earn commissions from this. Earn money collect to save start-up capital.
In addition, you can get a bank loan secured by property. You should not rely on investors, as they are reluctant to invest in tourism activities.
In order for a business to develop, it is necessary to invest a certain amount of money in it.
Scheme: travel agency business plan
Main items of expenditure:
- Office rent;
- Employee salaries;
- Advertising.
You will spend 6-12 thousand rubles on registering a tourism business. If you want to avoid the problems associated with paperwork, you can purchase ready business. An operating travel agency costs 1–1.5 million rubles. For this money you will get a well-established business with advertising accumulated client base and office. But this option is suitable for entrepreneurs with fairly serious capital. Yes, and usually profitable business no one will sell, so be careful before buying.
In general, the organization of the tourism business will require a small start-up capital. Any person can open such a business.
room
As an office, you can rent a small room, with an area of \u200b\u200bno more than 20 square meters. meters. It should be located in an area with good transport accessibility, developed infrastructure and convenient parking. Most the best place for the development of tourism business - this is the center of the city. Usually there are many potential clients.
Pay special attention to the sign. It should be bright and attractive. You can use volumetric letters or a luminous box for this.
Equipment
Try to make a good repair in the office space, as your future clients are wealthy people who are used to comfort. Place a sofa and a small table in the client's corner. The interior of the room can be decorated in corporate identity and add some tourist paraphernalia. Prepare workspaces for employees.
For this you will need:
- Chairs;
- tables;
- Phones;
- Computers;
- Office equipment.
Choose a good ISP, because the success of your business depends on it. A slow connection or disconnected connection can be the reason why a client refuses your services.
Employee Selection Criteria
Do not hire your friends or relatives. Friendships are difficult to translate into business relationships. Hire staff that will meet your requirements.
Employees travel agency must know foreign languages and have experience in this area.
Pay special attention to the personal qualities of applicants:
- manner of speaking;
- The ability to correctly express thoughts;
- Ability to highlight important points;
- Serious attitude to work;
- Ability to communicate with strangers and find a common language with the most demanding clients.
The presence of these qualities is much more important than experience in the tourism business, as employees will communicate directly with customers.
At the start, it is enough to hire 2-3 managers who will find customers and service them. You will have to spend the same amount of money on their salary as on office rent. To increase productivity, incentivize employees with bonuses and free vacations.
In the tourism market in our country, there is high level competition. Therefore, if you decide to open a tourism business and want to stay afloat, you must follow simple rules:
- First of all, develop a competent business plan for a travel agency. Remember that your competitors will be large companies that have been on the market for a long time. If you do not have experience in this area, you can complete special courses and work for a while as a tourism manager. Thanks to this, you will be able to get an idea of how travel agencies work;
- Decide on a line of business. Work in the area in which you are most competent. For example, if you were organizing tours to Europe, you can continue to work in this direction;
- Create connections. Your task is to convey to potential clients that they can fully rely on your agency. Thanks to this, you will save customers time and money that would have to be spent on advertising.
Profit
To understand whether the tourism business is profitable, you need to figure out how much income such a company receives. The profit of a travel agency is the difference between the cost of a tour from a tour operator and the price at which it was sold to a client.
How to create a profitable travel company in Russia
Additional income can be obtained from the provision of advice to clients, as well as from the sale of air tickets. If we talk about the commission that a travel agency receives from the sale of a tour, then in small firms this is 10-15% of the cost of the tour, and for well-known tour operators - 18-20%. From this it follows that the profitability of this business is very significant. If you sell about 3 tickets a day, you can earn about 150 thousand rubles a month.
franchise travel agency
It should be noted that the tourism business in Russia is subject to serious risks. Many young companies stop their activities in the first month of operation. To avoid this, you can purchase a franchise from a well-known travel company. An aspiring entrepreneur can use its brand, management model and business methods. But you will have to pay a certain amount for this. According to experts, acquiring a franchise is much more profitable than covering losses arising from independent activities.
Man cannot exist without rest. Work brings money and perhaps satisfaction, but physical and mental health sometimes requires a complete “reset”. For the majority of our compatriots, going abroad at least once a year is a good habit. So why not help them? To do this, you need to open a travel company that would provide quality and available services. Why not, because there is nothing complicated in this matter. It is worth noting that this article is not a step-by-step strategy for action. But it has a number useful advice that can be applied in real business.
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You need to start a tourism business with an idea
The first thing you need is an idea. Believe me, in the modern tourism business, the competition is incredible. You need to be ready to join this fight and take your place in the list of the best travel agencies. Otherwise, the case may not be taken. In this field of activity, there are many factors that do not depend on the leader. That is why a third of companies close after a year of operation. These are real statistics. If you know how to proceed, then why not take a chance.
Premises are the foundation of a good business
For a travel company, the choice of premises should be in the first place. If there is not enough money for a normal office, it is worth postponing the opening of the company until better times. Be prepared for costs. In particular, you will have to fork out for rent (about 1000 US dollars per month). Of course, this amount is very average. For that kind of money, you can organize your office somewhere on the 3rd-4th floor of a business center in big city with an area of no more than 15-20 square meters. meters.
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The choice of office must be made taking into account the specifics of the business. For example, if individual customers are being serviced, then special attention should be paid to the comfort of employees and tourists. At the same time, it is not necessary that the office of the travel agency has a separate exit to the street and is located in the central part of the city.
In the case when the business is focused on serving groups, it is better to give preference to a room near crowded places. For example, metro stations are perfect, shopping centers and so on. Wherein prerequisite is the presence of a separate exit - this will make maintenance more convenient and work safer. In addition, a video intercom should be installed at the entrance to the office. As a last resort, you can hire a security guard.
Finding office space is a daunting task. The easiest way is to read ads in newspapers, the Internet, ask around your friends. There is another option - to walk around the city, find a few buildings you like and more specifically clarify the possibility of renting premises.
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The selection criteria are quite simple - the presence telephone connection and a dedicated high-speed internet line. At the same time, you do not need to live for one day - it is desirable to work for the future. That is, the area of \u200b\u200bthe room should be such that it can be expanded in the future.
A good business plan is what you need to start a tourism business with
Naturally, no activity is complete without a good business plan, which should always be at hand. This is important, because the main and secondary tasks of the entrepreneur are in the document on the "shelves". The plan needs to describe the development strategy, the customer acquisition program and the advertising campaign, and also take into account all possible risks. Particular attention should be paid to potential costs. At the same time, all expenses should be multiplied by a factor of 1.5, which will avoid unpleasant situations with a lack of funds.
Personnel decides a lot - we choose personnel
It is important to select the right employees. Many novice businessmen do not pay attention to this aspect. special attention, inviting to work their relatives, friends and just good friends. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this. The main thing is to pay attention to two main criteria of diligence and decency. Of course, newcomers to the tourism business may lack professional skills, but after all, wage is not too high - about 150 dollars. At the same time, the leader must do everything possible to improve the skills of subordinates. Staff training is mandatory.
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If the newly-made businessman has enough money, then you can start recruiting qualified and experienced employees, whose wages will be much higher. You can’t do without an accountant in a travel company, but only after the business gets on its feet. In the first months of work there will be little, so the implementation of all financial tasks can be entrusted to specialized firms.
Customers are the "gold" of any business
An important issue in the tourism business is attracting customers, without whom it is difficult to count on the success of the activity. Clients are very grateful people. If they liked the trip, they will definitely come back and bring a few friends with them. People are not inclined to change. Why risk when there is a proven option?
It is important to immediately come up with your own “zest”, which will distinguish the newly opened travel agency from existing ones. For example, differences can be in the mode of operation, promotions, bonuses, and so on. Concerning advertising company, then at the initial stage it will be enough leaflets, as well as advertisements in newspapers and the Internet.
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Tourism business: what documents are needed?
And, of course, when opening a business, one cannot do without a number of documents. Legal requirements should be clarified with the relevant authorities. And most often the list of documents directly depends on the type of activity carried out. You can not do without a license to conduct tourism activities (no one has canceled it yet).
Good luck with your work.
