NAME: IBRAHIM BANGLANI

ROLL NO: MS546341

COURSE NAME: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
COURSE CODE: GLNG-531
TEACHER: NUSRAT JEHAN
 HOW TO START A TRAVEL BUSINESS

Becoming a travel agent can be fairly inexpensive, as business ventures go, and
you can often get away with limited staff and little upfront cost.
That being said, success largely depends on finding the right niche in a fiercely
competitive market, given the rise in online direct to consumer travel booking
sites. So, if you want to be successful, you’ll want to focus a lot of your effort into
your market research, branding, and marketing. You’ll need to know who needs
your services—your target market—and what they’ll be willing to pay.

If this sounds right up your alley, keep reading. I’ve interviewed several founders
of successful travel agencies for their advice on everything you need to get
started, and I’ve also included plenty of links and resources to help you work
through the process of starting your own travel business.
Travel Agency Business Plan
Create a plan for your travel business:
Make no mistake: No matter what industry you’re in, a business plan is essential. You may not
need a formal business plan if you’re not seeking a loan or investment funding for your
business, but don’t skip it. Write a Lean Business Plan instead. You can do it in less than an
hour. Writing a business plan is scientifically proven to help you grow faster, so don’t skip this
step.

What kind of travel agent are you interested in becoming? If you’re planning to be a home-
based travel agent, you’ll want to look into finding a host travel agency where you’ll essentially
be an independent contractor. If this is the type of travel business you’d like to start, the
business planning process should be fairly straightforward.

However, if you’re looking into starting your own travel business from the ground up, you’ll be
looking at a much more lengthy planning process—but you’ll also have more flexibility to build
a business that’s all your own.

A case for starting early:

“In starting , we began market analysis and business planning efforts a full year before we
launched the company ,” says owner.

“During that period, we attended industry events to acquire as full an understanding as possible
with regards to what products and services were being delivered to the market, who was
delivering those products and services, and who was purchasing those products and services,”
he explains.

Starting the planning process early helped us in on his vision for his business. “In this manner,
we determined what our market niche could be, and established whether or not we could
compete in the existing market, and what it would take to succeed,” he says.
We were able to get a clear sense of where we wanted to take it, and how to tailor our business
to best suit the market needs.

What kind of plan will you need?

The kind of business plan you’ll need will vary depending on what kind of funding you’re looking
for.

Are you hoping to eventually run a large travel agency, and interested in seeking a loan, or
maybe investment from angel investors? You’ll want a formal business plan that contains all the
necessary information on your business. Are you more interested in becoming a travel agent
using your own savings, without seeking outside investment or loans? A more lightweight Lean
Business Plan might be a perfect fit for your business.

Even if you do intend to pitch your business idea to lenders and investors, you can start with a
Lean Plan, and flesh out the rest of the info later on. Or, you can turn to LivePlan, which will
help you simplify the planning process and give you options.

Whatever your specific reason for writing a business plan for your travel business, the most
important thing is that you write one, period. The travel industry is fragmented, and having a
clearly defined niche and a plan will help you stand out. Writing a business plan will help you
narrow in on what your goals are, and establish a clear, focused vision going forward.

We’ve covered nearly every aspect of writing a business plan here on Bplans, so be sure to
check out the links below when you’re ready to get started. We also have several travel
industry business sample plans, which will give you an idea of what your business plan should
look like.
With the emergence of the digital age and the switch from traditional marketing means to
online marketing, the travel industry has been forced to compete fiercely for online booking
opportunities. However, because attracting customers using a great online travel agency
marketing strategy can yield profits and build customer relationships, a marketing strategy is
well worth the time and costs.
Marketing Plan:
In order to create a travel agency marketing plan that appeals to customers and increases a
travel agency’s return on investment (ROI), a travel agency needs to know its niche and target
market, and how to plan around that. For help on putting together a great marketing plan for
your travel agency, refer to the following tips:

Personalize Your Website, Content, and Services

If you want to draw attention to your travel agency, then creating a unique persona is essential.
Doing something different than what’s already being done, and creating a website, content,
and services that are unique and personalized is the first step. You can make your travel agency
stand out by offering personalized services, one-on-one customer interaction, and unique
recommendations.

Use Social Media

It today’s digital world, the importance of social media should never be underestimated. If
you’re not already using Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, you need to start today.
Social media can give you a huge business advantage by connecting you to more people than
ever before. Plus, social media provides you with a forum to share content, promotions,
information, and more about your travel agency.

Create Great Content

The truth is, if your website isn’t loaded with great content, then it’s not going to generate the
traffic that it needs to make your travel agency successful. Not only does content need to be
interesting, original, creative, informative, personal, and engaging to be great, but it also needs
to be well-written. If you’re not comfortable in your writing skills, consider hiring a copywriter
to create high-quality content for you, or take some time to improve your writing skills.

Rely on Reviews
Review websites, like Yelp or Google+ Local, are great for building up your reputation online. If
you’re not on a review site, it’s time to be. As you start out, make an effort to reply to both
negative and positive reviews – showing your customers that you’re willing to listen and care
about what they’re saying can greatly improve your customer relationships, and can be
monumental in growing your customer base.

Have an Useful Website

While content is king, a great website on which the content is featured is pretty important, too.
A great website will be easy on the eyes, simple to navigate, provide a unique and interesting
design, and will load text/images/videos quickly. A great website – and great formatting – will
also make use of different fonts and text styles, headers, great graphics, and an interesting
layout.

As part of your website, make sure that your business information is listed on each and every
page. At the bottom of each website page, contact information – including a phone number,
email address, and address – should be listed.

Go Mobile
With more and more people relying on smartphones and tablets rather than desktop or laptop
computers to access websites, having a site that’s mobile friendly is extremely important. Your
travel agency has two options for going mobile. First, you can create a mobile-optimized site,
which means that when your site is loaded on a smartphone or tablet, a smaller, simpler
version of your regular website will appear. Or, you can consider creating an app for your
business. An app usually provides a more personalized user experience, and can be beneficial in
that regard. However, creating an app takes a lot of work, and is more expensive that creating a
mobile-optimized version of your site.

Blog, Blog, Blog

You’re a travel agency, which means that people want to hear about your experiencing
traveling, planning trips, the ins and outs of finding the best deals, and more. As such, your field
of business has an obligation to the consumer to share knowledge and insights. The best way to
do so? Blogging. Through blogging, you can highlight personal experiences, talk about different
customer interactions, tell stories, make lists of great places, provide tips for traveling in
comfort, and more. A blog serves as a great way to hook in your audience, as well as advertise
your own personal skills and travel know-how. Again, if you’re not comfortable in your writing,
make sure to practice, and always have someone edit for you before posting.
Use Images and Videos
While you may be able to tell a great story about your hike to Ushguli, the highest inhabited
village in all of Europe where you were exposed to a language that’s known by less than 80,000
people in the world and milked a cow, nothing tells it quite like a photo. Or, better yet, a video.
People love to see pictures and often skip the text in a blog to focus on images alone. As such,
make sure you don’t deny your audience the value of photography, and always choose great
photos or videos to accompany your blogs and other pieces of website content.

Set Goals, Monitor, and Improve Your Travel Agency Marketing Plan
As you begin to put in place your online travel agency marketing plan, you’ll probably start to
notice a change in your business. After some time has passed, you’ll begin to start collecting
data on what really makes your audience tick. Are the blogs that tell a story receiving the most
attention? Do people prefer “top five…” style lists? Is your app getting a lot of downloads? Are
you getting very little response to your social media efforts? Have you received any negative
reviews – if so, what about? All of these things are aspects of your travel agency marketing plan
that should be assessed and analyzed. After doing so, appropriate changes should be
implemented. For example, if one style of blog is completely dominating over the other, then
you should be considering adding another similar post type each week. Or, if your followers on
Twitter are numerous, but Facebook hasn’t been nearly as advantageous, you should think
about re adjusting your social media strategy.

Conduct market research and find your niche:

What kind of travel agency do you plan on starting? Moreover, what kind of travel business
does the industry or your local community actually need?

“When you launch a travel business, the most important thing to do is to provide a valuable
service,” says Jacquie Whitt, owner of Adios Adventure Travel.
This means doing some market research to find out what kind of travel agent or travel business
the market really needs. Is there a niche you can fill? Maybe there’s an opening in the travel
market to provide destination adventure honeymoons for young couples who would rather go
backpacking than relax on the beach. Think about the people in your local community too—do
they need something specific?

Hajar says of Urbane Nomads: “It was conceived as the kind of travel company that would
remain relevant in the age where most travel-related bookings are made online. We specialize
in the sort of experiences that can’t be booked online—adventurous trips to non-mainstream
destinations, lodges which can’t be booked online—or indeed, by non-travel professionals—
and special experiences and access to personalities that would have been impossible without
the personal connections.”

What niche are you filling? Start by researching the travel market in general. Find out who the
major players are that you’ll be competing against, determine who your ideal customer is, and
define what they want.

Develop a brand as a travel agent:

Once you’ve determined what the market looks like and what specific niche you’ll be filling, it’s
important to get down to the nitty-gritty of creating a strong brand image.

As the travel industry is so competitive, having a well-developed brand will help your business
stand out. How do you want your customers to feel when they visit your website, view your
advertising, or use your services?

Lorne Blyth, Founder and Director of Flavours Holidays, had a very specific vision for her brand.
“[At Flavours Holidays], we have been specializing in cooking, Pilates, painting, photography,
and language holidays in Italy since 1998,” she says. Lorne’s vision was to create a brand that
“gave guests a true taste of Italy.”

“I use that as part of my branding, as we would like to perceive ourselves as being experts on all
things Italy,” says Lorne. “That is why our tagline is ‘Passionate, Inspiring, Authentic.’”
Why should customers use your services, rather than just book a trip themselves? What
experience can you provide that others can’t?

Do you offer unique services, such as partnerships with the locals of your travel destinations,
that customers wouldn’t have access to otherwise? Is your selling point the ease of having
someone else plan your trip for you, down to the last detail? Are you all about personal touches
and a great customer service experience?

This is the first step to determining your travel business’s brand strategy—determining who you
are. We’ve gone in-depth on how to build a memorable brand for your business, so check out
the articles below for more information on branding.

Deal with the legal side:

A travel business is, for the most part, a fairly simple one to set up. Unlike starting a brewery or
starting a dispensary, there isn’t a lot of legal red tape when it comes to becoming a travel
agent and starting a travel business.

Determining if you’ll require licensing

In most locations, you won’t need any specific licenses or certifications, but licensing
requirements will vary by state and country.

For the Pakistan in general, there is a requirement of a license from various departments like
DTS = Department of Tourism Services
TAAP = Travel Agents association of Pakistan
IATA = International Air Transport Association
SECP = Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan
Naming your business and applying for a Federal Tax ID number:
You’ll also want to formally name your business (even if it’s just you, becoming a travel agent!),
which involves filing a NTN, or a “doing business as.” You’ll also need to apply for a Federal Tax
ID number, otherwise known as a Federal Employer Identification Number (FBR).

“Establishing the legal and licensing requirements was one of the easiest aspects of starting the
business.

Determine your funding strategy:

How do you plan to fund your new travel business?

Luckily, your starting costs should be fairly low: You won’t have expensive equipment to buy,
and you probably won’t need extensive space in the beginning. If you’re hoping to become a
travel agent working out of your own home, you may not even need office space at all.

However, be sure to have a plan in place for how you will obtain funding. You’ll need funds for
marketing materials at the very least; both online, such as your business website, and offline,
such as flyers, posters, business cards, and more. Your initial funding budget will also likely go
toward any branding or advertising, and you may eventually also decide to rent office space
and hire employees, which is a fairly large expense.

Unlike many businesses, there isn’t one tried-and-true path for funding a travel business. From
personal funds to venture capital funding, it’s all a possibility.

Many travel agencies are self-funded, since they have low initial overhead and can be started
fairly easily (though face stiff competition to stand out). “I didn’t get any funding at all, apart
from $2,000 borrowed from my dad for the website,” says Brady Hedlund, founder of Life
Before Work.
Looking into loans and a line of credit is also a good first move. “We developed banking and
relationships with firm lines of credit and support, to ensure that as we started to deliver, funds
were available to spend before the client paid the bill,” says Scott of ADDISON Yacht Charters.
“Cash flow is critical to the appearance of a business’s success.”

Don Halbert, owner of Costa Rica Vacations, also funded his travel agency through venture
capital. “Funding for this venture came from a venture capital company which would later
become one of our primary partners,” he explains.

Choose a location and hire employees:

Next, you’ll want to make a plan for the logistics of opening your travel business to the public. If
you’re starting a travel agency and require office space, this section will likely be more relevant
than if you plan to work as a travel agent out of your home.

How many employees will you need to hire? You may not need any to start, until you decide to
expand your operations.

You might also want to look into remote employees, suggests Mike Liverton, CEO and founder
of Leavetown Vacations. “While many company employees live and work as home-based
‘Destination Experts,’ our main headquarters are downtown Vancouver,” he says.

Additionally, you’ll want to determine your business location. While foot traffic will likely not be
a primary motivator in choosing a business location, you’ll want to pick somewhere that
accommodates your space needs as well as reflects your desired brand image.

However, as with employees, you’ll find that a physical location isn’t always an absolute
necessity. “We have never booked a client from our hometown,” says Scott.

“We’re a 24/7 business, that cannot be limited to when I am in the office, or more importantly,
marginalized when I am not,” he explains. “The ADDISON staff has families, conflicts, and
important events in their lives. We constructed and positioned our business to be virtual in
nature; to be operational anywhere, anytime. I’ve conducted business from Europe, the
Caribbean, from multiple states, and during my children’s sporting events.”

“We didn’t choose our business location, we chose a virtual location,” he adds. Whether or not
you choose to go this route will depend on your specific niche and brand; however, it’s certainly
an option to consider.

Market and launch your travel business:

Marketing will likely be where the majority of your initial funding budget goes, as it’s an
important area to focus on when becoming a travel agent and starting a travel business. In fact,
it’s a good idea to come up with a marketing plan as soon as possible.

For Don, the idea that you must spend money to make money drove the marketing strategy
behind Costa Rica Vacations.

“Our ‘lesson learned’ in starting up our agency was primarily the realization that your Google
Adwords budget can single-handedly determine your success when starting out in this normally
competitive market,” he says.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that all your advertising efforts should revolve around paid
advertising, however. Plenty of your focus should go into social media marketing and guerrilla
marketing tactics.

“I started out eight years ago running backpacking trips to Thailand, advertising using only lean,
guerrilla marketing tactics,” says Brady Hedlund of Life Before Work. “I created an itinerary and
website and hit the streets of western Canada to promote my new company.” Since his target
demographic was 18-30-year-olds looking for an ‘adventure party tour,’ he went to university
campuses and handed out flyers and posted signs advertising his travel agency.

“I didn’t get a single call for over a year,” he explains. “I honestly had no idea what I was doing
at the time, but eventually, the business picked up and began to grow at an exponential rate.
Flash forward eight years, and we now have a team of 35 full-time staff operating in 18
countries.”

Your marketing strategy will, as with all aspects of starting a travel business, be largely
dependent on your specific niche, the demographic you are after, your budget, and your
bandwidth as a business. That being said, combining both paid advertising with other guerrilla
tactics (both online and offline) will likely serve you well.

Words of advice:
Final tips from entrepreneurs who have started successful travel businesses
“We searched for quite some time to find an underwriter that would provide us with general
liability insurance, due to the amount of risks involved in adventure travel…This is a tricky
product when it comes to insurance, but it’s obviously a very important piece of the pie.” –
Brady Hedlund, Life Before Work
“From the beginning, I have built up relationships with various individuals in Italy to help recruit
staff for the villas used during our vacations. This varies from local cooks to tour guides to
drivers. The little touches along the way, from booking flights for guests to getting the transport
back to the airport, all adds up as every little bit helps to create the perfect experience for my
guests.” – Lorne Blyth, Flavours Holidays
“It’s important that your business partners share your values. I work with people in South
America who are now my friends. We’re not in it for the money; we enjoy our jobs and if we
can ‘eke’ out a living, all the better.” – Jacquie Whitt, Adios Adventure Travel