StartupTalky

Tag: travel the world

  • How to Start a Travel Agency?

    Starting a travel agency will be so much fun, fulfilling, and most profitable career. The start-up costs are relatively low and there are plenty of opportunities for someone with a passion to sell travel. Starting any business is not easy, but it certainly helps you if you have someone to advise you and give out a path. In the travel industry, there is a huge option to earn also the travel and tourism industry plays a major role in the country’s economic development. This is because people always want or need to go to places.

    There are several resources available today, anyone with a passion for travelling can easily start a travel agency. In this article, we will talk about how you can start a travel agency by following some important steps. So without any further ado, let’s get started.

    Find a Travel Agency Niche
    Choose Your Travel Agency’s Name
    Choose a Business Structure
    Find Some Great Partners
    Build Your Marketplace
    Adapt to Your Target Market
    Promote Your Company

    Find a Travel Agency Niche

    A niche is your friend. When you start a travel agency a niche will help you establish your brand, create your travel agency name, and navigate the world when you get to that point. Starting a travel agency without a niche is like travelling without a smartphone.

    If you can confidently say that you have found a travel niche that you are passionate and knowledgeable about, then you have made a first step on the road to setting up a successful travel agency. You finding your business idea is one of the most important steps in starting a business.

    Total contribution of the Indian tourism industry in billion US dollars

    Choose Your Travel Agency’s Name

    Choosing a company name for any kind of business is a difficult and tricky task, so you need to take some time to do some research to come up with a creative and effective name. The company name ideas that you select for your travel agency should not only be functional, but they should be catchy and noteworthy too.

    When naming your agency, you will want to sit down and give some time to think about your business’s niche; how will you make your travel agency different and how can you set yourself apart? Before you start using the name that you have selected for your travel agency, make sure that it is still available and not already in use by some other company or business.

    Choose a Business Structure

    A base step in your travel agency business is to create a business structure. Let’s start from the ground up. You need to decide what type of business are going to have. Your options include:

    • Sole proprietor – Starting a sole proprietorship is easy. You can use your name and Social Security number to get started. You can use this information to get the permits and licenses that you need to start your business. When you are a sole proprietor, you can decide how you want to run your business. You can choose the job that you want to take. When you are a sole proprietor, you get all of the income that you make.
    • Corporation – As soon as your business becomes a corporation, you gain credibility. People are more likely to work with businesses that are a corporation than those that are not. If you are going to need help financing your business, you may need to start a corporation. When you start a corporation, you can have silent partners, who will help with financing. Corporations can offer benefits for their employees, such as health insurance.
    • Partnership – It is easy to set up a partnership because it is formed with an agreement between the partners. Just like it is easy to get started, it is easy to dissolve a partnership. As long as one partner is ready to stop, the partnership can change or dissolve depending on what everyone wants.
    • Limited Liability Company(LLC) – It is much cheaper to start an LLC than a corporation and it still gives you plenty of the same benefits. If you have a business that has plenty of risks, you may start San LLC to protect your assets. You can control your business, the way you want. Many believe that having an LLC behind your business name can make your business more official. People are more likely to work with you because your business looks more serious.

    Find Some Great Partners

    It makes a great value add for the customer making the booking, and the business involved gets their product in front of a large market. As travels fast in the industry, your travel partners will refer clients to your business once you have earned their trust. In return, you will do the same for them. You need to realise what type of tourism business you want to operate and what your objectives are for setting up the right partnership.

    Your travel partner network needs to be a good fit for your business, and have values that align with your own. For the active participation of all parties within your travel partner network to continue, each must see some direct benefits from the relationship. You never want to end up in a situation where one is doing all the work and another enjoys the benefits.

    Build Your Marketplace

    Nowadays people travel a lot around this world to see the unseen and to know the unknown. As a marketplace owner, you work as a middleman and your marketplace brings lower costs to the customers by letting them purchase directly from the sellers. Travel and tourism startups can only function if they are aware of their marketplace. It is natural to think that the marketplace can get thousands of users. It is the main task of a successful marketplace to facilitate communication between the suppliers and the customers. Understanding the trends that are out there, can allow marketplace owners to decide the best tools and tactics to use for that the company’s objectives.

    Adapt to Your Target Market

    To develop a successful marketing technique you need to define your target audience. This is important for new businesses looking to establish their presence within the market. Analyzing the market is also about researching competitors to-be. Look out for other travel agencies, who their audience are and how they are managing them. Different regions and different suppliers may have varying profit margins. First, you have to know the situation on the market, what deals are presented, and how you are being ranked compared to your competitor travel agencies.

    Promote Your Company

    • Instead of trying to compete with competitors, focus on pointing out the unique benefits of your service.
    • Travellers of all age groups are using social media networks where they talk about travel products, share experiences, or express their preferences. Use images, videos, questions, or statuses to promote and motivate potential clients to follow you.
    • Suggesting additional products on top of a standard package is the most straightforward method of increasing your revenue per customer. Explore and test to find out what your customers want, and use travel agency software to easily track and manage special offers and complementary products.
    • Combine different products into a unique travel experience. Create a package and try to offer a better price by setting a hotel, flight, and activity together.
    • One way to be a successful travel company is to establish your business in a niche market. The travel niche doesn’t need to be complicated or rare – but the more unique it is, the better. Niche travel means you are selling something that no one else sells, and that your product is different in some way.
    • The internet has changed every aspect of life and it has also affected how travellers book trips and how agencies can sell packages. Your customers can book 24/7 because the system receives and processes the reservations automatically.
    • A good way to stay ahead of your competitors is by offering the best possible prices on a worldwide range of high-quality travel plans.
    • Promote your business in Social media, when it comes to travelling, social media is the best option. Apart from that digital marketing strategies can also help you in achieving your goal.

    Conclusion

    While starting your travelling agency, you need to understand what can set your business apart from other travel agencies, and what you can offer that others cannot offer to the clients. If you are still in the planning stage of starting your travel agency, you need to keep in mind and follow all these steps. As everything is opening up once again after a big break because of Covid-19, the travel industry is once again back in action.

    FAQs

    Is tourism a big industry in India?

    Travel and tourism is one of the biggest industries in India.

    How much does the travel industry contribute to the Indian economy?

    The tourism industry contributes over $247 billion to the Indian economy.

    The most popular travel agencies in India are:

    • Cox & Kings
    • Make My Trip
    • Yatra.com
    • Goibibo
    • Travelguru

  • Best Ways To Travel The World With A Full-Time Job

    If the lives of wandering Sufi dervishes and Buddhist monks inspire you, the daily 9-5 work schedule bores you and you wish to travel the world while earning money. Unfortunately, not all of us are gifted with an enormous fortune that will allow us to see the world without worrying about how to pay for it. You need some means to keep travelling. There are various traveller job which you can easily do and still travel the world.

    Now before we start with the kinds of jobs you can take up while travelling, we need to understand the difference between finding a job to travel and a job that requires you to travel.

    In the first case, almost always the person wants to travel and finds a job to make it happen. It may not always be the case with the latter one. It’s great if you are a traveller by passion and you find a job that requires you to travel but oftentimes that doesn’t happen.

    If you are a traveller and you need a job to keep your pockets full.

    These kinds of jobs are usually very varying and require different amounts of skills. They can be super casual like house-sitting, working on an organic farm or a hostel in return for free accommodation and food.

    Below we have listed some of the ways of how to travel the world while earning money

    Travel Blogging

    Most of the travellers these days maintain a blog page of their own and try to keep it as attractive and updated as possible. Starting as a blogger can be tough and trying as it takes time before some real cash flows in, but if you keep trying and keep it good then it might become one of your best-earning sources in the future. This is the best traveller job and a nice way to travel the world and have a full time job as blogging.

    A travel blog needs to be updated regularly. Your content should be rich, interesting and have a wide berth of knowledge. Make sure that the pictures that accompany your blog page should be of high quality and relevant. Again, for blogging to become a good source of income it takes some time. Once again you don’t have to be a traveller to be a blogger. There are all sorts of bloggers out there.

    Teaching English Online

    You can also teach English online. This is becoming a pretty trendy route for travellers. You will have a massive advantage if you are a native speaker but even if you are not then you can get a certificate from TFEL and get going. This is a very common form of traveller job that is becoming pretty awesome among the traveller community. You can travel the world as well as you can earn money.

    Teaching English online is a consistent and accessible source of income for travellers to earn money while travelling. All you need is a good internet connection and good teaching skills. Plus, you can choose your schedule and commitment level depending on your level of comfort.

    Dropshipping

    It is also a very popular way of earning some cash amongst travellers. It is essentially the process of buying something at a very low cost from one country and then selling them at a higher price in another country like Europe or the USA. If you are a good at marketing and love to travel the world this traveller job is for you.

    Affiliate Marketing

    Another method of a similar kind is Affiliated Marketing. What this means is that you promote the products or services of a company on your official site or your YouTube channel and if someone buys them or chooses them then you get a commission from the company. This is becoming one of the best traveller job to earn money if you are a traveller who travel the world quite often.

    Become A Scuba Instructor

    There are other ways that you could earn money like you could become a scuba instructor or a surf instructor. Though being a scuba instructor brings you more money. And more money means more challenges.

    You need a proper certificate from the concerned authorities to work as a scuba instructor. There are a bunch of courses and certificates required for this. Services like these are available in Thailand and the Philippines.

    Become A Surf Instructor

    Becoming a surf instructor is similar but without all the need for certificates and courses. You just need to be a good surfer. Though you will not earn as much money as a scuba instructor. But this is a great way of meeting new people, having new experiences and earning some extra cash along the way. You will love this traveller job.

    Real Estate

    If you have been a traveller for quite some while now and you have money that you can spend, then instead of using up that money to travel more exotic locations you can buy a property in your native land and put it on rent. Travelling is not cheap and requires money and renting out a place on your own can give a consistent and stable source of income. This is a majorly common option for travellers who have been in this occupation for quite a while.

    Work On Cruise Ship

    There are always opportunities to work on a cruise ship. It’s a lot of fun and these kinds of jobs are easy to find. There are cruise ships that are more than ready to offer you a job on the deck so that you can work and earn some extra money.

    Working on a cruise can be hard but they can party hard too. Though the pay isn’t anything special, the lack of any insurance to pay, or hotel room charges or transportation fees means that whatever you earn, it goes straight into your savings. This is hard job to do but you get a chance to travel the world and earn at the same time.

    Work As A Volunteer

    There is a lot of volunteer work also that you can do in exchange for free accommodation and food. Like WWOOFing and HelpX. There’s also Workaway that is fast becoming popular among budget travellers.

    House-sitting

    Housesitting is also a very popular means of earning cash for travellers these days. It has a lot to offer. You get free accommodation with all the facilities that a full-fledged house can offer you plus some real privacy. Though getting started in this business is a bit tricky and takes time but once you build a good reputation and a CV, you are all set to go!!

    Work In A Hostel

    Hostel work is one of the holy grails for travellers. There is hardly any hardcore traveller in this world who hasn’t at any point done hostel work. It is probably on number one in the list of budget travellers.

    It is super easy to get jobs like these. You just go to the hostel and ask at the front desk if they need any sort of “help”. “Help” usually include works like minding the bar, managing the front desk graveyard shift or sweeping the floors. Though they might or might not pay you, but you get free accommodation and food.

    Become A Tour Director

    And the last idea is becoming a tour director. I saved this for the end because this is the most asking of all the jobs that we have listed here. You need to have endless energy and have to handle a lot of things like communication with the driver, accommodations for the travellers an so on.

    They will ask you a lot of questions and you need to stay with them throughout the tour. But on the bright side, this is a great way of meeting new people and this option also gives a decent amount of money. There are a lot of tour companies and agencies who look for tour directors especially to remote and popular places.