Traveling is a simple pleasure that makes you richer without
money. Seeing other parts of the world just brings about a feeling of happiness
and for some, the desire to make a career out of it. If you happen to be
someone who loves to travel, you may have decided that you want to help others
do it as well. You could start a blog and tell your own personal wanderlust
stories.
Alternatively, you could open a travel agency and create
customized packages that inspire others to explore more. If this sounds like
you, you've come to the right place. While opening any kind of business can be
tough, opening a travel agency is different, especially if you already have
inside scoop on the best places to visit. In this guide, we'll discuss the
easiest, not to mention fastest ways to open a travel agency.
Finances First
As with any type of startup, you need to figure out your
finances first. While operating an online only business model will
significantly cut costs, you'll still need money to get started. Bootstrapping
your company is a viable option, however, you may need more capita once your
agency takes off. Unless you've been saving for a while, you might want to
consider AOF small business
loans. Typically, you're privy to additional resources like mentoring,
educational resources in multiple languages, such as English and Spanish, as
well as other online resources like how to do your taxes and become an LLC.
Choose a Travel Niche
Even if you've been all over the world, it's still better to
choose a specific niche. If you know all there is to know about Florida, you
could specialize in helping families find low-cost vacation packages to Disney.
The same holds true if international travel is more your forte. You could
create itineraries for solo
travelers in Europe or honeymoon packages for newlyweds. The goal is to set
yourself above the competition and show your target market that you have real
knowledge of their bucket list locations.
Create a Logo and Website
You'll also want to take some time and think about your logo
and website design. You want to choose something that represents how you feel
about the travel experience, which in turn, will be conveyed when someone lands
on your website. Keep in mind that it's perfectly okay to change your logo or
color scheme when you're just starting out. However, once you become
established, you only want to change things if you have a substantial following
and can use rebranding for marketing purposes.
Marketing
How does a new startup let the world know their open for
business? Simply put, by marketing to the right people at the right time.
Remember how we mentioned about becoming an expert in one sector? You need to
use that to its fullest advantage and market to the people most like to respond
to your efforts. If your target audience are spring breakers, then you'd want
to start promoting your services in the fall or winter when twenty-somethings
are planning for spring vacation. You should be on TikTok and Instagram,
creating high-quality videos and snippets of inside info to get people
interested. You can then run PPC ads and have them check out your site.
Online or In-Person
This is where things can get tricky. You need to decide whether you want to be exclusively online, or if you want to have a physical location to meet and greet clients. Both have their pros and cons, so make sure that you're not choosing one over the other just because it seems like the right thing to do. Remote can help reduce operational costs, so if you're more of an online kind of person, then you should roll with it. If you prefer to see clients in person and know a spot that gets a lot of foot traffic, then a brick-and-mortar location may be right for you without impacting your bottom line.
