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Free Travel Agency Business Plan Template

Okay, okay. I know you’re crazy thrilled that you’ve found a free travel agency business plan template for your agency! I promise we’ve got a super razzly-dazzly one that will help you craft THE BEST travel agency business plan out there. So we’ll have you download your free travel agency business plan template in just a second, and then we’ll walk you through the different pieces of the business plan in the article.

Sound like a (business) plan?! (Ahem, sorry, couldn’t help it.)

What Is the Purpose of a Travel Agency Business Plan?

Business plans got their start as a way for banks to vet new businesses before deciding to give them a loan. After all, people that have thought long and hard about their business and taken the time to painstakingly write down all the steps and intricacies have a higher likelihood of success.

Now when it comes to travel agencies, you may think having a business plan is overkill or outdated. Sure, if you’re opening a storefront agency or a franchise you may need some capital from the bank/investor so a business plan may be a necessity. But now that most agencies are home-based, the median start-up cost for a non-franchise travel agency is $1,500 . If you’re not getting a loan, do you really need a business plan?

If you’re starting a travel agency, here’s a few reasons why creating a travel agency business plan might be helpful to you:

• Practical: it will help you feel prepared and confident as you make important business decisions.
• Inspirational: it will help remind you what it is that inspired you to start a travel agency and what kind of impact you hope to have on your clients. The kinds of things that will remind you why you started all these shenanigans when logistical tasks like taxes get boring or complicated.

The other thing a travel agency business plan can do? It will help you describe your agency—the service you provide (do you have a niche?), the market in which you’re operating, the money you need to get started and keep going, and the people you need to help you get there (accountants? Sub agents? Bookkeeper? Web Developer?) In short, it can help you feel prepared and confident, and our free travel agency business plan is going to help you with that!

Download HAR’s Free Travel Agency Business Plan Template

We have a handy dandy (and free) travel agency business plan template for YOU, dear reader! Yay, it is the companion to this article.

We’re offering our travel agency business plan template free (no catch) because we want your new business to be off to the best start possible!

Alright, now you’ve downloaded our free travel agency business plan template, great! We’ve already filled it out for our fictional travel agency, Corona Travels , and now we need to work on personalizing this business plan to your travel agency.

To update your personal business plan template with your brilliant ideas, all you'll need to do is delete the sample description provided in the template and add in your own material! In the next section, we walk you through each part of the business plan. I recommend that as you read through the article, you compare the sections of the travel agency business plan template. That way, you'll have an explanation for each part with an example.

Let’s jump in and start tailoring the business plan template to your travel agency!

Hold up. Still need to get your agency set up? We have just the thing.

Now, a business plan template may feel like you're getting ahead of yourself if you haven't named and/or registered your business yet! If you still need to take strides to get your agency off the ground (your agency, name, niche, registration, host affiliation etc.) we have a course that will fast-forward that process.

Check out HAR's 7 Day Set Up Accelerator course to get your agency set up faster so you can start monetizing sooner! The course is written and taught by HAR Founder, Steph Lee, and professional Educator, Bridget Lee. It includes nine chapters with 70+ instructional videos, course quizzes, peer accountability, and monthly meet-ups with HAR members and industry experts.

Now, let's go over the business plan!

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 1: Overview

The overview is like an executive summary that briefly summarizes all aspects of your travel agency business plan. You can think of this as the “elevator pitch” of your travel agency business plan. Oddly enough, I like to do these summaries last, since then you’ll have all the info at your fingertips that you'll need to summarize.

So what details are you filling out in this first part of the travel agency business plan?

• Name of Your Business: Not sure what your travel agency name is yet? We can help you with that .
• Location: Is it your house? A PO box? A storefront? Your sister’s basement?
• Your Travel Niche: Specializing as a travel agent is more important than ever. Selling travel is about much more than booking. It’s also about bringing knowledge, expertise, access, and resourcefulness to the table—all the qualities that help separate you from an OTA (online travel agency).
• Your Target Client: Luxury? Families? LGBTQ? Cruisers? Boomers or Millennials? Honeymooners? Foodies? Who do you imagine your client to be and how will this shape the way you develop your travel agency?
• Your Competition: Another way to look at this is, who are your industry peers? What might your customers consider if they don’t use you as a travel agent? (Try to think beyond OTAs like Expedia.)
• The expertise of Management Team: Okay, so your management team might be you and the office dog (we know who’s the alpha in the office!). But even if that’s the case, this section is an opportunity to reflect on your strengths as a travel agency owner.
• Financial Projections: Unless you’re coming into the industry with a book of business, this might seem intimidating. It’s hard to know what to expect right? But the good thing is we have an amazing resource for you: “ Travel Agency Startup Costs and Earnings: What to Expect ” Wow! Who knew?!
• Travel Agency Mission Statement: This will help you remember why you did this in the first place, and remind you what kind of impact you hope your business will have on others! Warm fuzzies, right?!

And hey, we’re done with Part 1!! Just like that. ;)

I know you can barely contain your excitement to start reading about our next section, business foundations !

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 2: Business Foundations

This section of your travel agency business plan provides background information on your agency. If you’re brand-spanking new, much of this information will be provided in the overview. If your business has roots, it may be a little more complex.

This section can include:

• Legal Structure : What type of business is your agency? LLC? Sole Prop? S Corp? Has it changed over time?
• Agency Founders and Their Role in the Formation of Your Travel Agency : Who are the founders and what are their roles?

Ah, that was a nice and easy section, wasn’t it? Now we need to start getting real. Yes, folks, the well-loved travel agency business plan template goes OCD in the next section!

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 3: Product or Service

This section is where the rubber hits the road with your niche and will help you begin to think about developing preferred supplier relationships with your travel agency.

• Products/ Services Provided: This may seem obvious—you sell travel! But if you’re considering providing other services (even if it’s a future goal), it will be important to consider that too. In addition to planning and booking travel, this may include: Coaching clients to book their own trips; trip consultations; wedding planning; providing education, training or mentorship to other agents; facilitating educational webinars (etc.); speaking at industry events.
• Sales Projections: This is hard if you haven’t booked any travel yet. But consider what kind of travel you want to sell. How many clients are you booking? How many trips do you aim to sell weekly/monthly/annually?

This is a good opportunity to make financial goals for your travel agency. What kind of annual income are you aiming for? How much would you have to sell in one year to reach that?

If you are providing multiple services as a part of your travel agency business, what is the breakdown among those different services?

• Industry Projections for Your Travel Services: We’ve done a lot of legwork for you on this one in our travel agency business plan template. But, if you want to add more, imagine this as describing the industry viability to someone who is not within the industry. What influences demand for your travel services? How is the health of the travel industry overall? Check out HAR's latest income survey results !

Now that you’ve dug into the details in this section, let’s move into the next section of your travel agency business plan that doesn’t tax your brain. It’s about management structures and it’s equal parts easy and boring (#honest).

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 3: Management Structures

This will be a very fast exercise if you are opening your agency alone :). If you’re working for yourself, you may also want to consider outside organizations that influence your business:

• If applicable, which host agency/franchise do you belong to?
• If you or your host belongs to a consortium, which one?
• What travel organizations are you a part of? (i.e. ASTA, IGLTA, PATH, CCRA etc.)
• Since you are an independent agent, these outside organizations won’t have a direct stake in your business, but they may influence your day-to-day operations in some way.

If you're flying solo, you can probably stop here! But if you have or want to take on sub agents or employees you’ll want to do the above, and you’ll also need to go into more depth with your travel agency management structure below:

• If applicable, create an organizational chart of your travel agency. You can think of this as a business version of a family tree. This will help you visualize who the players are and what roles they serve to your agency.
• What value do the different management positions add to your travel agency?
• What are the responsibilities of their positions?
• Describe other ICs or employees/ positions and their responsibilities. How will they complement what you do for your agency? (i.e. Sell a different type of travel under your brand? Work on sales? Bookings only? Administrative assistant?)
• If you have sub agents or employees, break down overall payroll expenses. What is their compensation? A commission split? A base salary? A combination of the two? Will you provide any bonuses or benefits if you have employees?
• Do you anticipate future additions to your staff?

Phew! That was a long one. Well, you certainly nailed it. Kudos!

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 3.2: Who Is Your Office Mascot?

This is probably the most important factor in building a business plan. How the heck are you going to get up and work every morning without a dog pushing its cold nose into your face, or without a cat trying to use your neck as their personal radiator?

Still with me? Okay, no more goofing off. Just wanted to throw in a fun interlude . . . I’ll get back to business now.

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 4: Marketing Strategy

This section of your travel agency’s business plan will help you clarify some of your marketing goals in the long term.

• Who are your major clients? Include names, location, and what kind of travel they prefer. What was the sales volume for each customer? Have they provided referrals for your business?
• Who are prospective clients? Who might be other potential travel clients for you? Parenting class members? Your yoga class? Regulars at your favorite bookstore? Do you have a way to informally see how they might respond to your travel services?

Marketing Plan

What is your marketing plan? Consider things such as:

• Your pricing. For example, if you want to charge fees.
• How do you want to market to clients? Online, at wedding expos, in line at the grocery store?
• What region do you want to target and if you want to target clients outside your locale, how do you plan to do so?
• What is the flow of your services during planning, travel and post-trip? How do you plan on getting feedback from your customer once the travel is complete?
• What are your marketing priorities ? Networking? Referral? Online? Social media?
• Sales Strategy: Now that you have a list of potential clients and a marketing plan, how will you reach out to prospective clients? Host a cocktail hour? Send a mailing? Go to networking meetings? Do you need to outsource or delegate any tasks to help you with your sales efforts?

Are you ready to head on over to that travel agency business plan template you have a love-hate relationship with? Good, because you’re gonna read all about Corona Travels marketing strategy and how they plan on closing the leads they get . . . and maybe you can steal some of Sol’s ideas for your agency. :)

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 5: Technology

What kind of tech do you need to help your agency get up and running, and what technology will you need to keep your travel agency machine humming? You don’t need everything at once, but you’ll want to have an idea of what you need to reach some travel agency milestones you’re going for.

You might want to consider things like:

• Travel Agency Website
• Read up on different website options for agencies
• Customer Relations Management (CRM):
• ClientBase Online
• Online Scheduling Tools:
• Itinerary Builders:
• Axus Travel App
• IT Explorer
• Payment Processing (for fees)
• Quickbooks Payments (use this link for 50% off first SIX months -- normally it's 3 months)
• TESS (built into CRM)
• Travel Joy (built into CRM)
• WixPayments
• Bookkeeping and Accounting
• Google Sheets ( part of Google Workspace )
• Mac Numbers
• Quickbooks Online / Quicken (use this link for 50% off first SIX months -- normally it's 3 months)
• Quickbooks Online (use this link for 50% off first SIX months -- normally it's 3 months)
• Booking tools
• Google Workspace : We have an exclusive 10% off promo code for Google Workspace! Just fill out the form and we'll send you the code.
• Office equipment
• Fax: FaxZero
• Scanner: Scanner Pro ($3.99 in Apple App Store)
• Scanner: Tiny Scanner (Google Play Store)
• Business Card Scanner: CamCard (Free on Apple App Store | .99 on Google Play Store )
• Forms / E-signatures*
• JotForm (free plan allows e-signatures)
• RightSignature
• Email Automation
• Sendinblue (that's what we currently use)
• Active Campaign
• Constant Contact
• Online Meetings / Video Conferencing
• Google Meet (part of Google Workspace )
• Secure Password Manager (also known as The Handiest Thing Ever )
• Mileage Tracking
• MileIQ (Free but if you ever decided to upgrade, use this link for 10% off paid plans)

Just because it’s technology, it doesn’t mean it has to be state of the art or über fancy. You can pick and choose where you want to allocate your financial resources on tech: I’ve spoken with several travel agents who swear by a combination of sticky notes, physical calendars, and Excel spreadsheets.

Think about which of these technologies you really need. If you go with a host agency or consortium, which of these technologies do they provide? Looking forward as your business grows, which technologies do you anticipate you’ll want to phase in?

Choosing those technologies was fun, wasn’t it? But now we need to iron out how you’re going to run the agency. So let’s move into the next section of your travel agency’s business plan template and make sure you’re running a tight ship!

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 6: Operations

Developing a plan for travel agency operations will help you understand how to ensure your business runs smoothly, in addition to understanding the capacity of your travel agency. For this section of your travel agency business plan you’ll want to consider:

• What is your sales volume compared to your sales capacity? How much travel can you actually sell in the time you want to spend working to sell travel?
• Who are your preferred suppliers? Who are your host or consortium’s, preferred suppliers? How do these suppliers (and your host) disburse commissions and on what timeline? How does this impact your bookkeeping and workflow?
• If you are booking groups, plan ahead. Are there any special cruise sailings or new ships you want to block space for? Is a resort opening a new property that you’re excited about and might be in high demand? Is there a new exciting product coming up that you want to get ahead of?
• In order to find out about some of these opportunities, what travel publications do you want/ need to subscribe to? (*Ahem* Make sure HAR is one of them!!) How are you utilizing your host or consortium resources to stay ahead?

OMG. OMG!!! That’s right, keep that grin plastered on your face because we’re entering the final leg. You did it!

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 7: Administrative Support

As a business owner, there will be a lot of external organizational support as you go. First, we’ll focus on financial logistics. What are the business names (or contacts) and addresses of some of your administrative support? This may include:

• Your bank/ banker
• Accountant and/or Bookkeeper
• Host agency or consortium
• Legal counsel/ lawyer

Congratulations. You Have a Travel Agency Business Plan!

Seriously, that was INTENSE. Give yourself a huge pat on the back. Creating a business plan for your travel agency ain’t for the faint of heart, but you did it.

Go ahead and tell us about your process. Was our free travel agency business plan template helpful? Did it help to think things through and write a business plan for your agency? Was it a waste of time? Most importantly, what kind of office pet do you have and what sort of moral support do they provide?

Comment below!

*Editor's Note: This article was originally published on April 16th, 2019. We updated it on the publish date listed on the article!

About the Author

Mary Stein has been working as a writer and editor for Host Agency Reviews since 2016. She loves supporting travel advisors on their entrepreneurial journey and is inspired by their passion, tenacity, and creativity. Mary is also a mom, dog lover, fiction writer, hiker, and a Great British Bake Off superfan.

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Travel Agency Business Plan Template

Travel agency business plan.

You’ve come to the right place to create your Travel Agency business plan.

We have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their travel agencies.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Travel Agency business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

My Itinerary Travel Agency is a new travel agency located in Boca Raton, Florida. The company is founded by Sandra Rodriguez, an experienced travel agent who has gained valuable knowledge on how to run a travel agency during the past ten years while working at Fun Destinations Travel Agency. Now that Sandra has experienced managing a travel agency, she is ready to start her own company, My Itinerary Travel Agency. Sandra is confident that her organizational and communication skills, combined with her understanding of business management, will enable her to run a profitable travel agency of her own. Sandra is recruiting a team of highly qualified professionals to help manage the day-to-day complexities of running a travel agency – sales and marketing, vendor relationships, customer relationship management, budgeting, and financial reporting.

My Itinerary Travel Agency will provide a full suite of travel planning services for individuals nationwide through its sophisticated online platform and accompanying customer app. My Itinerary Travel Agency will be the go-to travel agency for personalized service, convenience, and expertise of its travel agents. The company will be the ultimate choice for customer service while offering the best travel accommodations available.

Product Offering

The following are the services that My Itinerary Travel Agency will provide:

• Airline travel bookings
• Tour and travel package sales
• Accommodation reservations and bookings
• Cruise bookings
• Car rental reservations
• Travel ticket sales and reservations
• Tour ticket sales and reservations

Customer Focus

My Itinerary Travel Agency will target individuals nationwide who are looking for personalized and convenient travel planning services. The company will target vacationers, tourists, and business travelers who are seeking the best deals on premium accommodations. No matter the customer, My Itinerary Travel Agency will deliver the best communication, service, and the best prices.

Management Team

My Itinerary Travel Agency will be owned and operated by Sandra Rodriguez. Sandra is a graduate of Florida University with a degree in business. She has over ten years of experience working as a travel agent for another local agency. Sandra will be the company’s chief executive officer. She will oversee the travel agency staff, manage customer relationships, and build vendor relationships.

Sandra has recruited sales and marketing expert, Sara Anderson, to be the company’s chief marketing officer and help oversee travel agency’s sales and marketing activities. Sara will handle all branding, marketing, advertising, and outreach for the company. She will also create and maintain the company’s online and social media presence. Sara has a Master’s degree in Marketing and has nearly ten years of experience working as a marketing director for a leading travel industry corporation.

Success Factors

My Itinerary Travel Agency will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• Skilled team of travel agents combined with the latest technology in the industry will allow the company to provide its clients with personalized service and modern convenience to make planning their trip easy and efficient.
• The members of the leadership team have long standing relationships with a large pool of vendors, allowing them to provide clients with the best deals possible on premium accommodations.
• The company offers a variety of modes of communication to better serve more clients’ preferences. Customers can speak with a travel agent in person, via telephone, video call, email, or chat through the website or app. Support is available 24/7 to ensure all clients’ questions and concerns are promptly attended to.

Financial Highlights

My Itinerary Travel Agency is seeking $290,000 in debt financing to launch its travel agency. The funding will be dedicated towards securing the office space, and purchasing office equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated towards three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff and marketing expenses. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Office build-out: $110,000
• Office equipment, supplies, and materials: $70,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, utilities): $90,000
• Marketing costs: $10,000
• Working capital: $10,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for My Itinerary Travel Agency.

Company Overview

Who is my itinerary travel agency.

My Itinerary Travel Agency is a newly established travel agency in Boca Raton, Florida. My Itinerary Travel Agency will be the first choice for anyone seeking a personalized approach, 24/7 support, and streamlined technology to make trip planning easy. The company will serve customers nationwide from their headquarters in Florida.

My Itinerary Travel Agency will be able to guarantee the best deals possible thanks to the leadership team members’ long standing relationships with a large network of vendors in the hospitality, transportation, and entertainment markets. The company’s team of highly qualified travel agents will provide personalized service to each client, removing the uncertainty and hassles associated with finding and booking the right accommodations.

My Itinerary Travel Agency History

My Itinerary Travel Agency is owned and operated by Sandra Rodriguez, an experienced travel agent who has gained valuable knowledge on how to run a travel agency during the past ten years while working at Fun Destinations Travel Agency. Now that Sandra has experienced managing a travel agency, she is ready to start her own company, My Itinerary Travel Agency. Sandra is confident that her organizational and communication skills, combined with her understanding of business management, will enable her to run a profitable travel agency of her own. Sandra is recruiting a team of highly qualified professionals to help manage the day-to-day complexities of running a travel agency – sales and marketing, vendor relationships, customer relationship management, budgeting, and financial reporting.

Since incorporation, My Itinerary Travel Agency has achieved the following milestones:

• Registered My Itinerary Travel Agency, LLC to transact business in the state of Florida
• Has identified the ideal location for the company’s office and is in the process of securing a lease
• Reached out to numerous contacts to include transportation, hospitality, and entertainment companies to begin securing vendor contracts
• Began recruiting a staff of accountants, travel agents, and other office personnel to work at My Itinerary Travel Agency

My Itinerary Travel Agency Services

• Airline travel comparisons and bookings

Industry Analysis

The U.S. travel agency industry is valued at $48.5B with more than 90,600 businesses in operation and over 318,600 employees nationwide. Factors currently driving industry growth include an increase in domestic tourism and travel for overnight trips, vacations, and business purposes. More domestic travel typically results in more consumers using travel agencies to book their trips. The travel agency industry can be segmented by brick-and-mortar establishments or online businesses. The global market size for the online travel agency segment reached $432B last year and is expected to rise as more people use the internet to book their trips. The travel agency industry relies heavily on the use of technology. Industry operators must stay up-to-date on the latest travel technology in order to remain competitive in the market.

One of the most significant hurdles for travel agency operators is attracting customers in the age of do-it-yourself booking. Now that customers are able to book many of their travel accommodations themselves, travel agents must be able to demonstrate why booking with them is a better option. Some ways industry operators can add value are by providing personalized services, promotional discounts, and helpful information about accommodation options.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

My Itinerary Travel Agency will target individuals nationwide who are looking for personalized and convenient travel planning services. The company will target vacationers, tourists, and business travelers who are seeking the best deals on premium accommodations. No matter the customer, My Itinerary Travel Agency will deliver professional communication, service, and the best prices.

The precise demographics for Boca Raton, Florida are:

Customer Segmentation

My Itinerary Travel Agency will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Individuals and families planning a vacation
• Business travelers
• Individuals and families in need of accommodations for events such as weddings, reunions, or conventions

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

My Itinerary Travel Agency will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Fun Destinations Travel Agency

Fun Destinations Travel Agency is one of the largest and oldest travel agencies in Florida. The company was founded in 1958 in Boca Raton with one small office location. Now, the company has over 50 locations throughout multiple states. Fun Destinations specializes in booking accommodations for family vacationers. The company books accommodations near key family destinations such as theme parks, resorts, and tourist attractions. Fun Destinations is family owned and operated so the founders are familiar with the hassles associated with planning a family vacation. For this reason, Fun Destinations focuses on booking the best family-friendly accommodations so its clients can relax and enjoy the family fun.

Best Fit Vacations Travel Agency

Best Fit Vacations Travel Agency is a small travel agency catering to Boca Raton locals from its central office and nationwide clients via its online booking platform. The company was established in 1995 with the mission of providing vacation accommodations that will be “the best fit” for every client. Best Fit Vacations is owned and operated by industry professionals that have extensive experience working with vendors to negotiate the best deals for clients. The company strives to get the lowest prices for every booking and regularly finds additional savings and discounts other agencies might not know about.

Trustworthy Travel Agency

Trustworthy Travel Agency is a Boca Raton, Florida-based travel agency that provides superior service to its consumers. The company is able to provide a wide variety of travel accommodation bookings for customers in the area. Trustworthy Travel Agency has three locations throughout the state and operates an online booking platform for nationwide travelers. Customers can book online or over the phone at their convenience. The company uses an algorithm that finds the lowest prices on travel, lodging, and other accommodations across the country.

Competitive Advantage

My Itinerary Travel Agency will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

My Itinerary Travel Agency will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• My Itinerary Travel Agency offers the best deals through its extensive vendor network.
• The company offers personalized customer service, a variety of communication modes, and 24/7 support.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for My Itinerary Travel Agency is as follows:

Social Media Marketing

The company’s chief marketing officer will create accounts on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. She will ensure My Itinerary Travel Agency maintains an active social media presence with regular updates and fun content to get customers excited about traveling.

Professional Associations and Networking

My Itinerary Travel Agency will become a member of professional associations such as the Travel Agency Association, American Travel Agents Society, and the Florida Travel Industry Association. The leadership team will focus their networking efforts on expanding the company’s vendor network.

Print Advertising

My Itinerary Travel Agency will invest in professionally designed print ads to display in programs or flyers at industry networking events. The company will also invest in professional ads to place in travel magazines and local publications.

Website/SEO Marketing

My Itinerary Travel Agency’s chief marketing officer will design the company website. The website will be well organized, informative, and list all the services that My Itinerary Travel Agency is able to provide. The website will also list testimonials from happy customers.

The chief marketing officer will also manage My Itinerary Travel Agency’s website presence with SEO marketing tactics so that when someone types in a search engine “best travel agency” or “travel agency near me”, My Itinerary Travel Agency will be listed at the top of the search results.

The pricing of My Itinerary Travel Agency will be on par with (and often lower than) competitors so customers feel they receive value when purchasing the company’s services.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for My Itinerary Travel Agency.

Operation Functions:

• Sandra Rodriguez will be the chief executive officer for the company. She will oversee the travel agents, vendor relationships, and customer relations. Sandra has spent the past year recruiting the following staff:
• Sara Anderson – chief marketing officer who will oversee all marketing strategies for the company and manage the website, social media, and outreach
• Tom Brown – accountant who will provide all accounting, tax payments, and monthly financial reporting for the company
• Christopher Jones – lead customer support manager who will directly oversee all customer support activities

Milestones:

My Itinerary Travel Agency will have the following milestones complete in the next six months.

12/1/2022 – Finalize contract to lease the office

12/15/2022 – Finalize personnel and staff employment contracts for the My Itinerary Travel Agency management team

1/1/2023 – Begin build-out/renovation of the office, and purchase office equipment and supplies

1/15/2023 – Begin networking at industry events and implement the marketing plan

2/15/2023 – Finalize contracts for initial vendors

3/15/2023 – My Itinerary Travel Agency officially opens for business

Financial Plan Business Plan FAQs

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for My Itinerary Travel Agency are the commissions earned as a percentage of bookings from vendors and fees charged to customers for consultations and services.

The cost drivers will be the overhead costs required in order to staff a travel agency firm. The expenses will be the payroll cost, utilities, greenhouse equipment and supplies, and marketing materials.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Average accommodations booked per month: 9,000
• Average commissions per month: $15,000
• Overhead costs per year: $640,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, what is a travel agency business plan.

A travel agency business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your travel agency business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your travel agency business plan using our travel agency Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Travel Agencies?

There are a number of different kinds of travel agencies , some examples include: independent agency, host agency or franchise.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Travel Agent Business Plan?

Travel agencies are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.  This is true for a travel agent business plan and a tour and travel business plan.

What are the Steps To Start a Travel Agency Business?

Starting a travel agency business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Travel Agent Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed business plan for your travel agency  that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your travel agency business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your travel agency business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Travel Agency Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your travel agency business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your travel agency business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Travel Agency Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your travel agency business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your travel agency business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful travel agency business:

• How to Start a Travel Agency Business

Travel Agency Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their travel agencies. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a travel agency business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your travel agency as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a travel agency or grow your existing travel agency you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your travel agency in order to improve your chances of success. Your travel agency business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Source of Funding for Travel Agencies

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a travel agency are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

The second most common form of funding for a travel agency is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan.

Your travel agency business plan should include 10 sections as follows:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of travel agency business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a travel agency that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of travel agencies.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the travel agency industry. Discuss the type of travel agency you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of travel agency you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types:

• Commercial Travel Agencies : this type of travel agency caters to business travelers. These agencies specialize in tracking down deals for business travelers to help companies manage travel costs.
• Online Travel Agencies : this type of travel agency exists only in cyberspace. They provide clients with the convenience of online booking and discounts that are available only to professional travel agencies.
• Niche Travel Agencies : this type of travel agency provides clients with specialized knowledge of a region.
• Membership Associations : Memberships associations give travelers access to the organization’s travel planning services for the cost of an annual membership rather than charging per transaction. This type of agency offers the most benefit to frequent travelers.

In addition to explaining the type of travel agency you operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new location openings, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the travel agency business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the travel agency industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards glamping, it would be helpful to ensure your plan calls for plenty of luxury camping packages.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your travel agency business plan:

• How big is the travel agency business (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your travel agency. You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your travel agency business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: sports enthusiasts, soccer moms, baby boomers, businesses, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of travel agency you operate. Clearly baby boomers would want a different atmosphere, pricing and product options, and would respond to different marketing promotions than businesses.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most travel agencies primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other travel agencies.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes customers making travel arrangements themselves at home. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who travels uses travel agency services.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other travel agencies with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be travel agencies located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What products do they offer?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide better travel packages?
• Will you provide products or services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you make it easier or faster for customers to book your offerings?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a travel agency business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : in the product section you should reiterate the type of travel agency that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to regular accommodation and transportation booking, will you offer items such as tour packages and excursions?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the packages you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your travel agency. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your travel agency located next to a heavily populated office building, or highly trafficked retail area, etc. Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers.

Promotions : the final part of your travel agency marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Making your travel agency’s storefront extra appealing to attract passing customers
• Distributing travel brochures outside the travel agency
• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local bloggers and websites
• Social media advertising
• Local radio advertising
• Banner ads at local venues

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your travel agency such as serving customers, procuring supplies, keeping the office clean, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your 1,000th customer, or when you hope to reach $X in sales. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch a new location.

Management Team

To demonstrate your travel agency’s ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in the travel agency business. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in travel agencies and/or successfully running retail and small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you serve 50 customers per week or 100? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your travel agency, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100.000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a travel agency:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment like computers, website/platform, and software
• Cost of marketing materials and maintaining an adequate amount of supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your store design blueprint or location lease.

Travel Agency Business Plan Summary

Putting together a business plan for your travel agency is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the travel agency business, your competition and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful travel agency.

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Travel Agency Business Plan FAQs

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What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

Other helpful business plan articles & templates.

How to write a business plan for a travel agency?

Writing a business plan for a travel agency can be an intimidating task, especially for those just starting.

This in-depth guide is designed to help entrepreneurs like you understand how to create a comprehensive business plan so that you can approach the exercise with method and confidence.

We'll cover: why writing a travel agency business plan is so important - both when starting up, and when running and growing the business - what information you need to include in your plan, how it should be structured, and what tools you can use to get the job done efficiently.

Let's get started!

In this guide:

Why write a business plan for a travel agency?

• What information is needed to create a business plan for a travel agency?
• What goes in the financial forecast for a travel agency?
• What goes in the written part of a travel agency business plan?
• What tool can I use to write my travel agency business plan?

Having a clear understanding of why you want to write a business plan for your travel agency will make it simpler for you to grasp the rationale behind its structure and content. So before delving into the plan's actual details, let's take a moment to remind ourselves of the primary reasons why you'd want to create a travel agency business plan.

To have a clear roadmap to grow the business

It's rarely business as usual for small businesses. The economy follows cycles where years of growth are followed by recessions, and the business environment is always changing with new technologies, new regulations, new competitors, and new consumer behaviours appearing all the time...

In this context, running a business without a clear roadmap is like driving blindfolded: it's dangerous at best. That's why writing a business plan for a travel agency is essential to create successful and sustainable businesses.

To write an effective business plan, you will need to take stock of where you are (if you are already in business) and where you want the business to go in the next three to five years.

Once you know where you want your travel agency to be, you'll have to identify:

• what resources (human, equipment, and capital) are needed to get there,
• at what pace the business needs to progress to get there in time,
• and what risks you'll face along the way.

Going through this process regularly is beneficial, both for startups and existing companies, as it helps make informed decisions about how best to allocate resources to ensure the long-term success of the business.

To get visibility on future cash flows

If your small travel agency runs out of cash: it's game over. That's why we often say "cash is king", and it's crucial to have a clear view of your travel agency's future cash flows.

So, how can you achieve this? It's simple - you need to have an up-to-date financial forecast.

The good news is that your travel agency business plan already includes a financial forecast (which we'll discuss further in this guide). Your task is to ensure it stays current.

To accomplish this, it's essential to regularly compare your actual financial performance with what was planned in your financial forecast. Based on your business's current trajectory, you can make adjustments to the forecast.

By diligently monitoring your travel agency's financial health, you'll be able to spot potential financial issues, like unexpected cash shortfalls, early on and take corrective actions. Moreover, this practice will enable you to recognize and capitalize on growth opportunities, such as excess cash flow enabling you to expand to new locations.

To secure financing

Whether you are a startup or an existing business, writing a detailed travel agency business plan is essential when seeking financing from banks or investors.

This makes sense given what we've just seen: financiers want to ensure you have a clear roadmap and visibility on your future cash flows.

Banks will use the information included in the plan to assess your borrowing capacity (how much debt your business can support) and your ability to repay the loan before deciding whether they will extend credit to your business and on what terms.

Similarly, investors will review your plan carefully to assess if their investment can generate an attractive return on investment.

To do so, they will be looking for evidence that your travel agency has the potential for healthy growth, profitability, and cash flow generation over time.

Now that you understand why it is important to create a business plan for a travel agency, let's take a look at what information is needed to create one.

Information needed to create a business plan for a travel agency

Drafting a travel agency business plan requires research so that you can project sales, investments and cost accurately in your financial forecast, and convince the reader that there is a viable commercial opportunity to be seized.

Below, we'll focus on three critical pieces of information you should gather before starting to write your plan.

Carrying out market research for a travel agency

Carrying out market research before writing a business plan for a travel agency is essential to ensure that the financial projections are accurate and realistic.

Market research helps you gain insight into your target customer base, competitors, pricing strategies and other key factors which can have an impact on the commercial success of your business.

In particular, it is useful in forecasting revenue as it provides valuable data regarding potential customers’ spending habits and preferences.

You may discover that travelers are increasingly interested in seeking out cultural experiences on their trips, such as visiting local art galleries or participating in cooking classes. Additionally, you could find that there is a growing demand for eco-friendly travel options, such as accommodations that have taken steps to reduce their environmental footprint.

This information can then be used to create more accurate financial projections which will help investors make informed decisions about investing in your travel agency.

Developing the sales and marketing plan for a travel agency

Budgeting sales and marketing expenses is essential before creating a travel agency business plan.

A comprehensive sales and marketing plan should provide an accurate projection of what actions need to be implemented to acquire and retain customers, how many people are needed to carry out these initiatives, and how much needs to be spent on promotions, advertising, and other aspects.

This helps ensure that the right amount of resources is allocated to these activities in order to hit the sales and growth objectives forecasted in your business plan.

The staffing and equipment needs of a travel agency

Whether you are at the beginning stages of your travel agency or expanding its horizons, having a clear plan for recruitment and capital expenditures (investment in equipment and real estate) is vital to ensure your business's success.

To achieve this, both the recruitment and investment plans must align coherently with the projected timing and level of growth in your forecast. It is essential to secure appropriate funding for these plans.

A travel agency might incur staffing costs such as salaries for agents, administrative staff, and customer service representatives. They might also need to invest in equipment such as computers, printers, and other office machines. Additionally, they may need to pay for travel-related software licenses, websites, and advertising in order to effectively promote their business.

To create a financial forecast that accurately represents your business's outlook, remember to factor in other day-to-day operating expenses.

Now that you have all the necessary information, it's time to dive in and start creating your business plan and developing the financial forecast for your travel agency.

What goes into your travel agency's financial forecast?

The financial forecast of your travel agency will enable you to assess the profitability potential of your business in the coming years and how much capital is required to fund the actions planned in the business plan.

The four key outputs of a financial forecast for a travel agency are:

• The profit and loss (P&L) statement ,
• The projected balance sheet ,
• The cash flow forecast ,
• And the sources and uses table .

Let's take a closer look at each of these.

The projected P&L statement

Your travel agency forecasted P&L statement enables the reader of your business plan to get an idea of how much revenue and profits your business is expected to make in the near future.

Ideally, your reader will want to see:

• Growth above the inflation level
• Expanding profit margins
• Positive net profit throughout the plan

Expectations for an established travel agency will of course be different than for a startup. Existing businesses which have reached their cruising altitude might have slower growth and higher margins than ventures just being started.

The forecasted balance sheet of your travel agency

The projected balance sheet of your travel agency will enable the reader of your business plan to assess the overall financial health of your business.

It shows three elements: assets, liabilities and equity:

• Assets: are productive resources owned by the business, such as equipment, cash, and accounts receivable (money owed by clients).
• Liabilities: are debts owed to creditors, lenders, and other entities, such as accounts payable (money owed to suppliers).
• Equity: includes the sums invested by the shareholders or business owners and the profits and losses accumulated by the business to date (which are called retained earnings). It is a proxy for the value of the owner's stake in the business.

Analysing your travel agency projected balance sheet provides an understanding of your travel agency's working capital structure, investment and financing policies.

In particular, the readers of your plan can compare the level of financial debt on the balance sheet to the equity value to measure the level of financial risk (equity doesn't need to be reimbursed, while financial debt must be repaid, making it riskier).

They can also use your balance sheet to assess your travel agency's liquidity and solvency:

• A liquidity analysis: focuses on whether or not your business has sufficient cash and short-term assets to cover its liabilities due in the next 12 months.
• A solvency analysis: takes and longer view to assess whether or not your business has the capacity to repay its debts over the medium-term.

The cash flow forecast

A projected cash flow statement for a travel agency is used to show how much cash the business is generating or consuming.

The cash flow forecast is usually organized by nature to show three key metrics:

• The operating cash flow: do the core business activities generate or consume cash?
• The investing cash flow: how much is the business investing in long-term assets (this is usually compared to the level of fixed assets on the balance sheet to assess whether the business is regularly maintaining and renewing its equipment)?
• The financing cash flow: is the business raising new financing or repaying financiers (debt repayment, dividends)?

As we discussed earlier, cash is king and keeping an eye on future cash flows an imperative for running a successful business. Therefore, you can expect the reader of your travel agency business plan to pay close attention to your cash flow forecast.

Also, note that it is customary to provide both yearly and monthly cash flow forecasts in a business plan - so that the reader can analyze seasonal variation and ensure the travel agency is appropriately funded.

The initial financing plan

The initial financing plan - also called a sources and uses table - is an important tool when starting a travel agency.

It shows where the money needed to set up the business will come from (sources) and how it will be allocated (uses).

Having this table helps understand what costs are involved in setting up the travel agency, how the risks are distributed between the shareholders and the lenders, and what will be the starting cash position (which needs to be sufficient to sustain operations until the business breaks even).

Now that the financial forecast of a travel agency business plan is understood, let's focus on what goes into the written part of the plan.

The written part of a travel agency business plan

The written part of the business plan is where you will explain what your business does and how it operates, what your target market is, whom you compete against, and what strategy you will put in place to seize the commercial opportunity you've identified.

Having this context is key for the reader to form a view on whether or not they believe that your plan is achievable and the numbers in your forecast realistic.

The written part of a travel agency business plan is composed of 7 main sections:

• The executive summary
• The presentation of the company
• The products and services
• The market analysis
• The strategy
• The operations
• The financial plan

Let's go through the content of each section in more detail!

1. The executive summary

The executive summary, the first section of your travel agency's business plan, serves as an inviting snapshot of your entire plan, leaving readers eager to know more about your business.

To compose an effective executive summary, start with a concise introduction of your business, covering its name, concept, location, history, and unique aspects. Share insights about the services or products you intend to offer and your target customer base.

Subsequently, provide an overview of your travel agency's addressable market, highlighting current trends and potential growth opportunities.

Then, present a summary of critical financial figures, such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

You should then include a summary of your key financial figures such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

Lastly, address any funding needs in the "ask" section of your executive summary.

2. The presentation of the company

As you build your travel agency business plan, the second section deserves attention as it delves into the structure and ownership, location, and management team of your company.

In the structure and ownership part, you'll provide valuable insights into the legal structure of the business, the identities of the owners, and their respective investments and ownership stakes. This level of transparency is vital, particularly if you're seeking financing, as it clarifies which legal entity will receive the funds and who holds the reins of the business.

Moving to the location part, you'll offer a comprehensive view of the company's premises and articulate why this specific location is strategic for the business, emphasizing factors like catchment area, accessibility, and nearby amenities.

When describing the location of your travel agency, you could focus on the potential reach of the agency. It could be situated in an area that is well-connected to other parts of the country, making it easy for customers to access. Additionally, the area could be in close proximity to many attractive tourist destinations, enticing customers to book trips to explore more of the area. Finally, the area could have a vibrant cultural scene, providing another draw to customers looking for unique experiences.

Lastly, you should introduce your esteemed management team. Provide a thorough explanation of each member's role, background, and extensive experience.

It's equally important to highlight any past successes the management team has achieved and underscore the duration they've been working together. This information will instil trust in potential lenders or investors, showcasing the strength and expertise of your leadership team and their ability to deliver the business plan.

3. The products and services section

The products and services section of your business plan should include a detailed description of the offerings that your company provides to its customers. 

For example, your travel agency might offer customers the ability to book a vacation package that includes flights, a hotel, and car rentals. It could also offer insurance to cover the cost of a trip in the event of an emergency or illness. Additionally, your agency could provide customers with personalized itineraries and detailed travel advice to ensure a successful and enjoyable vacation.

When drafting this section, you should be precise about the categories of products or services you sell, the types of customers you are targeting and how customers can buy them.

4. The market analysis

When presenting your market analysis in your travel agency business plan, you should detail the customers' demographics and segmentation, target market, competition, barriers to entry, and any regulations that may apply.

The goal of this section is to help the reader understand how big and attractive your market is, and demonstrate that you have a solid understanding of the industry.

You should start with the demographics and segmentation subsection, which gives an overview of the addressable market for your travel agency, the main trends in the marketplace, and introduces the different customer segments and their preferences in terms of purchasing habits and budgets.

The target market section should follow and zoom on the customer segments your travel agency is targeting, and explain how your products and services meet the specific needs of these customers.

For example, your target market might include young couples that desire luxurious experiences. They would be looking for a high-end experience that is tailored to their individual needs. They would be willing to pay a premium for the perfect vacation.

Then comes the competition subsection, where you should introduce your main competitors and explain what differentiates you from them.

Finally, you should finish your market analysis by giving an overview of the main regulations applicable to your travel agency.

5. The strategy section

When writing the strategy section of a business plan for your travel agency, it is essential to include information about your competitive edge, pricing strategy, sales & marketing plan, milestones, and risks and mitigants.

The competitive edge subsection should explain what sets your company apart from its competitors. This part is especially key if you are writing the business plan of a startup, as you have to make a name for yourself in the marketplace against established players.

The pricing strategy subsection should demonstrate how you intend to remain profitable while still offering competitive prices to your customers.

The sales & marketing plan should outline how you intend to reach out and acquire new customers, as well as retain existing ones with loyalty programs or special offers. 

The milestones subsection should outline what your company has achieved to date, and its main objectives for the years to come - along with dates so that everyone involved has clear expectations of when progress can be expected.

The risks and mitigants subsection should list the main risks that jeopardize the execution of your plan and explain what measures you have taken to minimize these. This is essential in order for investors or lenders to feel secure in investing in your venture.

1. Your travel agency could face risks from natural disasters. For example, an earthquake or hurricane could disrupt travel plans and cause financial losses. 2. Your travel agency might also face risks from changes in technology. For example, new travel booking sites and apps may lead to a decrease in customers booking through your agency.

6. The operations section

The operations of your travel agency must be presented in detail in your business plan.

The first thing you should cover in this section is your staffing team, the main roles, and the overall recruitment plan to support the growth expected in your business plan. You should also outline the qualifications and experience necessary to fulfil each role, and how you intend to recruit (using job boards, referrals, or headhunters).

You should then state the operating hours of your travel agency - so that the reader can check the adequacy of your staffing levels - and any plans for varying opening times during peak season. Additionally, the plan should include details on how you will handle customer queries outside of normal operating hours.

The next part of this section should focus on the key assets and IP required to operate your business. If you depend on any licenses or trademarks, physical structures (equipment or property) or lease agreements, these should all go in there.

You may have key assets such as customer information and booking records. This information contains important details such as customers' travel preferences, contact information, and credit card information. It could also include intellectual property such as the company's brand and logo, which may be used to market the company's services. Additionally, the company might have proprietary software that helps them manage bookings and customer relationships.

Finally, you should include a list of suppliers that you plan to work with and a breakdown of their services and main commercial terms (price, payment terms, contract duration, etc.). Investors are always keen to know if there is a particular reason why you have chosen to work with a specific supplier (higher-quality products or past relationships for example).

7. The presentation of the financial plan

The financial plan section is where we will include the financial forecast we talked about earlier in this guide.

Now that you have a clear idea of the content of a travel agency business plan, let's look at some of the tools you can use to create yours.

What tool should I use to write my travel agency's business plan?

In this section, we will be reviewing the two main options for writing a travel agency business plan efficiently:

• Using specialized software,
• Outsourcing the drafting to the business plan writer.

Using an online business plan software for your travel agency's business plan

The modern and most efficient way to write a travel agency business plan is to use business plan software .

There are several advantages to using specialized software:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here .

Hiring a business plan writer to write your travel agency's business plan

Outsourcing your travel agency business plan to a business plan writer can also be a viable option.

These writers possess valuable experience in crafting business plans and creating accurate financial forecasts. Additionally, enlisting their services can save you precious time, enabling you to concentrate on the day-to-day operations of your business.

It's important to be mindful, though, that hiring business plan writers comes with a cost. You'll be paying not just for their time but also for the software they use, and their profit margin.

Based on experience, a complete business plan usually requires a budget of at least £1.5k ($2.0k) excluding tax, and more if revisions are needed after initial meetings with lenders or investors - changes often arise following these discussions.

When seeking investment, be cautious about spending too much on consulting fees. Investors prefer their funds to contribute directly to business growth. Thus, the amount you spend on business plan writing services and other consulting services should be negligible compared to the amount you raise.

Another aspect to consider is that while you'll receive the output of the business plan, you usually won't own the actual document. It will be saved in the consultant's business plan software, which will make updating the plan challenging without retaining the consultant on a retainer.

Given these factors, it's essential to carefully weigh the pros and cons of outsourcing your travel agency business plan to a business plan writer and decide what best suits your business's unique needs.

Why not create your travel agency's business plan using Word or Excel?

I must advise against using Microsoft Excel and Word (or their Google, Apple, or open-source equivalents) to write your travel agency business plan. Let me explain why.

Firstly, creating an accurate and error-free financial forecast on Excel (or any spreadsheet) is highly technical and requires a strong grasp of accounting principles and financial modelling skills. It is, therefore, unlikely that anyone will fully trust your numbers unless you have both a degree in finance and accounting and significant financial modelling experience, like us at The Business Plan Shop.

Secondly, relying on spreadsheets is inefficient. While it may have been the only option in the past, technology has advanced significantly, and software can now perform these tasks much faster and with greater accuracy. With the rise of AI, software can even help us detect mistakes in forecasts and analyze the numbers for better decision-making.

And with the rise of AI, software is also becoming smarter at helping us detect mistakes in our forecasts and helping us analyse the numbers to make better decisions.

Moreover, software makes it easier to compare actuals versus forecasts and maintain up-to-date forecasts to keep visibility on future cash flows, as we discussed earlier in this guide. This task is cumbersome when using spreadsheets.

Now, let's talk about the written part of your travel agency business plan. While it may be less error-prone, using software can bring tremendous gains in productivity. Word processors, for example, lack instructions and examples for each part of your business plan. They also won't automatically update your numbers when changes occur in your forecast, and they don't handle formatting for you.

Overall, while Word or Excel may seem viable for some entrepreneurs to create a business plan, it's by far becoming an antiquated way of doing things.

• Using business plan software is a modern and cost-effective way of writing and maintaining business plans.
• A business plan is not a one-shot exercise as maintaining it current is the only way to keep visibility on your future cash flows.
• A business plan has 2 main parts: a financial forecast outlining the funding requirements of your travel agency and the expected growth, profits and cash flows for the next 3 to 5 years; and a written part which gives the reader the information needed to decide if they believe the forecast is achievable.

We hope that this in-depth guide met your expectations and that you now have a clear understanding of how to write your travel agency business plan. Do not hesitate to contact our friendly team if you have questions additional questions we haven't addressed here.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• How to write a business plan to secure a bank loan?
• Key steps to write a business plan?
• Top mistakes to avoid in your business plan

Do you know entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing a travel agency? Share this article with them!

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

Published on 11 Sep 2023 , last update on 12 Sep 2023 , as per our editorial standards .

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Travel Agency Business Plan Template & Guidebook

Whether you are looking to start a travel agency from the ground up or simply update your current business plan, the #1 Travel Agency Business Plan Template & Guidebook provides a comprehensive resource for entrepreneurs. The intuitive step-by-step guidebook walks through the process of creating and organizing a business plan that will make launching and running a successful travel agency easier than ever before. With expert tips, financial analysis templates, and more, this Travel Agency Business Plan Template & Guidebook provides all the tools necessary to create the perfect business plan.

Get worry-free services and support to launch your business starting at $0 plus state fees.

• How to Start a Profitable Travel Agency Business [11+ Steps]
• 10+ Best & Profitable Travel Agency Business Ideas [2023]

How to Write a Travel Agency Business Plan in 7 Steps:

1. describe the purpose of your travel agency business..

The first step to writing your business plan is to describe the purpose of your travel agency business. This includes describing why you are starting this type of business, and what problems it will solve for customers. This is a quick way to get your mind thinking about the customers’ problems. It also helps you identify what makes your business different from others in its industry.

It also helps to include a vision statement so that readers can understand what type of company you want to build.

Here is an example of a purpose mission statement for a travel agency business:

Our mission at [Travel Agency] is to provide customers with the hassle-free and cost-effective travel experience that best meets their individual needs and exceeds their expectations. We strive to make travel an enjoyable and memorable experience for each and every one of our customers.

2. Products & Services Offered by Your Travel Agency Business.

The next step is to outline your products and services for your travel agency business. 

When you think about the products and services that you offer, it's helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

• What is my business?
• What are the products and/or services that I offer?
• Why am I offering these particular products and/or services?
• How do I differentiate myself from competitors with similar offerings?
• How will I market my products and services?

You may want to do a comparison of your business plan against those of other competitors in the area, or even with online reviews. This way, you can find out what people like about them and what they don’t like, so that you can either improve upon their offerings or avoid doing so altogether.

3. Build a Creative Marketing Stratgey.

If you don't have a marketing plan for your travel agency business, it's time to write one. Your marketing plan should be part of your business plan and be a roadmap to your goals. 

A good marketing plan for your travel agency business includes the following elements:

Target market

• Who is your target market?
• What do these customers have in common?
• How many of them are there?
• How can you best reach them with your message or product?

Customer base 

• Who are your current customers? 
• Where did they come from (i.e., referrals)?
• How can their experience with your travel agency business help make them repeat customers, consumers, visitors, subscribers, or advocates for other people in their network or industry who might also benefit from using this service, product, or brand?

Product or service description

• How does it work, what features does it have, and what are its benefits?
• Can anyone use this product or service regardless of age or gender?
• Can anyone visually see themselves using this product or service?
• How will they feel when they do so? If so, how long will the feeling last after purchasing (or trying) the product/service for the first time?

Competitive analysis

• Which companies are competing with yours today (and why)? 
• Which ones may enter into competition with yours tomorrow if they find out about it now through word-of-mouth advertising; social media networks; friends' recommendations; etc.)
• What specific advantages does each competitor offer over yours currently?

Marketing channels

• Which marketing channel do you intend to leverage to attract new customers?
• What is your estimated marketing budget needed?
• What is the projected cost to acquire a new customer?
• How many of your customers do you instead will return?

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4. Write Your Operational Plan.

Next, you'll need to build your operational plan. This section describes the type of business you'll be running, and includes the steps involved in your operations. 

In it, you should list:

• The equipment and facilities needed
• Who will be involved in the business (employees, contractors)
• Financial requirements for each step
• Milestones & KPIs
• Location of your business
• Zoning & permits required for the business

What equipment, supplies, or permits are needed to run a travel agency business?

To run a Travel Agency business, you will need the following equipment, supplies, and permits:

• Computer and/or laptop with internet access
• Printer/copier/scanner
• Travel Agency Software
• Stationery Supplies (envelopes, notepads, pens, etc.)
• Business cards
• Business License/Permit from your local government
• Travel Accreditation (IATA / CLIA)

5. Management & Organization of Your Travel Agency Business.

The second part of your travel agency business plan is to develop a management and organization section.

This section will cover all of the following:

• How many employees you need in order to run your travel agency business. This should include the roles they will play (for example, one person may be responsible for managing administrative duties while another might be in charge of customer service).
• The structure of your management team. The higher-ups like yourself should be able to delegate tasks through lower-level managers who are directly responsible for their given department (inventory and sales, etc.).
• How you’re going to make sure that everyone on board is doing their job well. You’ll want check-ins with employees regularly so they have time to ask questions or voice concerns if needed; this also gives you time to offer support where necessary while staying informed on how things are going within individual departments too!

6. Travel Agency Business Startup Expenses & Captial Needed.

This section should be broken down by month and year. If you are still in the planning stage of your business, it may be helpful to estimate how much money will be needed each month until you reach profitability.

Typically, expenses for your business can be broken into a few basic categories:

Startup Costs

Startup costs are typically the first expenses you will incur when beginning an enterprise. These include legal fees, accounting expenses, and other costs associated with getting your business off the ground. The amount of money needed to start a travel agency business varies based on many different variables, but below are a few different types of startup costs for a travel agency business.

Running & Operating Costs

Running costs refer to ongoing expenses related directly with operating your business over time like electricity bills or salaries paid out each month. These types of expenses will vary greatly depending on multiple variables such as location, team size, utility costs, etc.

Marketing & Sales Expenses

You should include any costs associated with marketing and sales, such as advertising and promotions, website design or maintenance. Also, consider any additional expenses that may be incurred if you decide to launch a new product or service line. For example, if your travel agency business has an existing website that needs an upgrade in order to sell more products or services, then this should be listed here.

7. Financial Plan & Projections

A financial plan is an important part of any business plan, as it outlines how the business will generate revenue and profit, and how it will use that profit to grow and sustain itself. To devise a financial plan for your travel agency business, you will need to consider a number of factors, including your start-up costs, operating costs, projected revenue, and expenses. 

Here are some steps you can follow to devise a financial plan for your travel agency business plan:

• Determine your start-up costs: This will include the cost of purchasing or leasing the space where you will operate your business, as well as the cost of buying or leasing any equipment or supplies that you need to start the business.
• Estimate your operating costs: Operating costs will include utilities, such as electricity, gas, and water, as well as labor costs for employees, if any, and the cost of purchasing any materials or supplies that you will need to run your business.
• Project your revenue: To project your revenue, you will need to consider the number of customers you expect to have and the average amount they will spend on each visit. You can use this information to estimate how much money you will make from selling your products or services.
• Estimate your expenses: In addition to your operating costs, you will need to consider other expenses, such as insurance, marketing, and maintenance. You will also need to set aside money for taxes and other fees.
• Create a budget: Once you have estimated your start-up costs, operating costs, revenue, and expenses, you can use this information to create a budget for your business. This will help you to see how much money you will need to start the business, and how much profit you can expect to make.
• Develop a plan for using your profit: Finally, you will need to decide how you will use your profit to grow and sustain your business. This might include investing in new equipment, expanding the business, or saving for a rainy day.

Frequently Asked Questions About Travel Agency Business Plans:

Why do you need a business plan for a travel agency business.

A business plan for a travel agency is essential for a number of reasons. It will help you to define your objectives and strategies, identify your target market, and assess the potential profitability of your business. It also serves as a roadmap for establishing key relationships with vendors, creating operational structures, and setting budgets. A business plan can also be used to demonstrate your commitment to potential investors or lenders, showing them that you have taken the time to understand the industry and create a realistic plan for success.

Who should you ask for help with your travel agency business plan?

You should ask a professional business consultant or accountant for help with your travel agency business plan. They will be able to provide the knowledge and experience necessary to develop a successful plan that meets your goals and objectives.

Can you write a travel agency business plan yourself?

Yes, it is possible to write a travel agency business plan yourself. Writing a business plan requires in-depth research, a clear understanding of your industry and the ability to articulate your strategies and objectives. This includes creating an executive summary, market analysis, details on the services you offer and a financial forecast. Additionally, you need to clearly define your travel agency’s mission statement and list out any unique features or goals. Once you have researched your industry and developed these key elements of the plan, you may be able to create an effective business plan on your own. However, it may be beneficial to consult with an expert in the field or hire someone to assist in the process.

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I'm Nick, co-founder of newfoundr.com, dedicated to helping aspiring entrepreneurs succeed. As a small business owner with over five years of experience, I have garnered valuable knowledge and insights across a diverse range of industries. My passion for entrepreneurship drives me to share my expertise with aspiring entrepreneurs, empowering them to turn their business dreams into reality.

Through meticulous research and firsthand experience, I uncover the essential steps, software, tools, and costs associated with launching and maintaining a successful business. By demystifying the complexities of entrepreneurship, I provide the guidance and support needed for others to embark on their journey with confidence.

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Top 10 Travel Agency Business Plan Templates with Examples and Samples (Editable Word Doc, Excel and PDF Included)

Siranjeev Santhanam

Traveling is one of humanity's favorite activities. For business, leisure, adventure, or education, traveling allows us to dive into unfamiliar environments and enrich our lives with new experiences, cultures, knowledge, and memories. 

Given the complications and stresses associated with international travel, travel agencies' business has been growing in popularity, evolving and advancing to the changing needs of each generation’s travelers and adapting to the changing market circumstances. Apart from being profitable and economically enriching, the business of travel agencies acts as a crucial intermediary for hungry adventurers worldwide, giving tourists a smoother and more enjoyable experience and bringing income to all relevant partners along the way. 

In this blog, we’re going to be looking at a well-curated Travel Agency Business Plan, complete with an exhaustive list of tools and strategies that you can use to hone your own business prowess if you’re in this market. We will give you a glimpse of ten leading sections of this premium plan, allowing you to see the most vital parts of this template. And when we’re done, we will also discuss two related products in this area. 

Let’s begin. 

Table of contents

• Executive summary
• Company Overview
• Industry analysis
• Customer analysis
• Competitor analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Porter’s Five Forces Framework
• Marketing plan
• Operational plan
• Financial plan

1) Executive summary

Our executive summary section has been tailor-made to showcase the best parts of your travel agency to clients and investors, casting light on all of the vital areas of your business plan. Leave no stone unturned as you navigate through the intricacies of this market to take your firm to the top. Create an aura of credibility and professionalism as you present the core aspects of the proposal through the structured list of subheadings and advance to the next stage of the business. Quick pitch is the first component in the list, followed by the entity and company overview . Use these three major components to curate your image and exhibit your business's most essential details to win the partnerships needed. Lastly, the products and services subsection gives you ample room to dive into your service's specifics and illuminate the pivotal aspects of your travel agency. 

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2) Company Overview

Use the vision and mission of this segment to depict your firm’s ethos and to establish your identity around a socially inclined business value system. Company goals and objectives allow you to hone into the vital metrics of your business framework. Next, the start-up summary section allows you to disclose the company's financial state to cultivate confidence among investors and partners. Products and services offered , together with market gap and business statement , allow you to delve deeper into the revenue-centric features of your business. In contrast, key success factors allow you to energize the foundational elements of your start-up and garner support from financiers.

Here is a comprehensively designed PPT deck that you can use to levy the right conditions for your travel agency business. It comes fully equipped with all of the needs of the industry, allowing you to create a customer analysis, an industry analysis, a competitor analysis, and more. Also present within the template are customizable slides focussing on the financial aspect of the business, the operational dynamics, and more. Download now!

3) Industry analysis

Use the industry analysis segment to build a more precise, data-driven model for your existing business functions, giving your travel firm more extraordinary tenacity in its operations and elevating the chances of success in the long term. The exhaustively rendered segment has many essential subheadings, including market analysis , market trends , major challenges , growth drivers, and geopolitical analysis . These components can be vital tools in your arsenal of data and statistics, giving you a substantive and sufficient view of existing market conditions, the trends prevailing them, and the geopolitical state of the world and better equipping you to make more informed decisions.

4) Customer analysis

The customer analysis segment can be instrumental for any business seeking to cultivate a wide and diverse customer base, making for cleaner, more durable, and more profit-driven operations. This segment is thorough and intensive in its analytic scope, giving you access to crucial subsections such as target market , buyers’ personas, and market sizing . Use these elements to build more detailed and extensive operational guidelines for your travel agency, allowing you to optimize your processes and bridge ties to wider groups of people in the market.

5) Competitor analysis

Our competitor analysis subsection allows you to know your competition, to contrast your own existing business frameworks with theirs, and to win a competitive edge in the market. This subsection will give you a clear picture of the competitive landscape and help you position your offerings as the best choice for your target customers. The two subheadings within this segment are major players and attribute comparison . They are customized to give you the tools to learn about the competition, to probe their existing business structure, market share, revenue, growth rate, employee numbers, and more. Use these analytical tools to identify gaps in the market that are suited to you and distinguish your services from the competitors. 

Are you looking to build a more unique and curated experience for your travel agency customers? Use our culture travel agency business plan template to encourage your travel business and earn more in the long run. Integrated into the vast eighty-slide pack, this template offers tools to evaluate customer profiles, scan critical statistics relevant to the travel business, lay out a compelling executive summary, and more. Explore now!

6) SWOT analysis

Perform a SWOT analysis to develop and implement a more effective business strategy . A SWOT analysis is a framework used to help you discover your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, evaluating them within the current business context. Create a more stringent assessment of the internal and external variables that impact your overall business performance and prepare your operational protocols in response to them. This segment has been customized with some ready-made subheadings you can integrate into your proposal, such as cultural diversity, turnover rate, inefficient management skills, etc.

7) Porter’s Five Forces Framework

Use Porter’s five forces framework to thoroughly analyze your industry, establish the competitive environment of the market and its profitability quotient, and create the right operating conditions for your travel business. This framework has been devised based on the interplay of five primary industrial forces that shape the competitive nature of a business. The five forces in question are competition in the industry, the potential of new entrants, the power of supplies, the power of consumers, and the threat of substitute products. Weaponize this framework to know the vital aspects that shape performance within the travel agency business, thereby devising a competitive strategy that aligns with your existing business ethos.

8) Marketing plan

A marketing plan is a vital piece of any business’s wider promotional efforts, and within the tourism industry, it is paramount to have a strong foothold in this area. There are multiple vital subheadings within this area, which you can use to devise a more robust marketing campaign and elicit more attention from the public. The promotional strategy and the sales and distribution strategy subsections allow you to materialize a more modern promotional drive. In contrast, the pricing strategy section allows you to create optimal pricing mechanisms for good business. And sales funnel enables you to build stronger sales parameters and create more efficient revenue generation models.

9) Operational plan

To succeed as a travel booking company, a sound and effective operational plan is necessary. Use this subsection within our premium PDF to get ahead, basing your operational structure around a more well-thought-out model. The first subheading, business model, comes with the added benefit of a graph table that you can implement to your advantage. Goals to be achieved is the following subheading, and it allows you to organize your existing timeline of events into neatly segregated phases to ensure optimal working efficiency and better management.

10) Financial plan

This section of the template allows you to discuss and disseminate crucial financial information in a more easily digestible manner, organizing your existing business protocols in a superior manner. The subheadings in this section include revenue model and sales forecast , financial assumptions , breakeven analysis , projected profit and loss statement , projected cash flow statement , projected balance sheet , scenario analysis, and DCF valuation .

Upon downloading this premium package, you’re given a complete view of all of the above sections and a few more, giving you all the modern, updated business tactics to get ahead in the travel business, regulating your trip planning, destination management, pricing and more to tailor the suitable business systems for the customer. Now allow us to guide you through two related products in this area. 

FAQs on Travel Agency Business Plan

What is a travel agency business plan.

A travel agency business plan expands on a travel agency's innate goals and strategies, helping to define its business parameters and set competitive standards for the business. Such a plan can be crucial to estimating a firm’s financial performance, projecting revenue streams, gaining funding, and attracting partners and investors. 

How do I start a travel agency business?

Below are the steps to initiating a travel agency business: 

Step 1 – Establish the business frameworks for the agency and file the required paperwork

Step 2 – Establish the needed accounting parameters for the agency and secure the necessary permits and licenses 

Step 3 – Create a marketing and promotional drive and establish your website 

Step 4 – Form relationships with crucial partners to advance the needs of the business, such as hotels, tour operators, cruise lines, etc. 

Is the travel agency business profitable?

On average, the profit margin for a typical travel agency is between 10% to 15%, giving a business in this area significant room for revenue. However, multiple conditions shape the outcome of such a business endeavor, such as location, niche, economic situation, and more.

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How To Write a Travel Agent Business Plan + Template

Creating a business plan is essential for any business, but it can be especially helpful for travel agency businesses who want to improve their strategy and/or raise funding.

A well-crafted business plan not only outlines the vision for your company, but also documents a step-by-step roadmap of how you are going to accomplish it. In order to create an effective business plan, you must first understand the components that are essential to its success.

This article provides an overview of the key elements that every travel agency business owner should include in their business plan.

Download the Ultimate Business Plan Template

What is a Travel Agency Business Plan?

A travel agency business plan is a formal written document that describes your company’s business strategy and its feasibility. It documents the reasons you will be successful, your areas of competitive advantage, and includes information about your team members. Your business plan is a key document that will convince investors and lenders (if needed) that you are positioned to become a successful venture.

Why Write a Travel Agency Business Plan?

A travel agency business plan is required for banks and investors. The document is a clear and concise guide of your business idea and the steps you will take to make it profitable.

Entrepreneurs can also use this as a roadmap when starting their new company or venture, especially if they are inexperienced in starting a business.

Writing an Effective Travel Agency Business Plan

The following are the key components of a successful travel agency business plan.

Executive Summary

The executive summary of a travel agency business plan is a one to two-page overview of your entire business plan. It should summarize the main points, which will be presented in full in the rest of your business plan.

• Start with a one-line description of your travel agency
• Provide a short summary of the key points in each section of your business plan, which includes information about your company’s management team, industry analysis, competitive analysis, and financial forecast among others.

Company Description

This section should include a brief history of your company. Include a short description of how your company started, and provide a timeline of milestones your company has achieved.

If you are just starting your travel agency, you may not have a long company history. Instead, you can include information about your professional experience in this industry and how and why you conceived your new venture. If you have worked for a similar company before or have been involved in an entrepreneurial venture before starting your travel agency firm, mention this.

You will also include information about your chosen travel agency business model and how, if applicable, it is different from other companies in your industry.

Industry Analysis

The industry or market analysis is an important component of a travel agency business plan. Conduct thorough market research to determine industry trends and document the size of your market. 

Questions to answer include:

• What part of the travel agency industry are you targeting?
• How big is the market?
• What trends are happening in the industry right now and, if applicable, how do these trends support the success of your company?

You should also include sources for the information you provide, such as published research reports and expert opinions.

Customer Analysis

This section should include a list of your target audience(s) with demographic and psychographic profiles (e.g., age, gender, income level, profession, job titles, and interests). You will need to provide a profile of each customer segment separately, including their needs and wants.

For example, a travel agency’s customers may include individuals, families, or corporate clients.

You can include information about how your customers make the decision to buy from you as well as what keeps them buying from you.

Develop a strategy for targeting those customers who are most likely to buy from you, as well as those that might be influenced to buy your products or travel agency services with the right marketing.

Competitive Analysis

The competitive analysis helps you determine how your product or service will be different from competitors, and what your unique selling proposition (USP) might be that will set you apart in this industry.

For each competitor, list their strengths and weaknesses. Next, determine your areas of competitive differentiation and/or advantage; that is, in what ways are you different from and ideally better than your competitors?

Marketing Plan

This part of the business plan is where you determine and document your marketing plan. Your plan should be clearly laid out, including the following 4 Ps.

• Product/Service : Detail your product/service offerings here. Document their features and benefits.
• Price : Document your pricing strategy here. In addition to stating the prices for your products/services, mention how your pricing compares to your competition.
• Place : Where will your customers find you? What channels of distribution (e.g., partnerships) will you use to reach them if applicable?
• Promotion : How will you reach your target customers? For example, you may use social media, write blog posts, create an email marketing campaign, use pay-per-click advertising, launch a direct mail campaign. Or you may promote your travel agency via word of mouth or PR.

Operations Plan

This part of your travel agency business plan should include the following information:

• How will you deliver your product/service to customers? For example, will you do it in person or over the phone only?
• What infrastructure, equipment, and resources are needed to operate successfully? How can you meet those requirements within budget constraints?

The operations plan is where you also need to include your company’s business policies. You will want to establish policies related to everything from customer service to pricing, to the overall brand image you are trying to present.

Finally, and most importantly, in your Operations Plan, you will lay out the milestones your company hopes to achieve within the next five years. Create a chart that shows the key milestone(s) you hope to achieve each quarter for the next four quarters, and then each year for the following four years. Examples of milestones for a travel agency include reaching $X in sales. Other examples include adding new products/services, hiring new employees, and so on.

Management Team

List your team members here including their names and titles, as well as their expertise and experience relevant to your specific travel agency industry. Include brief biography sketches for each team member.

Particularly if you are seeking funding, the goal of this section is to convince investors and lenders that your team has the expertise and experience to execute on your plan. If you are missing key team members, document the roles and responsibilities you plan to hire for in the future.

Financial Plan

Here you will include a summary of your complete and detailed financial plan (your full financial projections go in the Appendix). 

This includes the following three financial statements:

Income Statement

Your income statement should include:

• Revenue : how much revenue you generate.
• Cost of Goods Sold : These are your direct costs associated with generating revenue. This includes labor costs, as well as the cost of any equipment and supplies used to deliver the product/service offering.
• Net Income (or loss) : Once expenses and revenue are totaled and deducted from each other, this is the net income or loss

Sample Income Statement for a Startup Travel Agency

Balance sheet.

Include a balance sheet that shows your assets, liabilities, and equity. Your balance sheet should include:

• Assets : All of the things you own (including cash).
• Liabilities : This is what you owe against your company’s assets, such as accounts payable or loans.
• Equity : The worth of your business after all liabilities and assets are totaled and deducted from each other.

Sample Balance Sheet for a Startup Travel Agency

Cash flow statement.

Include a cash flow statement showing how much cash comes in, how much cash goes out and a net cash flow for each year. The cash flow statement should include:

• Cash Flow From Operations
• Cash Flow From Investments
• Cash Flow From Financing

Below is a sample of a projected cash flow statement for a startup travel agency.

Sample Cash Flow Statement for a Startup Travel Agency

You will also want to include an appendix section which will include:

• Your complete financial projections.
• A complete list of your company’s business policies and procedures related to the rest of the business plan (marketing, operations, etc.).
• Any other documentation which supports what you included in the body of your business plan.

Writing a good business plan gives you the advantage of being fully prepared to launch and/or grow your travel agency. It not only outlines your business vision but also provides a step-by-step process of how you are going to accomplish it. This will give you a much better chance at success than going into business blindly.

While it may seem like a daunting task, if you take it step-by-step and include all of the necessary information, you will be well on your way to having a successful travel agency.  

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On This Page

1. Create a plan for your travel business

2. conduct market research and find your niche, 3. develop a brand as a travel agent, 4. deal with the legal side, 5. determine your funding strategy, 6. choose a location and hire employees, 7. market and launch your travel business, words of advice: final tips from entrepreneurs who have started successful travel businesses.

• Business plan template and travel agency resources 

Starting a Travel Business: How to Become a Travel Agent

Briana Morgaine

17 min. read

Updated November 1, 2023

If you’re someone who loves travel, meticulous planning, and helping others have great experiences, consider starting a travel business and becoming a travel agent.

After a sharp drop in international and domestic travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Pent-up demand from families who put off trips is driving tourism activity even as fewer travelers cite the pandemic as a major concern. Those tourists are forecast to drive solid long-term growth in the worldwide travel and tourism industry – and plenty of business opportunities for those who can make vacation planning less stressful.

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 on 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.

Free Download:  Sample Travel Agency Business Plan Templates

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. 

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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 ADDISON Yacht Charters , we began market analysis and business planning efforts a full year before we launched the company in November 2013,” says owner Scott Bessette.

“During that period, we attended industry events such as regional yacht shows in the Virgin Islands, Antigua, Florida, and Monaco 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 Scott hone 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.

Scott was able to get a clear sense of where he wanted to take it, and how to tailor his business to best suit the market needs.

What kind of travel agent business plan will you need?

The kind of travel agency 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 for a travel agency 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 one-page 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 for your travel agency 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.

Resources to help you create a business plan for a travel agency:

• How to Write a Business Plan
• Travel Agency Sample Business Plan

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?

“In a saturated luxury travel market, Urbane Nomads had to distinguish itself from more seasoned players from the get-go,” says founder Hajar Ali. “The dual elements of adventure and luxury was an unexplored niche which we filled very well.”

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 that 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.

Resources to help you do market research and determine your niche:

• Practical Market Research Resources for Entrepreneurs
• How to Do Market Research
• How to Create a Unique Value Proposition
• How a Buyer (or User) Persona Can Improve Your Business
• What Is Target Marketing?

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.

Resources to help you brand your travel business:

• The Definitive Guide to Building a Brand
• 4 Reasons to Brand Your Business
• Want Customer Loyalty? Build Your Brand.
• Your Brand’s Tone of Voice: Why It Matters and How to Craft It

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 U.S. in general, there is no specific license needed to start a travel business; however, state laws vary . In California, Washington, Hawaii, Iowa, and Florida, you’ll need a Seller of Travel license. Canada also has licensing requirements that vary by location , and in the U.K., you’ll need an Air Travel Organiser’s License .

Choosing the structure of your travel business

Beyond specific licenses, there are general licenses that you’ll need before you start any type of business.

First off, choose your business structure . Scott Bessette, owner of ADDISON Yacht Charters, started his travel agency as an LLC , which he says suited his business needs. “Before we considered starting our agency, we determined that a Limited Liability Company was the appropriate structure for what we were trying to achieve.”

Why was an LLC the best choice? “We had no intention of going public, or having to secure formal investment,” he says. “Further, we had a very simple organization structure, so ease of governance and compliance drove our choice of corporate structure.”

However, the business structure you choose will depend largely on your plans for your business, and how you intend to fund it. If for example, you plan to seek outside investment, you may want to look into starting your business as a corporation .

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 DBA , 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 (EIN or FEIN). We’ve covered these topics in plenty of detail, so be sure to check out the links.

Scott also adds that setting up the legal end of things was fairly simple.

“Establishing the legal and licensing requirements was one of the easiest aspects of starting the business,” he explains. “All said, conception and gestation of ADDISON Yacht Charters was long-term, but she was born after only two days of hard labor.”

Resources to help you determine the legal structure and name for your business, as well as other legal considerations:

• Do You Need a Travel Agent License?
• The Complete Guide to Choosing Your Business Structure
• The Complete Guide to Registering Your Business Name
• Resources and Tools to Help You Name Your Business
• How to Apply for a Federal Tax ID Number
• How and Where to Obtain Business Licenses and Permits
• Keep Your Startup Safe from Legal Trouble

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.”

However, when it comes to financing your travel business, angel investment, and even venture capital funding isn’t completely out of the question. “We formed an LLC to start Project Expedition and closed a $300k seed round in January 2015 to help drive the development of our MVP (minimum viable product),” explains founder Jeremy Clement.

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.

Resources to help you with the funding process:

• How to Get Your Business Funded
• 35 Great Ways to Fund A Small Business
• Angel Investment Guide
• What Do Venture Capital Firms Want?
• 10 Tips for Finding Venture Funding

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.

Resources to help you set up your travel business and hire employees:

• How to Choose a Business Location
• 13 Out of the Ordinary Ways to Find the Perfect Business Location
• How to Hire Your First Employee
• 13 Tips for Hiring Your First Employee
• A Comprehensive Guide to Creating a Business Website

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.

Resources to help you market and launch your travel business:

• How to Write an Effective Marketing Plan
• 20 Marketing Tools Every Small Business Owner Should Try
• A Beginner’s Guide to Google AdWords for Small Business
• How to Have the Best Opening Day Ever
• Use These 16 Sites to Create Winning Marketing Materials
• Help! My Business Needs a Marketing Plan and I Don’t Know Where to Start
• “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

Business plan template and travel agency resources 

By now it should be clear that starting a travel agency requires a strategic approach and lots of planning. But don’t worry if it feels overwhelming. At Bplans, we have a full library of business planning resources to help you get started. You can browse through our free collection of over 500 real business plan examples , or download our free business plan template to help your travel business take flight. 

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

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Home » Travel & Tourism

A Sample Travel Agency Business Plan Template

A travel agency is a company that provides travel and tourism-related services to individuals, families, groups, and corporate organizations. A travel agency can also provide outdoor recreation activities, airline booking, car rentals, cruise trips, hotels, travel insurance, package tours, guide books, VIP airport lounge access, arranging logistics for luggage and medical items delivery, public transport timetables, car rentals, and bureau de change services.

Available statistics show that the market size of the travel agency sector in the United States fell to 20.69 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, down from the previous year’s total of 56.96 billion U.S. dollars. But the market size of the industry is expected to increase by 38.3 percent in 2023. in 2023, the market size of this sector was forecast to reach 34.64 billion, and $407.7 billion in 2023.

Steps on How to Write a Travel Agency Business Plan

Executive summary.

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. is a registered travel agency that will be located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. We have been able to secure all the necessary permits for our facility.

At Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc., our client’s best interest would always come first, and everything we do is guided by our values and professional ethics. We will ensure that we hire professionals who are experienced in the travel and tours industry . Mason Gray is the founder and CEO of Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc.

Company Profile

A. our products and services.

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will handle all aspects of travel and tours such as booking flight tickets, securing transit visas, booking shuttle buses or taxi cabs, car rentals, hotel and cruise line bookings, insurance policy cover, sale of travel guide books, and sale of foreign currencies.

b. Nature of the Business

Our travel agency will operate both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer business models.

c. The Industry

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will operate in the travel and tourism services industry.

d. Mission Statement

Our mission is to establish a world-class travel agency that will provide professional travel and tourism services to a wide range of clientele both in the United States of America and other parts of the world.

e. Vision Statement

Our vision is to be among the top 3 travel agencies in the whole of the United States of America.

f. Our Tagline (Slogan)

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. – Your Most Reliable Travel Agency!

g. Legal Structure of the Business (LLC, C Corp, S Corp, LLP)

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will be formed as a Limited Liability Company (LLC). The reason why we are forming an LLC is to protect our assets by limiting the liability to the resources of the business itself. The LLC will protect our CEOs’ assets from claims against the business, including lawsuits.

h. Our Organizational Structure

• Chief Executive Officer
• Admin and HR Manager
• Travels and Tours Consultant
• Marketing and Sales Executive
• Customer Care Executive/Front Desk Officer

i. Ownership/Shareholder Structure and Board Members

• Mason Gray (Owner and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer) 56 Percent Shares
• Matt Romel (Board Member) 14 Percent Shares
• Daniel Jota (Board Member) 10 Percent Shares
• Verone Lamp (Board Member) 10 Percent Shares
• Cloe Alpha (Board Member and Sectary) 10 Percent Shares.

SWOT Analysis

A. strength.

• Ideal Location for travel agency
• Highly Experienced and Qualified Employees and Management
• Availability of all kinds of travel and tours services
• Excellent membership package

b. Weakness

• Budget limitations
• Inability to properly manage off-peak seasons such as bad winter and pandemics influenced lockdown
• A new business that will be competing with well-established travel agencies
• Inability to retain our highly experienced and qualified employees longer than we want

c. Opportunities

• Excellent location – Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida is a thriving market for travel and tour service.
• Increase in the inflow of tourists to our location
• Online market, new services, new technology, and of course the starting of new markets

i. How Big is the Industry?

The travel agencies industry is worth over $407.7 billion in the United States.

ii. Is the Industry Growing or Declining?

The travel agencies industry is growing. Available data shows that the market size of the Travel Agencies industry is expected to increase by 38.3 percent in 2023.

iii. What are the Future Trends in the Industry

The travel and tour industry is changing, and players in the industry are improvising. No doubt, technology, and social media will change the landscape of the industry going forward.

iv. Are There Existing Niches in the Industry? If YES, List them

No, there are no niche ideas in the travel agency business.

v. Can You Sell a Franchise of your Business in the Future?

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. has plans to sell franchises in the nearest future and we will target the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

• The arrival of new travel agencies within our market space
• Low demand during the pandemic will reduce industry profitability.
• Economic uncertainty
• Liability problems
• The government could change its regulatory status and decide to enforce strict regulations that can strangulate new businesses like ours.

i. Who are the Major Competitors?

• The American Automobile Association (AAA)
• American Express
• Avenues of the World Travel
• Beachfronts Travel
• Frosch Travel
• En Route Travel
• MK All Around Travel, Inc.
• TravelStore
• CruiseOne, Hargarther, Thaler & Associates LLC
• Independent Agency of Avoya Travel
• Cary Travel Express
• CWT Vacations
• Connie Lemmon Travel, an Independent Agency of Avoya Travel
• LoBracco Travel, LLC, an Independent Agency of Avoya Travel
• World Travel
• First in Service
• Bluegreen Travel Services
• CruiseOne – Gary E. Smith & Associates
• My Paradise Planner.

ii. Is There a Franchise for Travel Agency Business? If YES, List them

• The American Express Company
• Cruise Planners
• Dream Vacations
• Travel Leaders
• Expedia Cruises
• Results! Travel
• Tix Travel & Ticket Agency
• Expedia CruiseShipCenters.

iii. Are There Policies, Regulations, or Zoning Laws Affecting Travel Agency Business?

There are no county or state regulations and zoning laws for travel agencies. Players in this industry are expected to work with the existing regulations governing such business in the county or state where their business is domiciled.

Marketing Plan

A. who is your target audience.

i. Age Range

Our target market age range covers people that are 18 years and above.

ii. Level of Educational

We don’t have any basic educational qualifications for those who we are targeting; everyone is welcome to do business with us.

iii. Income Level

Anyone who can afford our service fee will be welcome to make use of our travel agency.

iv. Ethnicity

There is no restriction when it comes to the ethnicity of the people that will patronize our travel agency.

v. Language

There is no restriction when it comes to the language spoken by the people that will patronize our travel agency.

vi. Geographical Location

Anybody from any geographical location is free to do business with us.

vii. Lifestyle

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will not restrict any customer based on their lifestyle, culture, or race from doing business with us.

b. Advertising and Promotion Strategies

• Host Themed Events That Catch Attention.
• Tap Into Text Marketing.
• Use FOMO to Run Photo Promotions.
• Share Your Events in Local Groups and Pages.
• Turn Your Social Media Channels into a Resource
• Develop Your Business Directory Profiles
• Build Relationships with Other Businesses in Your Area

i. Traditional Marketing Strategies

• Marketing through Direct Mail.
• Print Media Marketing – Newspapers & Magazines.
• Broadcast Marketing -Television & Radio Channels.
• OOH, Marketing – Public Transits like Buses and Trains, Billboards, Street Furniture, and Cabs.
• Including direct sales, direct mail (postcards, brochures, letters, fliers), print advertising (magazines, newspapers, coupon books, billboards), referral (also known as word-of-mouth marketing), radio, and television.

ii. Digital Marketing Strategies

• Social Media Marketing Platforms.
• Influencer Marketing.
• Email Marketing.
• Content Marketing.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing.
• Pay-per-click (PPC).
• Affiliate Marketing
• Mobile Marketing.

iii. Social Media Marketing Plan

• Start using chatbots.
• Create a personalized experience for our customers.
• Create an efficient content marketing strategy.
• Create a community for our target demography.
• Gear up our profiles with a diverse content strategy.
• Use brand advocates.
• Create profiles on the relevant social media channels.
• Run cross-channel campaigns.

c. Pricing Strategy

When working out our pricing strategy, Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will make sure it covers premium, skimming, economy or value, and penetration. All our pricing strategies will reflect;

• Cost-Based Pricing
• Value-Based Pricing
• Competition-Based Pricing.

Sales and Distribution Plan

A. sales channels.

Our channel sales strategy will involve using partners and third parties—such as referral partners, affiliate partners, managed service providers, marketplaces, or value-added resellers—to market our travel agency.

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will also leverage the 4 Ps of marketing which are place, price, product, and promotion. By carefully integrating all these marketing strategies into a marketing mix, we can have a visible, in-demand product or service that is competitively priced.

b. Inventory Strategy

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will operate an inventory strategy that is based on a day-to-day methodology for ordering, maintaining, and processing items in our warehouse. We will develop our strategy with the same thoroughness and attention to detail as we would if we were creating an overall strategy for the business.

c. Payment Options for Customers

Here are the payment options that Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc.  will make available to her clients;

• Payment via bank transfer
• Payment with cash
• Payment via credit cards
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via mobile money transfer

d. Return Policy, Incentives, and Guarantees

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will operate a refund policy but it will be dependent on the service providers we are working with. Please note that service providers such as hotels, airline companies and taxi companies et al will determine the kind of return policy we will operate. Aside from the above, we will be committed to giving out incentives to our loyal customers.

e. Customer Support Strategy

Our customer support strategy will involve seeking customer feedback. This will help us to provide excellent customer service, and understand the needs, experiences, and pain points of our customers. We will make use of effective CRM software to be able to achieve this.

Operational Plan

We plan to expand our revenue by 50 percent in the second year and the plan will include a marketing, sales, and operations component. The operations component of the plan would include organizing regular giveaways and other incentives. These strategies will enable the firm to boost our service offerings and support revenue growth.

a. What Happens During a Typical Day at a Travel Agency Business?

• The office is open for the day’s work
• The walk-in areas, chairs, and tables are properly arranged
• Walk-in customers are attended to
• Deliveries of visas, flight tickets, and hotel bookings are made
• Reports are written and submitted to superior officers
• The facility is administratively closed for the day.

b. Production Process (If Any)

There is no production process when it comes to the travel agency business.

c. Service Procedure (If Any)

When a travel agency is opened and everything is in place, customers either come in to request the services they want or they call or email the travel agency. Once the request is gotten and the service fee is agreed upon, the travel consultant goes to work to deliver on all agreements.

Please note that the travel agency will handle all aspects of travel and tour-related businesses such as booking flight tickets, securing transit visas, booking shuttle buses/taxi cabs, car rentals, hotel bookings, and cruise line bookings amongst many other services.

d. The Supply Chain

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will rely on trusted agents to supply some of the needed supplies (foreign currencies) and we have been able to establish business relationships with key stakeholders in the industry.

e. Sources of Income

• Travels and Tours consulting and advisory services
• Selling traveling-related insurance policy cover, guide books, and foreign currencies
• Booking for flight tickets
• Securing transit visas
• Booking for shuttle buses/taxi cabs
• Car rental services
• Hotel bookings
• Cruise line bookings

Financial Plan

A. amount needed to start your travel agency business.

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. would need an estimate of $150,000 to successfully set up our travel agency in the United States of America.

b. What are the Cost Involved?

• Business Registration Fees – $750.
• Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits – $7,300.
• Marketing, Branding and Promotions – $5,000.
• Business Consultant Fee – $2,500.
• Insurance – $5,400.
• Rent/Lease – $70,000.
• Other start-up expenses like commercial satellite TV subscriptions, stationery, phone, and utility deposits ($2,800).
• Operational Cost (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $30,000
• Store Equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $4,750
• Website: $600
• Opening party: $3,000
• Miscellaneous: $2,000

c. Do You Need to Build a Facility? If YES, How Much Will it Cost?

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will not build a new facility for our administrative office; we intend to start with a long-term lease and after 5 years, we will start the process of acquiring our own facility.

d. What are the Ongoing Expenses for Running a Travel agency Business?

• Utility bills (gas, internet, phone bills, signage and sewage et al)
• Maintenance of facility
• Salaries of employees

e. What is the Average Salary of your Staff? 

• Chief Executive Officer – $62,000 Per Year
• Admin and HR Manager – $42,000 Per Year
• Travels and Tours Consultant – $40,000 Per Year
• Marketing and Sales Executive $40,000 Per Year
• Accountant – $38,000 Per Year
• Customer Care Executive / Front Desk Officer – $32,000 Per Year.

f. How Do You Get Funding to Start a Travel Agency Business

• Raising money from personal savings and sale of personal stocks and properties
• Raising money from investors and business partners
• Sell shares to interested investors
• Applying for a loan from your bank/banks
• Pitching your business idea and applying for business grants and seed funding from the government, donor organizations, and angel investors
• Source for soft loans from your family members and friends.

Financial Projection

A. how much should you charge for your service.

The amount traveling agencies charge their clients depends on the type of services rendered and the commission that the third-party provider is willing to give.

b. Sales Forecast?

• First Fiscal Year (FY1): $250,000
• Second Fiscal Year (FY2): $750,000
• Third Fiscal Year (FY3): $1.2 million

c. Estimated Profit You Will Make a Year?

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. is projecting to make;

• First Fiscal Year (FY1): (50% of revenue generated)
• Second Fiscal Year (FY2): (45% of revenue generated)
• Third Fiscal Year (FY3): (45% of revenue generated)

d. Profit Margin of a Travel Agency Business 

Travel agents’ commissions used to be the bulk of their income but that has shifted. Most travel agents who earn commission by booking tickets on airlines earn 5 percent on domestic flights and 10 to 20 percent on international flights. The commission rates are similar for booking hotels.

Growth Plan

A. how do you intend to grow and expand by opening more retail outlets/offices or selling a franchise.

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. will grow by first opening other offices in key tourist cities in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Australia within the first five years of establishing the business and then will start selling franchises from the sixth year.

b. Where do you intend to expand to and why? (Geographical Locations)

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. plans to expand to:

• Los Angeles, California
• Long Beach, Washington
• Newport, Rhode Island
• Chicago, Illinois
• Clearwater, Florida
• Portland, Maine
• Orange Beach, Alabama
• Ocracoke, North Carolina
• Block Island, Rhode Island
• New York City, New York.

Internationally, we plan to expand to Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Mason Gray™ Travel Agency, Inc. intends to build a family business hence our exit plan will be family succession. For that reason, the founder Mason Gray is already grooming his son Merrick Gray to take over from him. Merrick Gray is at the moment being groomed to go through the company’s employment process without any bias.

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How To Write a Business Plan for Travel Agency in 9 Steps: Checklist

Resources on travel agency.

• Financial Model
• Business Plan
• Value Proposition
• One-Page Business Plan

Are you thinking of starting a travel agency that specializes in customized trips and vacation packages? You're in the right place! According to recent statistics, the global travel industry is expected to reach $11.4 trillion by 2025, making it a lucrative business opportunity.

However, starting a travel agency requires careful planning and execution to succeed. In this article, we will provide you with a checklist of nine essential steps to create a business plan for your travel agency.

From conducting market research, identifying target markets, and assessing legal and regulatory requirements, to developing pricing strategies and establishing your brand, this checklist will guide you through the process every step of the way.

• Step 1: Market research and analysis - Gather data and research the industry to gain an understanding of your competition, target market, and potential opportunities.
• Step 2: Identify your target market and defining your travel agency's niche - Determine your ideal customers and their specific travel preferences to differentiate your agency from the competition.
• Step 3: Determine your start-up costs and secure funding - Calculate your initial expenses and find funding sources through loans, grants or investors.
• Step 4: Develop a pricing strategy and profit margins - Set prices for your packages and services by considering market trends, your costs, and desired profit.
• Step 5: Create a marketing plan and establish branding - Develop a comprehensive strategy to reach your target market through online and offline channels and establish a brand that stands out.
• Step 6: Assess legal and regulatory requirements - Understand the laws and regulations your travel agency needs to comply with, such as obtaining a license and insurance coverage.
• Step 7: Consider partnerships and supplier relationships - Find and establish partnerships with airlines, hotels, and other travel service providers to offer clients comprehensive and high-quality services.
• Step 8: Determine staffing needs and roles - Determine the qualifications and roles of the team who work in your agency, such as travel agents, marketing and customer service staff.
• Step 9: Set up an accounting system and financial projections - Develop a financial plan and accounting system to manage and monitor revenue, expenses, and growth.

Conduct Market Research And Analyze The Industry

Before starting a travel agency, it is essential to conduct market research and analyze the travel industry. This step will help you understand the needs and preferences of travelers and identify trends that can influence your business decisions.

The following are some important factors you need to consider when conducting market research:

• Current market size and growth potential
• Types of travel services and products in demand
• Competitive landscape and market share
• Technological advancements and their impact on the travel industry
• Regulatory environment and industry standards
• Use reputable sources for your research, such as industry reports, government publications, and market data analytics.
• Identify industry experts and consult with them to get more insights into the industry and its trends.
• Look for gaps in the market that you can exploit, or areas where you can differentiate your business from competitors.

SWOT analysis:

In addition to market research, it is also essential to conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This analysis will help you identify your agency's unique selling points and potential risks that may affect your business success.

• Focus on your agency's strengths and how you can leverage them to create a competitive advantage.
• Identify areas of weakness and develop strategies to overcome them.
• Look for opportunities in the market and how you can capitalize on them.
• Anticipate potential threats and devise contingency plans to minimize their impact.

Conclusion:

Conducting market research and analyzing the industry is crucial to the success of your travel agency. It will help you identify the gaps in the market, understand your target audience better, and develop a unique value proposition that differentiates you from competitors. A SWOT analysis will help you identify internal and external factors that may impact your business's success and devise strategies to mitigate potential risks.

Identify Target Market And Define Travel Agency's Niche

Identifying your target market is a crucial step in starting any business, including a travel agency. It's important to have a clear idea of who your potential clients are and what they are looking for in travel experiences. This will help you tailor your services and marketing efforts to meet their needs and stand out from competitors.

• Use market research to gather information about your target audience, such as demographics, interests, and budget.
• Consider what kind of travel experiences your potential clients would be interested in, such as adventure travel, luxury travel, beach vacations, etc.
• Think about the types of clients you are equipped to serve best, such as families, solo travelers, or seniors.

Once you have identified your target market, you should also define your travel agency's niche . This means deciding on a specific area of focus for your business, such as a particular travel style, destination, or type of client. Having a niche can help differentiate your agency from competitors and attract clients who are looking for a specialized service.

• Consider your own areas of expertise and passion in travel when choosing a niche.
• Research the competition to see what niches are already being served in the travel industry.
• Be specific and avoid trying to appeal to too broad a range of clients.

For example, your travel agency could choose to specialize in luxury cruises to Antarctica, adventure travel for solo women, or customized safari trips in Africa. Defining a niche will help you focus your marketing efforts and create a strong brand identity that resonates with your target audience.

Determine Startup Costs And Securing Funding

Starting a travel agency involves some financial investment, so it's essential to determine the startup costs of the business. This includes expenses such as office space, equipment, employee salaries, legal fees, marketing, and website development.

Securing funding for your travel agency is the next step. You can consider various options such as bank loans, grants, or angel investors. Make sure to create a detailed business plan with financial projections and present it to potential investors or lenders.

Here are some tips for determining startup costs and securing funding:

• Create a detailed list of all expenses for the first year of operation.
• Research potential lenders or investors who have experience in the travel industry.
• Present a realistic timeline for breaking even and generating profits.
• Offer potential investors or lenders a clear understanding of your unique value proposition and target market.

When determining startup costs , it's essential to be realistic and include all expenses necessary to launch and operate your travel agency successfully. Consider the costs of advertising and marketing campaigns, but also anticipate unforeseeable expenses that may arise during the first year.

There are some funding options available to travel agencies, including banks and other lenders. Make sure to research lenders that specialize in providing funding for small businesses. You can also consider grants from entrepreneurial programs or government agencies.

Another funding option is to seek out angel investors who are experienced in the travel industry. These investors have experience in evaluating the potential success of a startup and can offer guidance and mentorship in addition to their financial investment.

In conclusion, determining startup costs and securing funding is crucial in establishing a successful travel agency. By creating a detailed business plan and presenting a realistic timeline for breaking even and generating profits, you can attract potential investors or lenders who will believe in your vision and help you turn it into reality.

Develop Pricing Strategy And Profit Margins

Once you have identified your target market and have a good understanding of the travel industry, it is time to develop a pricing strategy that will help you attract new customers and stay profitable. Developing a pricing strategy can be challenging, but it is a crucial part of any successful travel agency business.

Determine your costs: To set the right price, you need to know your costs. This includes all the costs involved in creating a package, such as transportation, accommodation, activities, and staffing. It is important to factor in all the costs so that you have a clear understanding of how much you need to charge to make a profit.

• Keep track of all your expenses in a spreadsheet.
• Check industry benchmarks to ensure your pricing is competitive.
• Consider seasonality, as prices can vary depending on the time of the year.

Define your target profit: It is important to know how much profit you want to make on each package. This will help guide your pricing strategy and ensure you are staying profitable. Determine how much profit you need or want to make per package, and make sure the pricing covers that amount.

• Consider offering different packages with varying profit margins.
• Keep an eye on profit margins and adjust prices as necessary.
• Offer incentives for customers who book multiple packages.

Research your competition: Understanding what your competitors are charging for similar packages can help you set a competitive price. Research other travel agencies in your area and compare their prices and packages to ensure you are pricing your packages correctly.

• Use online tools to gather information about your competitors' pricing.
• Offer unique packages and services to differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Consider offering package deals or discounts to attract new customers.

Consider value-based pricing: Value-based pricing is a pricing strategy that focuses on the value that customers receive from a service. This can include things like personalised itineraries, unique experiences, and exceptional customer service. This pricing strategy can be effective for travel agencies that offer a unique service that is not easily replicated.

• Focus on customer satisfaction and the value they receive from your service.
• Create packages that are tailored to the individual needs of your customers.
• Offer exceptional customer service to create a positive experience for customers.

Developing a pricing strategy is key to building a successful travel agency business. By understanding your costs, defining your target profit, researching your competition, and considering value-based pricing, you can set a competitive price that attracts new customers and keeps your business profitable.

Create A Marketing Plan And Establish Branding

Your travel agency may have a great service offering, but it’s essential to spread the word about your business to reach the target audience. Developing a marketing plan and establishing a strong brand identity can help you enhance your visibility and create a lasting impression on potential clients. Here are some crucial steps that you should follow:

• Define your unique value proposition: What sets your travel agency apart from the competition? Define your niche and what you’re good at. This will help you create a clear value proposition that resonates with potential clients.
• Create a memorable brand identity: A strong brand identity helps create an emotional connection with your target audience. Consider your agency's name, logo, tagline, and the message you want to communicate through your branding.
• Build a professional website: Your travel agency's website is a digital extension of your brand. Invest time and resources in creating a compelling website that showcases your services, story and reflects your brand identity.
• Develop a comprehensive content strategy: Create useful content that resonates with your target audience. You could produce travel guides, blogs, or an email newsletter to engage with your existing and potential clients.
• Engage with your clients on social media: Social media platforms can help you connect with your audience through photos, videos, and engaging content. Choose the platforms that resonate with your target market, and focus on creating a consistent presence.

Marketing Plan Tips:

• Research your competition and understand their marketing strategies.
• Set marketing goals and metrics to measure your efforts' success.
• Collaborate with influencers in your industry or work with travel bloggers to promote your services.
• Offer referral bonuses or incentives to existing clients to encourage them to recommend your services to others.

By implementing these marketing strategies and establishing a strong brand identity, you can create a lasting impression on potential clients and enhance your travel agency's visibility. Remember to monitor your marketing efforts and adjust your strategy as needed to achieve your business goals.

Assess Legal And Regulatory Requirements

When starting a travel agency, it's important to ensure that you meet all of the legal and regulatory requirements set by your state or country for conducting business. This involves obtaining the necessary licenses and permits, complying with tax laws, and adhering to industry standards and regulations. Failure to do so can result in penalties, legal disputes, and damage to your reputation.

Here are some tips to consider:

• Research the legal and regulatory requirements for travel agencies in your area, and make sure you have all the necessary licenses and permits.
• Consult with a lawyer or accountant who specializes in travel industry regulations, to ensure that you comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Ensure that you have adequate insurance coverage, including liability insurance, to protect your business and clients from potential risks and liabilities.
• Implement data privacy and security measures to protect your clients' personal information and comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR or CCPA.
• Stay up-to-date with industry developments and regulatory changes, as they can impact your business operations and require you to adapt your practices accordingly.

Some of the most important legal and regulatory requirements for travel agencies include:

• Licensing and permits: Depending on your location, you may need to obtain a business license, travel agency license, seller of travel registration, or other permits from state or local authorities. These licenses and permits typically involve a fee and may require you to pass background checks or meet other criteria.
• Taxation: You will need to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of clients for various services, such as hotel stays and transportation. You will also need to pay income tax on your business profits, and may be subject to other taxes such as occupancy or tourism taxes.
• Consumer protection: Many countries have laws and regulations governing the sale of travel services to consumers, including requirements regarding advertising, disclosure of prices and fees, and consumer contracts. You may also need to provide consumer protections such as cancellation policies and refunds.
• Security: You may need to comply with security regulations such as providing client information to government agencies for visa and passport checks, or implementing measures to prevent fraud and identity theft.

By assessing and meeting all of the legal and regulatory requirements for your travel agency, you can build a strong foundation for your business and provide your clients with the peace of mind that comes with working with a trusted, professionally-run organization.

Consider Partnerships And Supplier Relationships

As you start building your travel agency, you will need to work with various partners and suppliers to offer your clients the best travel packages. Partnerships and supplier relationships are critical for the success of your travel agency. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind:

• Partner with airlines, hotels, tour operators, and other travel agencies to provide your clients with a wide range of travel options.
• Research potential partners and suppliers to ensure they align with your business values and offer quality products and services.
• Consider negotiating discounts or commission rates with your suppliers to maximize profits.
• Build strong relationships with your suppliers by communicating regularly, providing feedback, and offering referrals.

Partnering with airlines, hotels, tour operators, and other travel agencies can help you offer your clients a variety of travel options. You can build these relationships by attending trade shows, networking events, and reaching out to potential partners via email or phone.

When considering potential partners and suppliers, it's important to research their business practices, products, and services to ensure they align with your values and meet the needs of your clients. You don't want to partner with a company that has a poor reputation or offers subpar services.

Once you've established partnerships and supplier relationships, you can negotiate discounts or commission rates to maximize your profits. It's important to maintain transparency with your partners and ensure that both parties benefit from the partnership.

Building strong relationships with your suppliers is critical for the long-term success of your travel agency. Regular communication, feedback, and referrals can help you establish trust and credibility with your suppliers, leading to better services and products for your clients.

Overall, considering partnerships and supplier relationships is a crucial step in developing a successful travel agency. By working with trustworthy and reputable partners, you can offer your clients high-quality travel experiences that exceed their expectations.

Determine Staffing Needs And Roles

One of the crucial aspects of starting a travel agency is identifying the required staffing needs and roles . Having the right number of employees with the appropriate qualifications and expertise is essential for providing quality services to clients and ensuring the smooth operations of the agency. Below are some important steps to take when determining staffing needs and roles:

• Assess the scope of your travel agency's services and operations
• Identify the roles and responsibilities needed to provide these services
• Create job descriptions and qualifications for each position
• Decide on the number of staff required based on the agency's budget and projected workload
• Consider hiring part-time or freelance staff to minimize costs in the initial stages
• Explore outsourcing options for functions like accounting, HR, and marketing

Here are some additional tips to help you determine staffing needs and roles:

• Hire staff with travel industry experience to ensure they have a good understanding of the business and can provide quality services to clients.
• Consider hiring multilingual staff to cater to clients from different countries and regions.
• Provide ongoing training to staff to keep them up-to-date with the latest travel trends and developments.
• Create a positive work culture that promotes teamwork, communication, and innovation.

Overall, determining staffing needs and roles is a critical step in starting a successful travel agency. Take the time to assess the scope of your services and identify the roles and responsibilities needed to provide quality services to clients. With the right team in place, your travel agency can thrive and grow in the competitive travel industry.

Set Up An Accounting System And Financial Projections

The key to success for any business, including a travel agency, is keeping track of finances and having a sound financial plan in place. This involves setting up an accounting system that can help you track expenses, revenues, profits, and losses. Additionally, developing financial projections can guide you in making decisions that can help you achieve your business goals.

It is essential to hire a skilled accountant or bookkeeper to manage your financial transactions and recordkeeping systems. Here are some important steps to follow while setting up an effective accounting system:

• Choose the right accounting software: Ensure that you choose software that is specifically designed for travel agencies and supports various accounting tasks such as invoicing, account payables, and receivables, income statements, balance sheets, and more.
• Set up a chart of accounts: This is where you identify the various accounts you need to track to manage your finances efficiently. These accounts could be expense categories, profit centers, or assets. Maintaining this chart of accounts will help you measure and evaluate the financial performance of your business.
• Establish expense policies and procedures: Defining clear policies around expense management can help you keep control of your expenses and prevent fraud or other financial mismanagement. This can include proper authorizations, thresholds, and approval processes.
• Reconcile all accounts monthly: Reconciling your bank statements, credit cards, and other accounts on a monthly basis can help you identify discrepancies, avoid errors, and ensure that all transactions have been recorded accurately.

Financial Projections

• Creating a financial projection report can help you anticipate potential cash flow problems, plan for capital expenditures and ensure that you have enough cash reserves to cover your expenses and pay employees.
• Consider the following: Sales projections, cash flow projections, and income statement projections. These reports will help you develop a better understanding of your financials.
• Make conservative assumptions while making projections, and set realistic goals for the first few years. It's always better to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
• Review your projections often and adjust them if needed. Once you start seeing actual results, compare them to your projections and adjust them accordingly. This will give you a better understanding of your business and help you stay on track.

Setting up an accounting system and developing financial projections can help you keep your business finances in check. By regularly reviewing your financials, you can make informed decisions and make changes to improve the success of your business.

Starting a travel agency can be a challenging and rewarding venture. To ensure success, it is important to take the necessary steps to develop a solid business plan. By conducting market research, identifying your target market, understanding the costs involved, creating a marketing plan, complying with legal and regulatory requirements, considering partnerships and suppliers, setting up an accounting system, and projecting your finances, you can establish a foundation for a thriving travel agency.

Remember, your travel agency should be unique and tailored to the needs of your clients, offering customized vacation packages and exceptional customer service. By following these nine steps, you can launch a successful and profitable travel agency that exceeds the expectations of your clients and stands out in the competitive travel industry.

• Conduct market research and analyze the industry
• Identify target market and define travel agency's niche
• Determine startup costs and securing funding
• Develop pricing strategy and profit margins
• Create a marketing plan and establish branding
• Assess legal and regulatory requirements
• Consider partnerships and supplier relationships
• Determine staffing needs and roles
• Set up an accounting system and financial projections

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Travel Agency Business Plan Sample

SEPT.23, 2013

Touch Sky scrapping Heights of Success with Shine travel agency Business Plans

Thousands of people from all across the globe travel for business or leisure. The travel agencies continue to flourish and remain adamant in spite of the many economic challenges facing the industry. One of the things that you need to have to succeed in establishing your agency is a travel business strategy . It has to be written by a professional who has the necessary training, academic qualification, and most importantly experience.

OGS Capital is known for providing an excellent business strategy of travel support, and this helped us to gain and maintain a good reputation across the globe. Our team is comprised of business executives who are well trained and have an excellent record of accomplishment.

Why Travel Agencies Continue to Thrive

To understand the t ravel tour agency business plan better, you need to carry out an in-depth feasibility study that does not focus on just one aspect of the business but the business as a whole. Here are the top reasons why the travel agencies continue to thrive.

• Demand for quality travel services is high
• Huge growth potential for both new and existing travel agencies
• Wide array of destinations

Let us proceed and look at key aspects that you need to make sure that are included in your online business process. Our quality control team will also check the final copy of the project before submitting it to you to ensure that it conforms to the requirements.

Description of Targeted Destinations

As mentioned earlier in this post, there are thousands of travel destinations or tourist attraction sites. Unfortunately, it is not possible to offer travel packages to each of them due to the massive amount of resources required. Instead, it makes economic and business sense to target a select group of destinations.

This information needs to be included in the policy to give the investors and anyone else interested in doing business with you clear guidelines on where you will be operating. The investors will rely on this information to know if you have done ample feasibility study to understand the market.

The Customer Profile

The client profile is the target audience or target travelers that you intend to offer the travel services to now and in the future. During the initial stages, you can start with the budget travelers, but as the company grows and advances, you can also bring onboard the luxury travelers who are not afraid to spend thousands of dollars a quality travel experience.

Travel Product and Services

The travel agent business policy needs to provide precise details of the specific products and services that you will be offering. For instance, if you will be using air transport to get the clients to various destinations, you need to include that information. Concisely, this information will not only help you to come up with a working strategy but also a near accurate estimate of the total amount of money that will be needed to actualize the strategy.

Tracking of Sales and Quality of Services

Thanks to advancement in computer technology, the accounting tasks that were previously done manually are not automated. You can use software to calculate the total amount of money earned in a given month. The same software can be used to project the amount of money that the business is mostly likely going to make within a specified period.

Mention the software that you will use to track sales as well as the measures that will be put in place to ensure that the travel services that you offer are quality and resonate with the preferences of your clients.

Finally, your business strategy needs to provide clear guidelines on how the entire agency will be managed. For instance, you need an accounting department to manage your capital and a advertising team to sell your services to the target audience.

Fill the form to get more insights about travel company business strategy services that we offer. One of our representatives will get back to you to discuss the fine details shortly. Thank you and we look forward to doing business with you and seeing you achieve the success that you have always yearned.

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To start a travel support is a noble business for both seeking industrialists who do not have sufficient funds and also those who have huge potentials to make investment in the travel & tourism sector. The diligent travel agent startup or aspiring entrepreneurs may start as the freelance travel representatives and thereby organize a huge and world class travel support.

Our customers love our t ravel tour agency business plan since we maintain the trust and relationship of our customers commendably. We have gained 99.9% customer ratings so far. Offering high end convenience and 24/7 customer support is what our customers get. Our company travel agency business plans are equipped with mind-blowing technologies like online booking tools, travel alerts, real time reports, mobile applications etc. We’ve been associated with this travel support business since last few decades.

We understand the significance of transparency with our customers and it is the topmost reason that our customers visit us again and again. Designated Account Manager is appointed for individual business t ravel tour agency business plan so that you get the perfect travel tour based on your convenience. Our clients can even track their customers at all points of time despite of their locations. We offer the best price that no other travel agencies offer.

What all travel agent startup have to do?

Travel agent startup has to look for our services which cover all aspects of travelling. It covers chief jobs like securing visa, buying flights tickets, booking hotel, taxis, and transport facilities apart from arranging sightseeing amenities. Such travel agencies work in aggregation with airline/ cruise line industries, vehicle rentals, hotels, tourist site officials, interpreters, and security agencies etc.  It’s the most convenient way to start any travel support business policies while making money with meager amount of start up sum. Those who would like to open a travel support may do this business without giving any second thought as it has a huge scope of earning.

What is the clandestine secret of making funds by travel company business strategy?

Travel agencies make amount through commissions. These commissions are secured via booking air tickets, providing secured transit visas, making the bookings for transport facilities / taxis, arranging for vehicle rentals & bookings of hotels and cruise lines. Apart from that they also generate income via selling travel related insurance strategy, selling travel guide booklets and by trading for overseas currencies. The prime attractive feature of this travel support is that folks will always have one or some other reason to travel either locally or internationally. The number of wanderers will always increase. It is a simple business which may be even initiated from home at any point of time. It has a simple set- up with a reasonable sum.

The key objective of the travel agency business is to offer quality service at all costs. The steady growth can be attained through 3S’s which are qualitative services , high end safety and deep satisfaction . The business of travel support can be established via three ways. First is by knowing the advertising know- how. Secondly, offering timely response to the customers and thirdly by proving excellence in fulfilling the promise. Furthermore, understanding the market requirements and analyzing the market trends is also essential before opening a tour support company.

Role of Shine travel agency business plans

OGScapital is a registered and benchmark travel support business that is proficient in handling all phases of travel related to programs like booking air tickets, hotels, transport facilities/taxis, cruise line bookings etc. Apart from that acquiring travel visas is also a significant function of travel agency. It also makes arrangements related to selling of travel insurance cover, travel guide booklets and earns commission through overseas currencies. Our team is very experienced, proficient and manages all the tasks brilliantly. Ours is a consumer focused & outcome driven travel support which endeavors hard to match the customers’ expectations. Our customers’ best interest is served via morals and professional ethics, where we excel.

OGScapital travel support is good to go with both individuals and firms. We actively participate with communities and integrate sustainable business practices at all points of time. We match the utmost ethics and complement the customers’ requirements exactly and completely. Our working environment is commendable which cultivates sustainable tactic towards making money. It enables everyone to live in the world with respect. Our all the partners, clientele and employees spend a good time together while dedicating themselves for the convenience of the customers.

The prime objective of Shinel Tour & Travel Company

Currently, we are spreading our wings to open a tour support in the USA, the UK and Canada but very shortly we would be capturing the entire world.

The chief most services & products offered by the agency

Shine travel agency delivers a myriad of services within the area all over the USA, the UK and Canada. Our main motivation is to generate funds from the particular area abiding by the law. It may be accomplished by focusing on the t ravel tour agency’s business purpose, goals and objectives. Our corporate listings include-

• We provide travel & tours advisory and counseling packages for both users and the professional clientele.
• We also generate sales through selling travel related insurance policy.
• By selling travel guides
• By selling overseas currencies
• By booking air tickets
• By booking transport facilities or taxi cabs
• By providing taxi rental services
• Via Hotel bookings
• By arranging transit visas
• By arranging booking for cruise line

What is the incredible dream of Shine Travel Agency?

Values, integrated services & perfection in our all jobs are what we aim for. Our dream is to build a trademark agency which is the topmost priority of all the folks and commercial customers. Currently, we are going to start the agency, and we’ll begin making money at any point of time.

Mission Statement of Shine Travel Agency Business

Our travel agency is among one of the highly proficient and reliable travel agencies which helps persons, commercial industries and nonprofit industries in arranging and managing the tours & travels systematically. We would like to position our travel industry among the leading brands within a decade’s time. Everything is explicitly demonstrated in the sample and once you’ll be associated with us, you’ll be a part of the gains too.

Line of work for our tour company

Our travel business has a concrete structure which may support our agency in the strongest possible way boosting its growth. Our company is enriched with experienced hands which can make a business of their dreams. We’ve deliberately started the organization as it bestows myriad of benefits to all of us. The benefits can be reaped by all whether wanderers or our working team. Our industry constitutes of following structure –

• Administration and Human Resource Officer
• Travels & Tours Advisor
• Sales & Advertising Manager
• Front Desk officials or Customer Care Representatives

The prime roles and responsibilities of a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) in our travel agency

• The CEO is accountable for leading business development and progress of the company
• He does create, communicate and implement the firm’s vision and mission.
• He does start and execute company’s long term strategies apart from holding overall responsibilities for day to day management decisions and implementations.
• He handles high profile clientele and related deals.
• He fixes the prices and signs the travel related professional deals.
• Signing documents and checks on organization’s behalf is his significant role.
• CEO evaluates the complete victory of our tour company.
• He is also accountable for presenting the report to the board.
• CEO also ensures that sufficient staff is appointed.
• He also ensures that expenditure is within the annual budget of the company within authorized limit.
• He assesses the principal risks. Furthermore he monitors and manages them with perfection.
• He also ensures that expenditure is in the authorized limit of the enterprise.
• He assesses the principal threats and monitors and accomplishes them appropriately.

What are the several functional roles of the travel & tours advisor in our travel agency?

• Consultants are accountable for booking the flight tickets and arranging travel visas. They also carry duties like booking the transport buses or taxi cabs or providing the car rentals. Apart from that they also make bookings for hotels and cruise lines for all its customers.
• They are given other responsibilities related to tourism company industry programs while designing and producing procedures. They pursue all these jobs while dealing with project delivery essentials within the allocated time frame.
• They identify the requirements of the customers and connect with them efficiently. They ensure customer satisfaction before going to start the journey.
• They carry research in the marketplace and gather information. Based on that they negotiate the contracts before closing the deals.
• Their role also includes providing feedbacks to the shareholders based on the episodic reports.
• To expand the offered services and enhance the tour quality, they suggest relevant ideas.
• Consultants in the travel agency assure that the insurance, safety concerns, legal & health parameters are met.
• They play a vital role in endorsing and publicizing travel & tours events by cooperating with PR & advertising.
• They also organize pre & post travel & tours events and evaluate the reports based on their outcomes.
• Research is their department. They identify travels & tours prospects apart from generating interests for the customers.

The prime roles and responsibilities of Admin & Human Resource Manager in our travel agency

• Admin and Human Resource department are accountable for managing design task descriptions with Key Performance Indicator. It assists them in driving performance management for all their customers.
• They are also accountable for conducting regular appointments with prime shareholders to expand business to eminent heights. It assists them in reviewing the efficiency of Human Resource policies, events and processes.
• Admin & HR keep a track on office provisions and stocks. They place and expedite the orders while evaluating the new products.
• They also look after the smooth functioning of daily official activities before the day would begin.
• They update about the educational opportunities after through the professional publications and maintaining the personal networks. They also participate in various professional organizational events.
• Admin & HR make arrangements for appointments, meetings and additional travel related jobs.
• They evaluate and assess the squads’ performance in the travel agency.
• They also carry out squad induction for novel joiners.
• HR also defines the job positions & manages the interview processes to manage the smooth functioning of the company.

The Roles & Responsibilities of Sales and Advertising Officials in Shine travel agency?

• Advertising, like the term suggests is the responsibility related with selling of travel related insurance policies and our company understands its importance commendably.
• The executives also sell the travel guide booklets and overseas currencies before going to travel.
• They analyze and prioritize their approach and reach their new partners regarding the enticing job opportunities
• Their role also involves identifying the striking developmental prospects and following- up in terms of leads & contacts. The executives work till the ending of the travel project and participate in the structuring & funding of the projects.
• Sales and Advertising officials play a vital role in augmenting the sales and progress of travel company.
• They also represent the Shine travel agency in strategic meetings.
• Their role also involves documentation and keeping all the info collectively organized.
• They develop, execute and estimate the novel programs for magnifying the sales.
• Apart from that, they are also responsible for carrying supervision related jobs and advocating them for users’ requirements. The sales and advertising executives also communicate with the customers on behalf of the travel company.

The primary role of Accountant in Shine travel agency

• All the accounts of our travel agency are served by the internal auditors and they manage all the monetary transactions well while managing the administering payrolls of the industry.
• They ensure compliance with the taxation legislations before the journey preparations.
• Formulating the financial policies and monetary systems is their job. They make all the preparations in advance before journey would start.
• They also look into other jobs like cash management, monetary reporting for more than one property and ledger accounting.
• Accountants of Shine travel agency prepare budget, monetary reports & fiscal reports of the company. They provide financial analysis to the administration apart from developing budgets, accounting statements, analyzing financial feasibility of intricate projects etc. Conducting market research and forecasting trends and commercial situations is also their department.

The prime roles and responsibilities of Front Desk official or Customer care Executive in our Shine travel agency?

• They manage all the duties or assignments that are allocated by the line manager.
• Apart from distributing e-mails in the company, they receive parcels and documents too. They manage several administrative duties with efficacy and in a timely manner.
• They stay updated regarding travel agency’s products and promotional campaigns at all points of time. They assure that the exact and precise info is provided to the clientele when they start.
• Building customer’s interest regarding organization’s products and services is their utmost priority. They do this over phone while discussing their journey schedules.
• Email, walk- in, text messages and phones are the various ways through which personal contacts with customers are established while offering them elevated class customer service experience. Our travel agency plays a significant role in making its client’s happy and excited.

Sample t ravel tour agency business plan s template of Shine travel agency- SWOT Analysis

Our professionals in travel agency are engaged in the field of business advisory and structuring. They have been playing a significant role in making a well-structured company business policy. Our company has a bright potential to provide a tough competition to its rivals. The policy is deliberately designed offering bright prospects to its customers. The key task of the administration is to conduct SWOT Analysis. Check out the SWOT Analysis summary in our travel agency-

Strength: Our strength is in our squad that has the potential to face various challenges with a positive mindset. Our team is self-motivating and works day and night with a high spirit formulating eye-catching strategies offering value for the money to its clients. The team is highly trained and professional and pays consideration to every minute detail. They know the clandestine of attracting customers from the very beginning day of the travel company.

Weakness : Though we’ve been surviving in this travel area from past many years but we’ve made our existence online just now. Earlier we were working off – screen. Hence, now it will take some time to breaking the trips marketplace and attain the trust and confidence of the customers, doesn’t matter of its corporate or as an individual. The commercial clients who have saturated travel policy can be our chief weakness.

Prospects : The prospects in the travel agency field are massive. It’s because various people, families and the member of the commercial enterprises will be travelling everyday basis to different countries of the world especially the USA, Canada, and UK which are the main center of attraction. We are sure to get the best benefit of any such start up opportunity coming on our way.

Risk :  The major risk in our travel agency that we might experience is the change of government strategies that can change any time. Sometimes, there are various unfavorable government strategies like the arrival of a tough opponent within the same premises of our trips operation. Furthermore, global monetary downturn can also affect the buying and spending power. Since, we can’t do anything much regarding such aspects except staying optimistic in our life. However, we understand that if threats exist, it is for everyone and we’ve a strong belief that these things will last to persist for our benefit in our travel business.

How does a sample travel support industry strategy looks like? Write an overview of tour company business plan?

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In 2009, the travel industry showed a sharp drop from $17 billion to $14.5. At that time only booking for the cruise line companies was the profitable aspect of travel agencies. In July 1887, Walter T. Brownell founded a travel agency named as ‘Brownell Travel’. In USA, this is the oldest travel agency. It became a most popular and promising travel company by 1920. The present data and future predictions show that the employment opportunities for the travel agents may be declined by 12% from the year 2014 to 2024. It’s because various wanderers will use internet for searching and booking their own vacation tours. This feature will suppress the request for travel agents.

From year 1995 till now, maximum airline companies across the world and specifically in the USA do not pay charges to the travel agencies while booking air tickets. However, now travelling agencies make sure that charges are already added to the ticket prices while selling tickets to the customers.

In contemporary times, in the era of internet, maximum airline firms sell their tickets directly to the target marketplace through online portals. Hence it has become much simpler for other travel agencies to now directly offer their services in the value chains of travels & tours via travel online portals to reach their desired marketplace.

Those who are tour service providers’ ex. airline firms, taxis rentals, railways, hotels, travel sites managers, car rental companies and industrialists and security firms have already added their commission within the ticket. For this reason we don’t get any airline firm paying any relationship to travel agents on the sold ticket.

Undoubtedly, we cannot call the travel agency line of business as oversaturated; despite of the several challenges the travel agencies are experiencing. Undoubtedly, the number of tasks as travel agent is declining in spite of the truth that the number of wanderers is on an increase. It is because individuals have become very much comfortable with internet and they love booking tickets online before going to start their trip in any part of the country.

Despite of all the above mentioned factors, there are a few ones that boost confidence of industrialists to initiate for the tour & tourism business plans. The main reason is that this business may be easily set up. Sum required to start a travel agency is within an individual’s approach and is reasonable. The individual may start the business from the ease of his own home despite of the site where he lives, doesn’t matter if it is in the interiors or on the outskirts of the city. All which is needed is setting up the agency in the house.

The Advertising and Sales Strategy of Shine travel agency

We very well understand that there is a very strict competition among travel & tours agencies. To cater our requirements, we’ve hired the topmost business developers of the world who can manage advertising and sales requirements commendably.

The advertising and sales team is recruited based upon the number of years of experience in the travel field. Furthermore, they are provided rigorous training on day to day basis via veteran professionals. It enables them to fulfill their travel targets while accomplishing the monthly and yearly objectives successfully. So far in offline market, our deliverables have vouched for our name. For this reason, we would like to build a normal travel & tour business which may be known by the word of mouth advertising. The travel agency marketing plan of our company is to progress and become a main workforce to reckon not only in these 3 countries (the USA, the UK and Canada) but also in entire world.

Below mentioned sales & advertising policies should be employed to entice clients if you want to run an agency

• We send introductory letters and brochures to commercial companies, schools, colleges, households and prime stakeholders in several cities. This is one of the attractive ways of expanding our travel support and it has offered us miraculous results too.
• We’ve advertised our travel company all over. Mind-boggling advertisements have been provided in tours & travel newspapers, magazines, Television and radio stations.
• Customers can find our listings on travel company and yellow pages in the advertisement columns in local columns too.
• Our sales strategy has bestowed us very successful results when we’ve presented our company in business fairs. Pertinent international, local trips & tours expos as well as seminars have also offered us splendid outcomes.
• Our travel support business policies include fabulous packages for various categories within budget. Furthermore, it delivers quality services at all points of time.
• Our company is engaged in direct advertising approach and has a complete control to support our tour company on web.
• We prefer ‘word of advertising’ form of travel advertisement more in contrast to other forms of advertising. It’s because a reliable and content client will visit us again and again to get his tickets booked via us referring many others.

What are the various sources of making income through traveling agency business plan?

We are an established tour firm which aims to maximize earnings through our outstanding travel agency advertising policies. To cater our requirements brilliantly, we are ready to go the entire way long following our morals and principals and thereby attracting clientele.

The advertising policies of Shine travel agency are as follows-

• Offers consulting and counseling services to the interested persons and the commercial customers.
• Offers travel related assurance strategy to all the associated customers.
• Sells trip guide booklets
• Books hotels
• Book cruise line companies
• Generates overseas currency via sale.
• Books flight tickets
• Car rental services
• Secures transit visas
• Books transport bus services or taxi cabs.

Sales forecast of Shine travel agency business

We have generated huge sum through our attractive tourism business plans. We all know that people had been travelling and they would carry on traveling in future too catering their various personal and professional requirements time to time. It includes individuals, their families and the trade individuals in organizations. Not all individuals have time to book their tickets. Most of them are stuck in homely or professional affairs lacking time. A few of them won’t be internet freak and so will find surfing on net a monotonous job.

Currently, we are in a great position to capture number 1 position in the existing marketplace. We are pretty sure that we would attain our set aims very soon and expand our travel company to eminent heights of success. We’ve critically examined our pitfalls and our entire staff has worked on it. We are proud to inform you that our sales projections have improved on a continuous basis in contrast to the advertising policies of other companies.  However, our projection is chiefly based upon the supposition and we’ve not considered any huge financial meltdown or natural disasters into consideration for the above said time frame.

What is the pricing policy behind traveling agency business plan?

We follow the set norms of the particular field. The standard is to earn funds through travel commissions which we get by providing travel related business (like booking tickets, hotels, cruise services, securing transit formalities, taxis rentals, and so on). Travel & tourism business also generate funds via selling overseas currencies, travel assurance policy covers, and via selling the travel guides. Insofar as our travel & tourism business plan is concerned, we charge minimum from our customers. The fees charged via us are much less than the usual market charges.

We assure you to keep our overhead charges as low and collect funds in advance. Furthermore, we provide special discounts time to time for start ups, co-ops, small social companies, and non-profit co-ops. Another attractive feature of our travel support business policies is that there are a few of our users who require consistent access to travel & tours consultancy apart from services and support. We provide them fixed amount for all these services. However, such travel support services are available for our privileged customers only to cater their tailored requirements.

Wide variety of available Payment options with us :

To commence the travel support business policies we provide them with a large options of payment which include-

• Payment through bank transfer
• via bank draft or check or online bank transfer

The huge variety of payment facilitates assists the customers in accomplishing their goal with minimal or no itches.

Publicity & Marketing business policy of our Travel Agency Advertising strategy :

Our consultants have designed admirable advertising policies which assist us to understand the requirements of our targeted customers. We are all set to attain our traveling agency business plan and so we’ve created facilities for glaring publicity and advertisements.  Check out the platform we are scheduling to endorse & advertise our business agenda-

• We’ve introduced travel advertisement in both forms- in print and on electronic media.
• We also sponsor pertinent communal based events/ functions/ programs.
• You can watch various travel related videos online where we have showed our presence in road-shows time to time.
• Distribution of our fliers as well as handbills has associated us with myriad of our customers. This way we have influenced and captured the entire target areas.
• We’ve also installed Bill Boards on calculated sites across several parts of the USA, UK and Canada.
• Our presence may be explicitly seen on social media apps such as Fb, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram etc. Our brand has got huge limelight this way.
• Travel agency Company logo can be explicitly seen on all our various labors branded shirts and their vehicle.

Shine tour company business plan restricts the start up principal

Our t ravel tour agency business plan s demand a meager payment to start the travel company in contrast to other business which demands a huge amount. This business doesn’t need any costly machines & bulky equipment. Furthermore, no office space at a good site is the requirement on your end. Apart from that the rate of furniture, expenditure of software apps, bill payments, licenses and certifications are also not required in this business by our customers.

Following is the monetary projections and expenditure to start tour company business plan which we do on our end. We bear-

• The total expenditure for integrating the business
• The sum required to spend basic insurance covers, business licenses, and permits
• Charges of designing a travel website.
• Money spent on official website
• Amount to be spent on software apps
• Cost of office equipment like computers, software apps, telephones, printers, various gadgets, filing cabins, other electronics etc.
• Other expenditures like business cards, signage, & adverts etc.
• Miscellaneous business expenditures

Going by this way, a business minimally needs hundreds and thousands of dollars to start up a small to medium scale business. However, you don’t have to take any kind of stress regarding this as the travel agency is catering all these requirements on its end.

Generating funds through our travel support advertising Strategies

The company OGScapital is currently the sole financial firm however likes to welcome its partners. For this reason, it has scheduled to control the bases of the start up sum. The 3 major sources or areas by which the company intends to make the start up sum are-

• Some portion of the start up sum of the travel agency would be generated through personal savings.
• We’ll ask for soft loans through members of your families and contacts.
• We’ve written an application to banks for loan.

To a great extent, we’ve successfully managed to arrange the funds to ignite our travel firm. Currently, we are at the last phases of getting the loan via bank. Apart from that, almost all the papers and important documents have been appropriately signed and submitted to the bank. Furthermore our loan is approved and our company is live to go online too.

What is the expansion policy of our travel support advertising strategy?

Sustainability is essential feature of our travel agency. Our industry can survive remarkably as it has consistent flow of professional deals and regular customers. It also shows attractive signs in terms of good services and products that are patronized. We very well understand the significance of all these facets and then we’ve decided to organize a huge variety of event preparation. We’ve also offered brilliant travel related services to both individuals as well as the professional customers.

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excellent work, competent advice. Alex is very friendly, great communication. 100% I recommend CGS capital. Thank you so much for your hard work!

We know the importance of excellence and hence we promise to deliver high quality in every task which we take in our hands. We also know that if we move on with persistence winning the trust of our clients, we would be successful in generating a constant flow of revenue for our travel agency.

Our experienced HR professionals hire only experienced employees and this assists us in creating a favorable working environment. Our employees have been remarkably benefitted through our business. We are known for offering best services in the desired industry, and it really helped us in gaining and maintaining a very good repo all over the world. Our experienced team is full of professional employees who are very well competent in the particular field and have a decent record of achievement.

In near future, we have programs to sell our franchise to expand our business all over the world in major cities. Presently, we are going to start and would start generating money at any point of time. We very well know that if our traveling agency business plan implements its fruitful business strategies successfully, we would surely attain our objectives and goals in the recorded time.

If you want to start a travel agency after knowing all the opportunities and obstacles that can come your way, here is the time and chance to proceed. As you’ll definitely be needing a thorough and accurate travel agency business plan for your startup, you must get it written by a professional rather than trying it on yourself. Sign up on our site to get your t ravel tour agency business plan written by our experts at reasonable prices, just in line with your project complexity. Fill out this form or send us details about your startup through any image, pdf or text document and discover why we’re considered the topmost choice when it comes to business management.

Download T ravel Tour Agency Business Plan Sample in pdf

OGS capital writers specialize in business plan themes such as starting drop shipping business plan , non-emergency transportation business plan , information brokering business plan , business idea for subscription box , hotshot business plan , business plan for taxi service and many others.

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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Travel Agency Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Hospitality, Travel & Tourism » Travel & Tour Agency

Are you about starting a travel agency online? If YES, here is a complete sample travel agency business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE.

The line of business (travel agency) is open to both big time investors who have the financial capacity to invest in the travel and tourism industry and also aspiring entrepreneurs who just want to make a living but don’t have start – capital.

As a matter of fact aspiring entrepreneurs who don’t have start – up capital can start out as freelance travel agents if they are diligent enough, they can build a big and well organized traveling agency. Simply put, travel agencies render services that cover all aspect of traveling.

They help their clients in securing visas (especially transit visas), purchase flight tickets, book hotels, book taxi cabs and bus shuttle services and of course make arrangement for site seeing amongst other services.

They work in conjunction with service providers such as airline companies, car rentals companies, cruise lines companies, hotels, railways, tourist sites managers and perhaps interpreters and security agencies ( supply of bodyguards et al for celebrities and other VIP clients).

How Do Travel Agencies Make Money?

The norm in this industry is that, travel agencies make their money via commission they get by offering traveling related services such as booking for flight tickets, securing transit visas, booking for shuttle buses / taxi cabs, car rentals, hotel bookings and cruise line bookings amongst many other services.

Travel agencies also generate incomes from selling of traveling related insurance policy cover, sale of travel guide books and through the sale of foreign currencies.

A Sample Travel Agency Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

Statistics has it that as far back as 2009, the total market size for travel agencies in the united states experienced a sharp decline, dropping from an estimate of $17 billion in 2008 to $14.5 billion.

Cruise line booking remains one of the most profitable aspects of travel agencies, as a matter of fact, they handle an estimate of about 77% of bookings in that line of business and also an estimate of about 73% of packaged travel tour as it relate to cruise line services.

It is on record that Brownell Travel which was founded on July 4, 1887 by Walter T. Brownell is the oldest travel agency in the United States of America and it took several years, in the 1920s to be specific for travel agencies to become a popular business that looks promising and profitable.

Available data shows that employment of travel agents is projected to decline 12 percent from 2014 to 2024. This is so because the ability of travelers to use the Internet to research vacations and book their own trips is expected to continue to subdue demand for travel agents.

Since 1995 till date, many airline companies around the globe and most airline companies in the United States of America no longer pay commissions to travel agencies whenever they help clients book airline tickets. What traveling agencies now do is to ensure that they add their commission to the price of the tickets whenever they are selling to their clients.

In recent time, with the advent of the internet and the general public accessing the Internet, many airline companies have started selling their tickets directly to their target market via their online portal. So also it is now easier for other business in the value chain of travels and tours industry to now directly sell their services via their online portal to their target market.

Service providers such as airline companies, car rentals companies, cruise lines companies, hotels, railways, tourist sites managers and perhaps interpreters and security agencies et al. which is why you can’t find any airline company paying commissions to travel agents on each ticket they sold.

No doubt the travel agency line of business cannot be said to be oversaturated despite the challenges most traveling agencies are facing.

The source of the challenges cannot be far – fetched, as a matter of fact, with many people swapping to self-service internet websites, the number of available services and even jobs as travel agents is decreasing despite the fact that there are more travelers than ever before.

Some of the factors that encourage entrepreneurs to start their own travel agencies could be that the business is easy to set up and the start – capital is indeed affordable; you can actually start your own travel agency business from the comfort of your home. All you need to do is to create an office somewhere in your house.

2. Executive Summary

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC is a registered and standard travels and tours agency that will be based in Las Vegas – Nevada.

The company will handle all aspect of travels and tours related business such as booking for flight tickets, securing transit visas, booking for shuttle buses / taxi cabs, car rentals, hotel bookings and cruise line bookings amongst many other travels and tours related services such as selling of traveling related insurance policy cover, sale of travel guide books and through the sale of foreign currencies.

We are aware that to run an all – round travel and tour agency can be demanding which is why we are well trained and equipped to perform excellently well. Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC is a client-focused and result driven travels and tours agency that provides broad-based experience at an affordable fee that won’t in any way put a hole in the pocket of our clients.

We will offer a standard and professional travels and tours services to all to our individual clients, and corporate clients at local, state, national, and international level. We will ensure that we work hard to meet and surpass our clients’ expectations whenever they hire our services.

At Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC, our client’s best interest would always come first, and everything we do is guided by our values and professional ethics. We will ensure that we hire professionals who are well experienced in the travels and tours industry.

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a firm, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible.

We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our client’s needs precisely and completely. We will cultivate a working environment that provides a human, sustainable approach to earning a living, and living in our world, for our partners, employees and for our clients.

Our plan is to position the business to become the leading brand in the travels and tours line of business in the whole of Nevada, and also to be amongst the top 20 travels and tours agencies in the United States of America within the first 10 years of operations.

This might look too tall a dream but we are optimistic that this will surely come to pass because we have done our research and feasibility studies and we are enthusiastic and confident that Las Vegas is the right place to launch our travels and tours agency before spreading to other parts of The United States.

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC is founded by Chris Williams and family. The organization will be managed by Chris Williams and other members of his family and partners. He has well over 15 years of experience working at various capacities within the travels and tours industry in the United States of America.

Mr. Chris Williams graduated from both University of California – Berkley (First Degree), and University of Harvard (MSc.) and he is a Certified Travel Agent (CTA), a Travel and Tourism Professional (TTP) and he has a Total Travel Certification (TTC).

3. Our Products and Services

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC is going to offer varieties of services within the scope of the travels and tours industry in the United States of America. Our intention of starting our travels and tours agency is to make profits from the industry and we will do all that is permitted by the law in the United States to achieve our business goals, aim and ambition.

Our business offering are listed below;

• Travels and Tours consulting and advisory services for individuals and corporate clients
• Selling of traveling related insurance policy cover, sale of travel guide books and through the sale of foreign currencies.
• Booking for flight tickets
• Securing transit visas
• Booking for shuttle buses / taxi cabs
• Car rental services
• Hotel bookings
• Cruise line bookings

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• Our vision is to build a travels and tours agency brand that will become the number one choice for both individual clients and corporate clients in the whole of Las Vegas – Nevada.
• Our vision reflects our values: integrity, service, excellence and teamwork.
• Our mission is to provide professional and trusted travels and tours services that assist individuals, corporate organization and non-profit organizations in organizing all of their travels and tours.
• We are to position the business to become the leading brand in the travels and tours line of business in the whole of Nevada, and also to be amongst the top 20 travels and tours agency in the United States of America within the first 10 years of operations.

Our Business Structure

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC will build a solid business structure that can support the growth of our business. We will ensure that we hire competent hands to help us build the business of our dream.

The fact that we want to become one of the leading travels and tours agencies in the United States makes it highly necessary to deliberately build a well – structured business from the onset. Below is the business structure that we will build Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC;

• Chief Executive Officer

Travels and Tours Consultant

Admin and HR Manager

Marketing and Sales Executive

• Customer Care Executive / Front Desk Officer

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Office:

• Responsible for providing direction for the firm
• Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
• Responsible for handling high profile clients and deals
• Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
• Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
• Evaluates the success of the organization
• Reports to the board
• Responsible for booking for flight tickets, securing transit visas, booking for shuttle buses / taxi cabs, car rentals, hotel bookings and cruise line bookings amongst many other travels and tours related services for clients
• Plan, design and produce events while managing all project delivery elements within time limits
• Liaise with clients to identify their needs and to ensure customer satisfaction
• Conduct market research, gather information and negotiate contracts prior to closing any deals
• Provide feedback and periodic reports to stakeholders
• Propose ideas to improve provided services and tourism quality
• Ensure compliance with insurance, legal, health and safety obligations
• Cooperate with marketing and PR to promote and publicize travels and tours events
• Conduct pre- and post – travels and tours events evaluations and report on outcomes
• Research market, identify travels and tours opportunities and generate interest
• Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
• Design job descriptions with KPI to drive performance management for clients
• Regularly hold meetings with key stakeholders to review the effectiveness of HR Policies, Procedures and Processes
• Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
• Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
• Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
• Carrying out staff induction for new team members
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
• Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
• Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
• Oversee the smooth running of the daily office activities.
• Responsible for selling of traveling related insurance policy cover, sale of travel guide books and through the sale of foreign currencies.
• Identify, prioritize, and reach out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
• Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of projects; assures the completion of development projects.
• Writing winning proposal documents, negotiate fees and rates in line with company policy
• Responsible for handling business research, marker surveys and feasibility studies for clients
• Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
• Develop, execute and evaluate new plans for expanding increase sales
• Document all customer contact and information
• Represent the company in strategic meetings
• Help increase sales and growth for the company
• Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
• Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
• Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
• Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting for one or more properties.
• Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
• Responsible for administering payrolls
• Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
• Handles all financial transactions for the company
• Serves as internal auditor for the company

Client Service Executive / Front Desk Officer

• Welcomes guests and clients by greeting them in person or on the telephone; answering or directing inquiries.
• Ensures that all contacts with clients (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
• Through interaction with clients on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services
• Manages administrative duties assigned by the manager in an effective and timely manner
• Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the company’s products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to clients
• Receives parcels / documents for the company
• Distribute mails in the organization
• Handles any other duties as assigned my the line manager

6. SWOT Analysis

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC engaged the services of a core professional in the area of business consulting and structuring to assist the firm in building a well – structured travels and tours agency that can favorably compete in the highly competitive travels and tours industry.

Part of what the team of business consultant did was to work with the management of our organization in conducting a SWOT analysis for Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC. Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC;

Our core strength lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team that can go all the way to give our clients value for their money; a team that are trained and equipped to pay attention to details. We are well positioned and we know we will attract loads of clients from the first day we open our doors for business.

As a new travels and tours agency, it might take some time for our organization to break into the market and gain acceptance especially from corporate clients in the already saturated travels and tours industry; that is perhaps our major weakness.

• Opportunities:

The opportunities in the travels and tours industry is massive considering the number of individuals, families and corporate organizations who travels on a daily basis within the United States and to other parts of the world. As an all – round travels and tours agency, we are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.

Some of the threats that we are likely going to face as a travels and tours agency operating in the United States are unfavorable government policies, the arrival of a competitor within our location of operations and global economic downturn which usually affects purchasing / spending power. There is hardly anything we can do as regards these threats other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for our good.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

A common trend in the travels and tours industry is that in recent time, with the advent of the internet and the general public accessing the Internet, many airline companies have started selling their tickets directly to their target market via their online portal.

So also, it is now easier for other business in the value chain of travels and tours industry to now directly sell their services via their online portal to their target market.

The travels and tours industry is in a continuous state of evolution and as such, ground breaking strategies and ideas that are once highly successful are no longer as productive as they were in time past. Close observation of the trend in the industry reveals that the past few years have seen the rise and proliferation of social media and new tech tools.

The trend also extends to increased attention paid to engagement and new market segments, adopting eco-friendly measures and sustainability when planning travels and tours events.

As a matter of fact, social media has now become one of the most important tools travels and tours agencies leverage on to disseminate information about their travels and tours events, interact with clients, solicit feedback, and create year-round engagement with their target audience.

Furthermore, new software apps and emerging technology have made it easier for travel and tours agencies to gather all the needed data and information that will help them plan and project for the future. People that start travel agency can as a matter of fact start the business from a small office space / shared office space and still make headway in the business.

One thing is certain when it comes to travel agency business, you are sure of making profits in form of commissions when you are able to successfully book flight tickets, hotel reservation, taxi cab reservation and any other travel related services for a client. You are going to get your cut as soon as they make payment.

The truth is that, the cost of running a travel agency can be kept to the barest minimum because there are always ways you can cut operational and overhead cost. As a matter of fact, most people that run travel agencies have abandoned the “brick and mortar” agency for a home-based business just for the sole aim of reducing overhead, and maximizing profits.

8. Our Target Market

The demographic and psychographics composition of travel agencies cuts across people from all works of life; there is no clear distinction on those that would naturally need the services of travel agencies. Although a travel agency might decide to concentrate on high – income earning clients, and another travel agency might only concentrate on corporate clients.

The bottom line is that anyone that can afford to travel from one country to another is a potential client for travel agencies.

Although Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC will initially serve small to medium sized business, from new ventures to well established businesses and individual clients, but that does not in any way stop us from growing to be able to compete with the leading travels and tours agencies in the United States.

As an all – round travels and tours agency, Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC offers a wide range of services hence we are well trained and equipped to services a wide range of clientele base. Our target market cuts across people of different class and people from all walks of life, local and international organizations as well.

We are coming into the industry with a business concept that will enable us work with the highly placed people and companies in the country and at the same with the lowly placed people and smaller businesses. Below is a list of the people and organizations that we have specifically design our products and services for;

• Potential Couples / Young Adults
• Blue Chips Companies
• Corporate Organizations
• Religious Organizations (Pilgrimage journeys et al)
• Political Parties / Politicians
• Households / Families
• The Government (Public Sector)
• Schools (High Schools, Colleges and Universities)
• Sport Organizations
• Entrepreneurs and Start – Ups

Our Competitive Advantage

The level of competitions in the travel agency line of business depends largely on the location of the business and of course the niche of your travel agency. If you can successfully create a unique brand identity for your travel agency or carve out a unique market, you are likely going to experience less competition.

For instance if you are one of the few travel agency in your country or state that handles pilgrimage travels, you are show going to be making constant mega box year after year. This is so because religious faithful are always traveling for pilgrimage journey annually.

Although the competition in the travel agency line of business is not just within travel agencies but also other travel related service providers.

For example, it is now easier for you a traveler to book his or her hotel accommodation, book flight ticket, reserve taxi cab or rent car ahead of his journey from the comfort of his or her home with the aid of the internet simply because most of the service provider are by – passing travel agencies and taking their services directly to their target market.

We are quite aware that to be highly competitive in the travels and tours industry means that we should be able to deliver consistent quality service, our clients should be able to experience remarkable difference cum improvement and we should be able to meet the expectations of both travelers / tourists and our partners (services providers).

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC might be a new entrant into the travels and tours industry in the United States of America, but the management staffs and owners of the business are considered gurus. They are people who are core professionals and licensed and highly qualified travels and tours experts in the United States. These are part of what will count as a competitive advantage for us.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category (startups travels and tours agencies) in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the travels and tours industry and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to attract clients on a regular basis and sign retainer – ship with most of our clients.

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC will generate income by offering the following travels and tours services for individuals and for corporate organizations;

10. Sales Forecast

One thing is certain; there would always be individuals, families and corporate organizations that would travel on a daily basis within the United States and to other parts of the world.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in the U.S. and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income / profits from the first six month of operations and grow the business and our clientele base beyond Las Vegas to other cities in Nevada and other states in the U.S.

We have been able to critically examine the travels and tours market and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projection is based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to startups in Las Vegas – Nevada.

Below is the sales projection for Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC, it is based on the location of our business and the wide range of travels and tours services that we will be offering;

• First Year-: $150,000
• Second Year-: $350,000
• Third Year-: $750,000

N.B: This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and natural disasters within the period stated above. There won’t be any major competitor offering same additional services as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

We are mindful of the fact that there are stiffer competition amongst travels and tours agencies and other related service providers in the United States of America, hence we have been able to hire some of the best business developer to handle our sales and marketing.

Our sales and marketing team will be recruited base on their vast experience in the industry and they will be trained on a regular basis so as to be well equipped to meet their targets and the overall goal of the organization.

We will also ensure that our excellent job deliveries speak for us in the market place; we want to build a standard travels and tours business that will leverage on word of mouth advertisement from satisfied clients (both individuals and corporate organizations).

Our goal is to grow our travels and tours agency to become one of the top 20 travels and tours agencies in the United States of America which is why we have mapped out strategy that will help us take advantage of the available market and grow to become a major force to reckon with not only in the Las Vegas but also in other cities in the United States of America.

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC is set to make use of the following marketing and sales strategies to attract clients;

• Introduce our business by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to corporate organizations, schools, households and key stake holders in Las Vegas and other cities in Nevada.
• Promptness in bidding for travels and tours contracts from the government, religious organizations and other cooperate organizations
• Advertise our business in relevant travels and tours magazines, newspapers, TV stations, and radio station.
• List our business on yellow pages ads (local directories)
• Attend relevant international and local travel and tours expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
• Create different packages for different category of clients in order to work with their budgets and still deliver quality services to them
• Leverage on the internet to promote our business
• Engage direct marketing approach
• Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied clients

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

We have been able to work with our brand and publicity consultants to help us map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help us walk our way into the heart of our target market. We are set to take the travels and tours industry by storm which is why we have made provisions for effective publicity and advertisement of our travels and tours agencies.

Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC;

• Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community based events / programs
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook , twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our brand
• Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around Las Vegas – Nevada.
• Engage in road show from time to time
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
• Ensure that all our workers wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles are well branded with our company’s logo et al.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Travel agencies also generate incomes from selling of traveling related insurance policy cover, sale of travel guide books and through the sale of foreign currencies. At Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC we will keep our fees below the average market rate for all of our clients by keeping our overhead low and by collecting payment in advance.

In addition, we will also offer special discounted rates to start – ups, nonprofits, cooperatives, and small social enterprises. We are aware that there are some clients that would need regular access to travels and tours consultancy and advisory services and assistance, we will offer flat rate for such services that will be tailored to take care of such clients’ needs.

• Payment Options

At Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC, our payment policy will be all inclusive because we are quite aware that different people prefer different payment options as it suits them. Here are the payment options that we will make available to our clients;

• Payment by via bank transfer
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft
• Payment with cash

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our plans with little or no itches.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

Starting a travel and tours agency can be cost effective; this is so because on the average, you are not expected to acquire expensive machines and equipment.

Basically what you should be concerned about is the amount needed to secure a standard office facility in a good and busy business district, the amount needed to furniture and equip the office, the amount to purchase the required software applications, the amount needed to pay bills, promote the business and obtain the appropriate business license and certifications.

This is the financial projection and costing for starting Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC;

• The Total Fee for incorporating the Business – $750.
• The budget for basic insurance policy covers, permits and business license – $2,500
• The Amount needed to acquire a suitable Office facility in a business district 6 months (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) – $40,000.
• The Cost for equipping the office (computers, software applications, printers, fax machines, furniture, telephones, filing cabins, safety gadgets and electronics et al) – $ 5,000
• The cost for purchase of the required software applications – $2,500
• The Cost of Launching your official Website – $600
• Budget for paying at least one employees for 3 months plus utility bills – $10,000
• Additional Expenditure (Business cards, Signage, Adverts and Promotions et al) – $2,500
• Miscellaneous: $1,000

Going by the report from the market research and feasibility studies conducted, we will need over one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) U.S. dollars to successfully set – up a medium scale but standard travels and tours agency in the United States of America.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC

Chris Williams Travels & Tours, LLC is a family business that will be owned by Chris Williams and family. They are the sole financial of the firm, but may likely welcome partners later which is why they decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital for the business to just three major sources.

These are the areas we intend generating our start – up capital;

• Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings
• Source for soft loans from family members and friends
• Apply for loan from my Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $50,000 (Personal savings $40,000 and soft loan from family members $10,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $100,000 from our bank. All the papers and document has been duly signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

It is easier for businesses to survive when they have steady flow of business deals / customers patronizing their products and services. We are aware of this which is why we have decided to offer a wide range of event planning and other related services to both individual and corporate clients.

We know that if we continue to deliver excellent travels and tours services, there will be steady flow of income for the organization. Our key sustainability and expansion strategy is to ensure that we only hire competent employees, create a conducive working environment and employee benefits for our staff members.

In the nearest future, we will explore the options of either selling out franchise or expanding our scope beyond Las Vegas – Nevada to other major cities in the United States of America. We know that if we implement our business strategies, we will achieve our business goals and objectives in record time.

Check List / Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check:>Completed
• Business Incorporation: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts various banks in the United States: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of All form of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Generating part of the start – up capital from the founder: Completed
• Applications for Loan from our Bankers: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: Completed
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Purchase of the Needed software applications, furniture, office equipment, electronic appliances and facility facelift: In progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business (Business PR): In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with vendors and key players in the industry: In Progress
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Travel Agency Business Plan Template [Updated 2023]

Travel Agency Business Plan Template

If you want to start a Travel Agency business or expand your current Travel Agency, you need a business plan.

The following Travel Agency business plan template gives you the key elements to include in a winning Travel Agency business plan.

You can download our Business Plan Template (including a full, customizable financial model) to your computer here.

Below are links to each of the key sections a business plan for a travel agency: I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan

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Travel Agency Business Plan Home I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan