Understanding the Target Market for a Travel Agency

Are you looking to start a travel agency? Or do you already have one and are looking to expand into new markets? If you answered yes to either question and you’re trying to figure out who your ideal target market is, then this article is for you!

When it comes to the travel industry, there are a lot of different target markets that travel agencies can focus on. Depending on the type of services that you offer, your target market could be singles, families, couples, business travelers, or luxury travelers.

The target market for a travel agency will also change based on the type of travel and travel experiences being offered. For instance, you will attract a different type of customer if are offering adventure travel as opposed to romantic getaways.

Similarly, your target market can change based on the travel destinations that you offer.

In this article, we will analyze the market from different angles and discuss some of the needs of the different segments that constitute the target market for a travel agency.

Target Market for a Travel Agency: Different Types of Travelers

Here are the most common types of travelers:

Each type of traveler has different needs and wants when it comes to planning a trip. Let’s briefly look at each the of needs of each type.

Single travelers/backpackers

The needs of single travelers or backpackers are quite different from those of other types of travelers. They are usually looking for budget-friendly options and are not as concerned with luxury or comfort. They often want to explore new places and experience new things, so they may be more interested in adventure travel.

Families with small children

Families with small children often have different priorities when it comes to travel. They may be looking for family-friendly hotels and activities, that are reasonably priced. They will also want to consider the needs of their children when choosing a destination.

Families with teenagers

Retirees often have more time and money to travel, so they are looking for luxurious and relaxing options. They may also want to consider destinations that offer good healthcare facilities and in general, are safe for older travelers.

Business travelers

Business travelers need convenient and affordable flights, as well as comfortable hotels that are close to commercial areas or their meeting venues. They usually do not have time to explore the destination and are looking for pre-planned tours that offer everything they need.

Luxury travelers

Target market for a travel agency: different types of travel & experiences.

Here are some of the different types of travel and related travel experiences that a travel agency can offer its target market:

Each type of travel has different target markets. Let’s briefly look at the target market for each type of travel.

Leisure Travel

Adventure travel, romantic getaways.

Romantic getaways are popular among couples who want to spend time together in a relaxed setting. They often want luxurious accommodations and exclusive experiences.

Group Travel

Group travelers often want to travel with a group of friends or family. They may be interested in all-inclusive resorts, but they also want the option to explore the destination on their own.

Luxury Travel

Gastronomic travel.

Gastronomic travel is a growing market with people increasingly traveling for the purpose of trying cuisines from other parts of their country or other parts of the world. And so travel agencies that can create packages focused on gastronomic experiences can win customers from this segment.

Think of the type of customer you wish to focus on. Is the single traveler or backpacker? Or do you prefer to focus on retirees? Or families with small children?

Once you know who you would like to target, you can then pick from the different travel modes and experiences that would be appealing to your selected target market segments. If you are targeting couples, offer romantic getaways. If you’re targeting retirees, offer group travel options.

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Travel Agency Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

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:

Zip Code:7871278718
Total Population13,05926,896
Male52.6%48.5%
Female47.4%51.5%
15 to 19 years3.6%3.6%
20 to 24 years61.4%62.2%
25 to 29 years21.0%20.5%
30 to 34 years14.0%13.7%
Household income $50,000 to $74,9991.2%2.3%
Household income $75,000 to $99,9999.8%10.2%
Household income $100,000 to $124,9993.6%3.2%
Household income $125,000 to $149,99910.8%8.9%
Household income $150,000 to $199,99927.4%27.2%
Household income $200,000 or more47.2%49.0%

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.

FY 1FY 2FY 3FY 4FY 5
Revenues
Total Revenues$360,000$793,728$875,006$964,606$1,063,382
Expenses & Costs
Cost of goods sold$64,800$142,871$157,501$173,629$191,409
Lease$50,000$51,250$52,531$53,845$55,191
Marketing$10,000$8,000$8,000$8,000$8,000
Salaries$157,015$214,030$235,968$247,766$260,155
Initial expenditure$10,000$0$0$0$0
Total Expenses & Costs$291,815$416,151$454,000$483,240$514,754
EBITDA$68,185 $377,577 $421,005 $481,366 $548,628
Depreciation$27,160$27,160 $27,160 $27,160 $27,160
EBIT$41,025 $350,417 $393,845$454,206$521,468
Interest$23,462$20,529 $17,596 $14,664 $11,731
PRETAX INCOME$17,563 $329,888 $376,249 $439,543 $509,737
Net Operating Loss$0$0$0$0$0
Use of Net Operating Loss$0$0$0$0$0
Taxable Income$17,563$329,888$376,249$439,543$509,737
Income Tax Expense$6,147$115,461$131,687$153,840$178,408
NET INCOME$11,416 $214,427 $244,562 $285,703 $331,329

Balance Sheet

FY 1FY 2FY 3FY 4FY 5
ASSETS
Cash$154,257$348,760$573,195$838,550$1,149,286
Accounts receivable$0$0$0$0$0
Inventory$30,000$33,072$36,459$40,192$44,308
Total Current Assets$184,257$381,832$609,654$878,742$1,193,594
Fixed assets$180,950$180,950$180,950$180,950$180,950
Depreciation$27,160$54,320$81,480$108,640 $135,800
Net fixed assets$153,790 $126,630 $99,470 $72,310 $45,150
TOTAL ASSETS$338,047$508,462$709,124$951,052$1,238,744
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Debt$315,831$270,713$225,594$180,475 $135,356
Accounts payable$10,800$11,906$13,125$14,469 $15,951
Total Liability$326,631 $282,618 $238,719 $194,944 $151,307
Share Capital$0$0$0$0$0
Retained earnings$11,416 $225,843 $470,405 $756,108$1,087,437
Total Equity$11,416$225,843$470,405$756,108$1,087,437
TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY$338,047$508,462$709,124$951,052$1,238,744

Cash Flow Statement

FY 1FY 2FY 3FY 4FY 5
CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS
Net Income (Loss)$11,416 $214,427 $244,562 $285,703$331,329
Change in working capital($19,200)($1,966)($2,167)($2,389)($2,634)
Depreciation$27,160 $27,160 $27,160 $27,160 $27,160
Net Cash Flow from Operations$19,376 $239,621 $269,554 $310,473 $355,855
CASH FLOW FROM INVESTMENTS
Investment($180,950)$0$0$0$0
Net Cash Flow from Investments($180,950)$0$0$0$0
CASH FLOW FROM FINANCING
Cash from equity$0$0$0$0$0
Cash from debt$315,831 ($45,119)($45,119)($45,119)($45,119)
Net Cash Flow from Financing$315,831 ($45,119)($45,119)($45,119)($45,119)
Net Cash Flow$154,257$194,502 $224,436 $265,355$310,736
Cash at Beginning of Period$0$154,257$348,760$573,195$838,550
Cash at End of Period$154,257$348,760$573,195$838,550$1,149,286

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

Logo Traveler

Marketing for Travel Agency: A Complete Guide

Marketing for Travel Agency Website Home

Marketing is an important part of running a business because it helps find and keep customers. It includes everything that has to do with getting people to buy or use a product or service, from making the product and advertising it to selling it and helping customers.

Marketing is especially important for a travel agency that depends a lot on how happy its customers are. A good marketing plan will help the agency get the word out about its services and get to know potential customers.

It can also help them stay in touch with their current clients through email campaigns and social media platforms, among other ways. By taking care of these connections, the travel agency can earn the trust of its customers.

This guide will give you an overview of the most important parts of a travel agency’s marketing plan, like knowing your target market, making a unique value proposition, building your brand, and using digital marketing tools.

Understanding Your Target Marketing for Travel agency

When it comes to digital marketing, understanding your target market is key. Knowing your customer base can help you craft ads and content that speaks to their interests. A great way to understand a target market is by breaking it into three segments: demographics, psychographics, and behavioral:

1. Demographics:

Demographics are the physical traits of the audience, like their age, gender, race, location , etc. Once you have this information, you can create marketing plans that are geared toward these groups.

For example, if your travel agency specializes in luxury vacations, you might want to target people with higher incomes because they are more likely to be able to pay for expensive trips. .

2. Psychographics:

Psychographics can help travel agencies give customers more personalized experiences by giving them a better idea of what they want and what they need. Knowing what people like to do when they travel, where they want to go, how much money they have to spend , etc., can give you valuable information about how to reach these potential customers and give them exactly what they want.

3. Behavioral Segments:

Customers are split into groups based on how they act toward certain products or services. This could include things like how often you buy something, how loyal you are, how much you use it, and how you prefer to talk to people. Since there are so many different kinds of travelers, travel agencies need to use behavioral segmentation to figure out which ones will make them the most money and how to serve their specific needs in the best way.

Here is an example of how you can incorporate your understanding of the market:

Imagine you own a business that specializes in luxury adventures for wealthy people in their late 30s to early 50s who want to try new things. Make sure your message gets to the right people by taking the time to find out who they are and what they want.

To start reaching out to wealthy adventure seekers in this age range, you should first learn more about them. What do they most value? Are there some things or experiences that you’d rather do or try than others? It’s also important to find out where these potential customers hang out online and offline, who they talk to, and what topics interest them.

Once you know what this group of people is interested in, you can make your marketing strategy more effective by making content that meets their needs.

Marketing for Travel Agency Website Image 1

Creating a Unique Value Proposition

A travel agency’s marketing plan needs a unique value proposition (UVP) in order to be successful. It’s a promise or statement that tells customers what they’ll get if they choose your agency. A well-written unique selling proposition (USP) makes you stand out from the competition and shows potential customers why your services are better than those of your competitors.

For travel agencies, a unique value proposition (UVP) should focus on how their services are different from those of competitors in terms of ease of use, price, customer service, or anything else that makes them stand out. For example, some agencies might focus on making packages and help more tailored to each client than others. Some may have prices that are lower than average because they have access to deals and discounts.

How to Make a Unique Value Proposition:

1. Find out who your target audience is and find out what they want and need when they book trips or vacations.

2. Think about what’s unique about your services that might interest them, like discounts for early bookings or customer service in more than one language.

3. Once you have a good idea of how to make your travel agency stand out, write a clear and concise message that captures its essence.

Here’s an example of how to come up with a unique selling point:

Imagine that your travel agency offers high-end, personalized trips with local guides and unique cultural activities. This offer gives travelers an experience they won’t forget that can’t be found anywhere else. It also lets you stand out and market your services in fun and interesting ways.

When making a unique selling proposition (USP) for your agency, it’s important to focus on the little things that make these trips stand out. This could be done by highlighting the activities that are available at each destination or by showing testimonials from past clients who had amazing trips with your agency.

Marketing for Travel Agency Website Image 2

Developing a Marketing Mix

Next, having the right mix of product, price, place and promotion is essential. By utilizing this mix of elements, you can have a successful marketing strategy that will bring in more customers.

1. Product:

Product refers to the type of services offered by your travel agency. You must make sure that they are relevant and valuable to your potential customers .

Price can also be an important element in your marketing plan for the travel agency. It’s important for you to determine what pricing strategies best suit your company’s goals and objectives before developing a final price point.

For a travel agency, place can include both online and offline sales outlets , such as tour operators, wholesalers, OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), mobile apps, websites and retail stores. To maximize reach potential your customers should be able to book flights and tours conveniently across all these platforms.

4. Promotion:

Promotion is also key when creating a successful marketing strategy for any business, especially travel agencies. Promotion should focus on driving visibility through multiple channels like search engines, email campaigns, social media campaigns and influencer marketing.

Here is an example of how you develop a marketing mix:

Imagine that your travel agency offers package tours at high prices. This is a great option for people who want to travel without a lot of stress. Travel agents and online booking sites sell these packages, which makes it easy to find the best place to go on vacation.

To make sure your customers have the best possible experience, you focus on promotional events and targeted advertising. This lets customers take advantage of discounts offered by the travel agency and learn more about the different places they can go, all while getting a great deal.

travel agency business plan target market

Building Your Brand

Branding helps customers trust and stick with a company, which leads to higher profits. Branding also helps your travel agency stand out from the competition and attract more customers.

A strong brand has a unique logo, slogan, and message that stays the same across all platforms. Your logo should be simple and easy to remember, and your slogan should say what makes your travel agency unique. Also, it’s important to always use the same colors and fonts so that customers can recognize your business whether they’re looking at it online or in print.

Here are the steps to take when building your brand and making sure it stands out among competitors:

  • First, you need to figure out who your target market is . You can do this by looking at demographics and making personas.
  • Next, come up with a mission statement that will guide all of your marketing efforts. This should explain why your travel agency exists and what makes it different from other businesses in the same field. Then comes the visual branding, which includes logos, colors, fonts, and other design elements that are used consistently across all platforms, such as the website, social media channels, etc. So, customers know them right away, without any confusion or doubt.

Here is an example of how you build your brand:

As a travel agency, you create a consistent visual identity and message that speaks to potential customers. This can be done by using customer reviews and partnerships with high-end hotels and resorts to show customers that when they book through your agency, they will get good products and services.

Visuals like logos, colors, fonts, shapes, images, etc. that stay the same over time help your business have a look that customers can recognize and trust. In a similar way, you create consistent messaging so that customers know what to expect from you each time they contact your business. This could be done through marketing materials like brochures or websites, but also through social media platforms or email campaigns.

Marketing for Travel Agency Website Image 4

Utilizing Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is important for any travel agency that wants to be successful because it helps raise the agency’s profile and get more leads and sales. When travel agencies use digital marketing, they can reach a wider audience, promote their services more effectively, and learn more about how customers act.

Digital marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services through digital channels like search engines, websites, social media platforms, email campaigns, mobile apps, etc.

Digital marketing has many benefits for travel agencies, such as raising brand awareness and making it easier to target ads and campaigns based on customer information. Personalized offers have increased customer engagement and loyalty. Being able to keep track of analytics in real time to help make better decisions and a lot more.

Various types of digital marketing can be used to promote a travel agency’s services and products. Some of these include:

1.   Search engine optimization (SEO): SEO involves creating content that uses targeted keywords to show up higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). 

2. Social media: Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer great opportunities for travel agencies to engage with potential customers.

3. Content Creation: Creating interesting and engaging content, such as blogs or videos on travel-related topics, can help raise awareness about your services and generate interest among potential customers.

Here is an example of how you utilize digital marketing:

As a travel agency, you use the most up-to-date digital marketing tools to connect with and talk to potential customers. Social media, email marketing, and search engine optimization are all used to tell people about the best parts of a destination and the unique things to do there.

For social media, you can post high-quality images on Instagram or Twitter. By sharing interesting content, like photos, videos, or reviews of the places you’re promoting, you can get more followers and show what makes those places special.

For email marketing, you send out newsletters with information about deals and discounts so that people can find out about any new offers.

Marketing for Travel Agency Website Image 5

Measuring and Analyzing Your Marketing Efforts

Lastly, a travel agency that does well needs to measure and analyze its marketing efforts. Getting to know how customers interact with your brand will tell you a lot about how well your strategies are working. By measuring and analyzing key metrics, you can find places to improve to get customers more involved, increase sales, and make sure your business is a success.

To stay competitive, travel agencies need to keep track of key metrics that measure how well their marketing is working. Important signs of how well your campaigns are doing are website traffic , cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per click (CPC), social media trends , e mail open rates , and user retention.

There are many tools that can help accurately measure how well marketing works. Google Analytics is a great tool, and most people use it to find out about their websites. This tool gives you a detailed look at who visits your site, what they look at, how long they stay on each page, and more. This lets you see how well different campaigns have worked to bring people to your site and get them interested in certain pages or products.

Example: A travel agency uses Google Analytics and customer feedback surveys to track website traffic, conversions, and customer satisfaction, and they change their marketing strategy based on what they learn.

Here is an example of how you measure and analyze your marketing efforts:

The power of data is being used by your travel agency. You are using Google Analytics and customer feedback surveys to learn important things about how customers use your website, what conversions they are making, and how happy they are. By looking at this information, your travel agencies can change how they market to better meet the needs of their customers.

Marketing for Travel Agency Website Image 6

Marketing isn’t hard for a travel agency, but it’s important for success. Understanding the market, making a unique value proposition, creating a marketing mix, building a strong brand, using digital marketing, and measuring and analyzing your marketing efforts are all important parts of a good strategy.

To get the most out of your digital marketing, you need to stay on top of trends and use tried-and-true methods. Travel agencies can reach the people they want to reach and get more customers with the right plan. Take the time to go through each step, and don’t be afraid to get started!

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Key Components of an Effective Marketing Plan for Travel Agents

Learn key components of a marketing plan from Travel Planners Intl.

You’re working your business and gaining new clients, and people say they like working with you, but you’re not getting the results you want. Your phone rings but it’s not non-stop. And traffic to your website is coming in at a trickle.

And yet you wonder…

Do you need to be patient, waiting for clients and sales to increase?

Or could it be that, you don’t have a solid marketing plan, or any plan [thus breaking a rule of business], and everyone who booked travel with you did so because it was fluke that they found you.

Don’t worry. There’s hope. Read on to learn the seven key components of a marketing plan and start growing your travel agency today.

Key Components of a Marketing Plan for Travel Agents

Choose Your Niche

It’s important to understand the power of specializing and choosing a niche. The more focused you are on who you want to serve, the easier it will be for you to brand yourself and serve your clients with various partner product offerings. If you focus on too many travel niches, you won’t be able to market effectively to your customer. In fact, you may confuse them because they won’t know who you are as a travel agent.

Select Your Target Market

Learn key components of a marketing plan from Travel Planners Intl.

Conduct Market Research

Even if you think you know your niche and target market inside and out, you’ll want to conduct market research. You may create Google Alerts such as ‘travel and travel industry’ or even in your niche, for example, ‘family travel’. You may also subscribe to Travel Agent Central, Vacation Agent, Travel Industry Weekly, and any other publications that will provide you with the necessary marketing research for the travel industry.

Identify Competitors

Competitors are everywhere – never assume they do not exist. However, Travel Planners International is a top host travel agency and offers travel agents a variety of product offerings and education. From the agent’s perspective, it is smart to know who the competitors are in your space or niche and learn their competitive advantage. What is travel products do they offer? What is the price point? What segment are they targeting? Knowing your competitors will help you to position your travel agency and stand out from the competition.

Create a Budget

Create a month-to-month budget using a spreadsheet. Label the horizontal rows January-December. Underneath, label the rows with Budget and Actual. Label the vertical rows with marketing items such as direct mail, email marketing, etc. For each month, enter a Budget and Actual value. Get a total and compare the difference to see the variance – are you under or over budget? If a marketing item is not generating a sufficient ROI (return on investment), you’ll want to analyze why and determine if it’s worth the money to continue.

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Define and Track Metrics

Tracking metrics can make the difference in growing your travel agency. You can use Google Analytics or website conversions and a simple spreadsheet to compare budget vs. actual ROI (see above). However, you want specifics that relate to your marketing message, social media updates, reviews, etc. Test marketing programs up to a 60-day period and analyze results. Use programs that deliver results and stop using those that don’t.

Marketing and Differentiation Strategy

Travel agents who want to get on the path to sales goals need to know how to attract their most likely clients. You’ll want to look at the whole marketplace and breakdown specifics such as email marketing, social media, direct mail, events, webinars, content strategy, partnerships, and other activities that will help you gain access to clientele. Keep in mind that your marketing plan must outline what differentiates you and your agency. Pricing is one differentiation. Technology and customer service are others. It’s up to you to find and deliver your USP (unique selling point).

Working your travel business without getting results is disappointing.

Particularly when you’re passionate about what you do.

But creating a marketing plan can have dramatic effects on your travel agency.

Imagine having an inbox filled with confirmations from current and new clients.

Picture earning commissions up to 90% and feeling satisfied, not frustrated, and earning a living that you desire.

Imagine yourself waking up every day smiling, not frowning.

To start, sit down and think about your marketing plan and outline it.

Consider your niche and choose the one that excites you. Keep those that have potential but don’t focus on them.

Do this and you could take your business to the next level in a short few months.

Call us today to find out more about getting started with Travel Planners International.

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How To Write a Travel Agent Business Plan + Template

How To Write a Travel Agent Business Plan

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

Revenues $ 336,090 $ 450,940 $ 605,000 $ 811,730 $ 1,089,100
$ 336,090 $ 450,940 $ 605,000 $ 811,730 $ 1,089,100
Direct Cost
Direct Costs $ 67,210 $ 90,190 $ 121,000 $ 162,340 $ 217,820
$ 67,210 $ 90,190 $ 121,000 $ 162,340 $ 217,820
$ 268,880 $ 360,750 $ 484,000 $ 649,390 $ 871,280
Salaries $ 96,000 $ 99,840 $ 105,371 $ 110,639 $ 116,171
Marketing Expenses $ 61,200 $ 64,400 $ 67,600 $ 71,000 $ 74,600
Rent/Utility Expenses $ 36,400 $ 37,500 $ 38,700 $ 39,800 $ 41,000
Other Expenses $ 9,200 $ 9,200 $ 9,200 $ 9,400 $ 9,500
$ 202,800 $ 210,940 $ 220,871 $ 230,839 $ 241,271
EBITDA $ 66,080 $ 149,810 $ 263,129 $ 418,551 $ 630,009
Depreciation $ 5,200 $ 5,200 $ 5,200 $ 5,200 $ 4,200
EBIT $ 60,880 $ 144,610 $ 257,929 $ 413,351 $ 625,809
Interest Expense $ 7,600 $ 7,600 $ 7,600 $ 7,600 $ 7,600
$ 53,280 $ 137,010 $ 250,329 $ 405,751 $ 618,209
Taxable Income $ 53,280 $ 137,010 $ 250,329 $ 405,751 $ 618,209
Income Tax Expense $ 18,700 $ 47,900 $ 87,600 $ 142,000 $ 216,400
$ 34,580 $ 89,110 $ 162,729 $ 263,751 $ 401,809
10% 20% 27% 32% 37%

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 $ 105,342 $ 188,252 $ 340,881 $ 597,431 $ 869,278
Other Current Assets $ 41,600 $ 55,800 $ 74,800 $ 90,200 $ 121,000
Total Current Assets $ 146,942 $ 244,052 $ 415,681 $ 687,631 $ 990,278
Fixed Assets $ 25,000 $ 25,000 $ 25,000 $ 25,000 $ 25,000
Accum Depreciation $ 5,200 $ 10,400 $ 15,600 $ 20,800 $ 25,000
Net fixed assets $ 19,800 $ 14,600 $ 9,400 $ 4,200 $ 0
$ 166,742 $ 258,652 $ 425,081 $ 691,831 $ 990,278
Current Liabilities $ 23,300 $ 26,100 $ 29,800 $ 32,800 $ 38,300
Debt outstanding $ 108,862 $ 108,862 $ 108,862 $ 108,862 $ 0
$ 132,162 $ 134,962 $ 138,662 $ 141,662 $ 38,300
Share Capital $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0
Retained earnings $ 34,580 $ 123,690 $ 286,419 $ 550,170 $ 951,978
$ 34,580 $ 123,690 $ 286,419 $ 550,170 $ 951,978
$ 166,742 $ 258,652 $ 425,081 $ 691,831 $ 990,278

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

Net Income (Loss) $ 34,580 $ 89,110 $ 162,729 $ 263,751 $ 401,809
Change in Working Capital $ (18,300) $ (11,400) $ (15,300) $ (12,400) $ (25,300)
Plus Depreciation $ 5,200 $ 5,200 $ 5,200 $ 5,200 $ 4,200
Net Cash Flow from Operations $ 21,480 $ 82,910 $ 152,629 $ 256,551 $ 380,709
Fixed Assets $ (25,000) $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0
Net Cash Flow from Investments $ (25,000) $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0
Cash from Equity $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0
Cash from Debt financing $ 108,862 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ (108,862)
Net Cash Flow from Financing $ 108,862 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ (108,862)
Net Cash Flow $ 105,342 $ 82,910 $ 152,629 $ 256,551 $ 271,847
Cash at Beginning of Period $ 0 $ 105,342 $ 188,252 $ 340,881 $ 597,431
Cash at End of Period $ 105,342 $ 188,252 $ 340,881 $ 597,431 $ 869,278

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.  

Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With our Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

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Travel Agency Business Plan

Executive summary image

Are you a travel enthusiast and want to establish your own travel agency?

Well, if yes, then it’s an exhilarating journey of stepping into a world brimming with adventure and discovery.

But in the midst of this excitement, it’s necessary to lay the groundwork for a successful business out of a hobby. It demands a strategic roadmap – writing a proper travel agency business plan .

So, our travel agency business plan serves as the compass that directs you through all the intricacies of the industry and helps you pay attention to every detail of the business plan.

As you delve into this step-by-step guide, you can explore how to write your own business plan that sets the stage for sustainable growth and leaves a mark on potential investors or readers.

Without further ado; let’s dive into the art of crafting your travel agency business plan.

Key Takeaways

  • Create a compelling executive summary for your travel agency’s identity, vision, mission statement, and core values.
  • Showcase your business goals, market opportunities, and marketing plan to attract potential investors or partners.
  • Highlight the range of travel services you’ll provide, including specialized offerings that place your agency ahead of competitors.
  • Give valuable insights into everyday business operations, from booking management to customer service protocols.
  • Provide a detailed financial plan to illustrate a clear understanding of your travel agency’s financial health and expected growth trajectory.
  • Thoroughly analyze the industry and competitive landscape to uncover the latest trends and customer preferences.
  • Utilize modern and cost-effective business plan software for writing and maintaining business plans.

Why do you need a travel agency business plan?

In reality, every established or emerging business requires a well-written business plan. It is not just a document; it’s a strategic blueprint, offering you a roadmap to make informed business decisions.So, starting your travel agency business greatly benefits from having a well-thought-out business plan like any other business.

Attracting Investors

Whether you’re looking to secure a loan or attract potential investors, a detailed business plan is truly helpful. It shows your agency’s capital cost & revenue potential and summarizes the profitability for angel investors.

Strategic Direction

An actionable plan provides a comprehensive view of your travel agency’s goals, offered services, and strategic steps you will take to achieve success. Also, it indicates a thorough understanding of your target audience and top competitors.

Risk Mitigation

Drafting a professional business plan serves as a foundation for a successful business and helps you identify potential risks & challenges in the market. Through careful planning, you can create effective strategies to overcome obstacles.

Operational Guidance

A well-crafted business plan offers an internal guide that ensures your team understands and aligns with the overarching business objectives, encouraging a cohesive and immersed work environment.

Now, let’s move forward to write a successful business plan for a travel agency.

How to write a business plan for a travel agency?

1. get a business plan template.

Before you start writing a travel agency business plan, it’s highly advisable to get a business plan template first!

It’s like having a valuable toolkit for your business planning endeavors. It not only streamlines the business plan writing but also ensures that you describe all the essential sections.

It offers a structured framework that helps you organize your thoughts effectively to draft a strategically sound business document according to your specific needs and preferences.

Beyond that, a quality business plan template lays the foundation for a comprehensive, professional business plan that highlights your business idea and vision to attract potential investors.

If you’re in search of a polished template, consider Upmetrics’ sample business plan template and ensure that you won’t overlook any essential points in your plan.

sample business plan

Free Business Plan Template

Download our free travel agency business plan template now and pave the way to success. Let’s turn your vision into an actionable strategy!

  • Fill in the blanks – Outline
  • Financial Tables

2. Draft an Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first and foremost section of any business plan. It offers a quick overview of your entire travel agency business plan.

If your first few pages are compelling enough, potential investors or loan officers will find the document intriguing and delve further into your plan.

Your executive summary should be clear, concise, and engaging if you’re looking for investors or loan sanctions, as it will grab their attention and make a strong impression.

To draft an effective summary, start with a concise description of your travel agency business, covering its name, concept, location, objectives, and unique aspects. Refer to the below example:

Travel Agency Business Overview Example

Next, explain what sets you apart and share insights about your service offerings, target market, and ideal customer base. Also, highlight marketing materials, current trends, and potential growth opportunities.

Lastly, give a summary of critical financial figures in terms of projected revenues, profits, and cash flows for the initial 3-5 years. From that, you can address funding needs and resources.

A business plan is a professional, living document that you should update regularly to reflect changes in your business.

3. Provide a Company Overview

Now, it’s time to draft a company overview section that provides a more detailed description of your travel agency.

It could be commercial travel agencies or online travel agencies. Share your agency’s founding story and the individuals behind its inception.

Try to explain your business legal structure(S-Corp, Limited Liability Company, or sole proprietorship), and describe the physical location of your travel agency.

Subsequently, highlight your vision and mission statement in this section to define your identity and core values. This serves as a brand story that your customers can connect to.

Take reference from the below example describing the mission statement of the travel agency:

  • Internally we intend to create and nurture a healthy, exuberant, respectful, and enjoyable environment, in which our employees are fairly compensated and encouraged to respect the customer and the quality of the service we intend to provide.
  • In addition, follow-up will be mandatory to ensure customer satisfaction and make any improvements as recommended by the customers in the future. 
  • We seek fair and responsible profit, enough to keep the company financially healthy for the short and long term and to fairly remunerate employees for their work and effort.

Discuss a little bit more about your business background information and how your travel agency works. Try to give answers for when you start your business and how you have set your office space.

In addition, highlight any milestones you have accomplished, such as the number of clients served, positive reviews, new travel agency openings, etc.

4. Conduct an Industry and Market Analysis

An industry and market analysis section is one of the most important ones in your travel agent business plan. It explores your specific niche within the industry and the geographic background where you wish to operate.

So, take some time to go further and find more accurate information, such as who are your target customers & top competitors, what are the current trends, and whether the tourism market is increasing or decreasing.

Market Size and Growth Potential

Conduct a complete market analysis to study the market size and explore growth potential areas for travel agencies. Assess the total revenue generated within the travel industry and identify the emerging trends.

Customer Analysis

Examine your target market in detail, including demographics, travel behaviors, and customer preferences. Understand your ideal clients and tailor your services to satisfy their specific needs.

Do thorough customer research and understand how your target audience plans and experiences trips. This can help better customize packages and offerings to meet your clients’ needs.

Want help writing a target customer segmentation for your travel agency business? Use Upmetrics AI writing assistant now and easily draft your business plan sections:

Competitor Analysis

As a travel agent, assemble a list of direct and indirect competitors in the travel agency industry. You can consider both classic brick-and-mortar travel agencies and online travel agencies.

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor, including service offerings, tour packages & quality, customer reviews, and marketing strategies.

Understanding these competitor factors will help you determine areas where your travel agency can differentiate itself and stand out in the competitive landscape.

Execute a SWOT analysis to find internal strengths & weaknesses of your travel company and external opportunities & threats in the travel industry.

Take reference from the below example showing a SWOT analysis for an XYZ travel agency business:

SWOT analysis for an travel agency business

Based on SWOT analysis, formulate strategies to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate threats to outline competitive advantage.

Some extra tips for drafting this section of your travel company business plan:

  • Use reputable sources to gather data, including industry reports, market research studies, and surveys.
  • Be specific and provide detailed info wherever possible.
  • Include charts and graphs to demonstrate your key points.
  • Keep your target audience in mind while documenting the business plan.

5. Propose Your Service Offerings

Next, define the scope of your service offerings and clarify how they meet the diverse needs of your clients.

It must be informative, precise, and client-focused, as it is a detailed breakdown of different services that your travel company offers your customers.

As a travel agency, detail your service offerings, such as bookings, accommodations, vacation packages, international/domestic trips, custom-made business trips, or any cruise bookings.

Effectively disseminate your travel services with a detailed description of what it entails, service specifications, precise pricing plans, or any client reviews.

Here, you can take a reference from the below example to illustrate travel agency services:

1 . Guided Tours

Our guided tours are led by knowledgeable local guides who provide valuable insights into the culture and history of each destination.

Price: Varies by destination, starting at [$50] per person

Specifications: Group sizes are limited to 15 people, and tours typically last 2-3 hours.

2. Accommodation Booking

We offer a range of accommodation options, from luxury hotels to charming bed and breakfasts, ensuring our clients have a comfortable stay.

Price: Varies by location and accommodation type, starting at [$100] per night

Specifications: Accommodations are vetted for quality, safety, and comfort.

Not only that, describe any specialized services in your travel agency business plan template that set your travel agency apart so investors can quickly understand your business scope.

In addition to planning & booking, highlight additional services (trip consultations, wedding planning, speaking at industry events, providing training to other travel agents) and mention third-party partners(if any).

6. Outline a Sales and Marketing Plan

Comprehensive sales & marketing efforts can help your business grow by leaps and bounds. Carry out market analysis and develop clear sales and marketing strategies for reaching your target customers.

For travel agency businesses, explain your preliminary approach and promotion tactics to acquiring either local or international customers.

Also, discuss affordable/high-quality travel packages you provide, their prices, and hassle-free transactions at the point of sale. Here are some of the sales and marketing strategies for travel agencies:

Unique selling proposition

Emphasize the agency’s capability to offer personalized customer service, a variety of communication modes, and 24/7 customer support. Present exclusive access to unique destinations, experiences, and special perks.

Pricing Strategy

Implement a flexible and competitive pricing plan that caters to a diverse client base. It allows the agency to adapt to market dynamics, provide value to customers, and uphold a profitable business.

Take reference from the below example written using Upmetrics’ travel agency business plan template:

Pricing Strategy for travel agency business

Offline strategies

Create visually appealing brochures and distribute print materials to local businesses, travel agencies, and strategic locations. Implement a referral program and try to provide discounts or exclusive festive offers.

Social Media Marketing

Utilize social media platforms(Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to highlight travel packages, engage with the target audience, and build a community around travel enthusiasts.

Content Marketing

Create a content marketing strategy comprising blog posts, travel guides, and visually appealing content to encourage potential customers to consider your agency for their travel needs.

Collaborations

Partner with local businesses, hotels, and travel-related service providers to promote your service offerings. Attend travel fairs, trade shows, or community events to network with potential clients.

7. Introduce Your Team

The management team section offers an opportunity to showcase your strength as a travel agent. It should include a thorough plan for your travel agency’s key managers, employees, or sub-travel agents.

Mention their roles & responsibilities or relevant experience in the related fields or travel agency industry. Also, highlight their expertise that contributes to your agency’s success.

Try to break down overall payroll expenses, such as how much their compensation, commission split, base salary, or whether you will give any bonuses or benefits to your employees.

average salary of travel agency employees

If you need to hire employees or a travel agent, emphasize how many individuals you will need and how much you will pay them.

This can provide brief details to the investors and help them understand what exactly you plan to staff your agency and pay your employees.

If applicable, you can also design an organizational chart for your travel agency. This can help you demonstrate who your key members are and what roles they serve in your travel agency.

8. Outline Business Operations

Now, it’s time to develop an in-depth look into the day-to-day functions of your travel agency. Paint a picture of seamless operations and ensure that your business runs smoothly.

Describe the entire operational cycle of the tour business, including staffing, how bookings are managed, customer service procedures, technology used, and safety measures for handling unforeseen circumstances.

Include the below subsections in your travel agent business plan operations section:

Highlight the number of employees required, and opening hours, and briefly outline the responsibilities of each team member and training programs. Refer to the below example written using Upmetrics AI assistant :

Customer Service Procedures

From pre-travel assistance to emergency response, prioritize customer satisfaction, efficient techniques, and effective client communication to ensure a positive and stress-free travel journey.

Equipment & Technology

Explain what kind of equipment & technology you will need to run your travel agency. Include a brief idea of how you will reach some travel agency milestones and look forward as your business grows.

You might consider below things:

  • Office equipment(Telephone, fax, or scanner)
  • Travel agency website
  • Booking tools
  • Itinerary builders
  • Customer Relationship Management(CRM)
  • Invoicing and payment processing tools

9. Prepare Financial Plan

Currently, you are in a business planning stage, but dedicating some time to putting together the most realistic financial projections is very crucial.

Having a well-structured and in-depth travel agency financial plan will help you show the tentative spending as well as the revenue forecasts and budgets if your travel company is seeking funding from investors.

In this section, you will need to make a few assumptions that will greatly affect the financial statements of your agency. Take a look at the below table to make important assumptions:

assumptions that affect the financial statements of travel agency

Mention all the below financial aspects in your travel agency business plan:

  • Income statement (Profit and loss statement)
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
  • Sales forecast
  • Break-even analysis
  • Business ratios
  • Investment strategies
  • Exit strategy

From the above financial statements, you can identify the startup funding needs and evaluate the funding resources for your agency, such as bank loans, angel investors, crowdfunding, or personal savings.

Well, keeping a realistic financial report in your hand not only helps you demonstrate your agency’s fiscal health but also emphasizes its sustainability.

However, calculating all the financial elements from scratch can be overwhelming. But don’t worry; consider Upmetrics’ financial forecasting tool .

All you have to do is fill in all the details you have and let the tool calculate financial factors, and create visual reports for you. No manual data entry, placing Excel formulas, or designing graphs—nothing.

Here’s an example of a projected balance sheet for the next 3 years using Upmetrics:

projected balance sheet example of travel agency business

Download a travel agency business plan template

Need help writing your travel agency business plan from scratch? Well, here you go; download our free travel agency business plan template now and get started.

This modern, user-friendly business plan template is specifically designed for travel agencies. With a step-by-step guide and example, it helps you write a professional plan without missing any crucial steps.

Simply import data into your preferred editor and start writing!

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

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Start preparing your business plan with AI

Finally! With the help of our sample business plan template, you know how to write a travel agency business plan. So, you are one step closer to starting your travel agency business confidently- pretty exciting, right?

But you know what else is more exciting? Your business planning process can be even smoother than this. Yes, you heard it right; it’s possible with the help of Upmetrics AI Assistant.

So, don’t wait, and start planning now !

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Frequently asked questions, where can i find a free travel agency business plan template.

There are various online platforms where you can find free travel agency business plan templates. Consider a reputable business planning website—Upmetrics, which offers free templates to help you get started.

What should be included in a travel agency business plan?

A comprehensive travel agency business plan should include below key components:

  • Executive summary
  • Company overview
  • Market research and industry analysis
  • Services offered
  • Sales and marketing strategy
  • Management team
  • Operational plan
  • Financial plan

How often should i update my travel agency business plan?

It is advised to regularly update your travel agency business plan to reflect changes in the market, industry trends, and business growth. Review and update your plan at least once a year or more often if there are significant changes in your business.

What financial projections are necessary for a travel agency business plan?

Make sure that you include the following financial factors in your travel agency business plan:

  • Startup costs
  • Revenue projections
  • income statement (Profit and loss statement)
  • Projected cash flow

About the Author

travel agency business plan target market

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Here is a free business plan sample for a travel agency.

travel agency profitability

Have you ever envisioned launching your own travel agency but feel overwhelmed about where to start? You've landed in the perfect spot.

In the following paragraphs, we will guide you through a comprehensive sample business plan tailored for a travel agency.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, you're likely aware that a meticulously developed business plan is crucial for achieving success. It serves as a roadmap, outlining your vision, objectives, and strategies for your venture.

To craft an effective plan swiftly and with ease, you can utilize our travel agency business plan template. Additionally, our specialists are on hand to provide a free review and refinement of your plan.

business plan travel agency and tour operator

How to draft a great business plan for your travel agency?

A good business plan for a travel agency must reflect the unique aspects of the travel industry.

To start, it is crucial to provide a comprehensive overview of the travel market. This includes up-to-date statistics and identifying emerging trends in travel, as illustrated in our travel agency business plan template .

Your business plan should then articulate your vision clearly. Define your target market (such as adventure travelers, luxury vacationers, corporate clients, or budget backpackers), and establish your travel agency's unique value proposition (specialized tours, personalized itineraries, eco-friendly travel, etc.).

Market analysis is the next important section. This requires a thorough understanding of the competitive landscape, travel trends, and consumer behavior.

For a travel agency, it is essential to detail the services you plan to offer. Describe your range of travel products - package tours, custom itineraries, travel insurance, booking services - and explain how they cater to the preferences and requirements of your target customers.

The operational plan is also vital. It should outline the location of your agency, the structure of your customer service and booking system, partnerships with travel providers, and the logistics of trip planning.

For a travel agency, it is important to highlight your expertise in destination knowledge, customer service excellence, and the ability to handle travel disruptions.

Then, delve into your marketing and sales strategy. How will you attract and retain clients? Consider promotional tactics, customer loyalty programs, and cross-selling opportunities (such as travel insurance or add-on excursions).

Embracing digital strategies, like maintaining a robust website or an active social media presence, is also critical in the digital age.

The financial plan is another crucial component. This should include your startup costs, revenue projections, operating expenses, and the point at which you will break even.

In a travel agency, margins can vary widely depending on the type of service, so precise financial planning and a solid understanding of your profit centers are essential. For assistance, refer to our financial forecast for a travel agency .

Compared to other business plans, a travel agency's plan must pay special attention to global travel trends, currency fluctuations, and the impact of international events on travel.

A well-crafted business plan will not only help you clarify your strategy and vision but also attract investors or secure loans.

Lenders and investors are looking for comprehensive market research, realistic financial projections, and a clear operational strategy for managing a travel agency.

By presenting a thorough and substantiated plan, you showcase your professionalism and dedication to the success of your travel agency.

To achieve these goals while saving time, you can complete our travel agency business plan template .

business plan travel agency

A free example of business plan for a travel agency

Here, we will provide a concise and illustrative example of a business plan for a specific project.

This example aims to provide an overview of the essential components of a business plan. It is important to note that this version is only a summary. As it stands, this business plan is not sufficiently developed to support a profitability strategy or convince a bank to provide financing.

To be effective, the business plan should be significantly more detailed, including up-to-date market data, more persuasive arguments, a thorough market study, a three-year action plan, as well as detailed financial tables such as a projected income statement, projected balance sheet, cash flow budget, and break-even analysis.

All these elements have been thoroughly included by our experts in the business plan template they have designed for a travel agency .

Here, we will follow the same structure as in our business plan template.

business plan travel agency

Market Opportunity

Market data and figures.

The travel industry is a dynamic and lucrative sector with significant growth potential.

Before the pandemic, the global travel and tourism market was valued at approximately 9.25 trillion U.S. dollars. While the industry faced a downturn due to COVID-19, it is expected to recover and grow in the coming years, driven by pent-up demand and increased consumer confidence.

In the United States alone, the travel and tourism industry contributes substantially to the economy, with millions of international and domestic travelers spending billions annually.

These figures underscore the travel industry's resilience and its critical role in global economic development.

The travel industry is experiencing a transformation, with current trends shaping the future of how people explore the world.

Sustainable travel is becoming increasingly important, with travelers seeking eco-friendly options and destinations that prioritize conservation and community impact.

Personalization and unique experiences are also in high demand, as travelers look for tailor-made itineraries and off-the-beaten-path adventures.

Technology plays a pivotal role, with virtual reality previews, mobile booking, and AI-powered personal assistants enhancing the travel experience.

Health and wellness tourism is on the rise, with destinations offering retreats and activities focused on physical and mental well-being.

Lastly, the demand for flexible booking options and comprehensive travel insurance has grown, as travelers seek security in uncertain times.

These trends highlight the evolving preferences of modern travelers and the need for travel agencies to adapt and innovate.

Success Factors

The success of a travel agency hinges on several critical factors.

Exceptional customer service is paramount, as personalized attention and expert advice can differentiate an agency in a crowded market.

Offering a diverse range of high-quality travel packages and services that cater to various preferences and budgets is also essential.

A strong online presence, with an intuitive booking platform and engaging content, can attract and retain customers in the digital age.

Strategic partnerships with reputable service providers, such as hotels and airlines, can enhance the value proposition and provide competitive pricing.

Lastly, the ability to adapt to industry changes and embrace new trends, such as sustainable travel and wellness tourism, is crucial for long-term success.

The Project

Project presentation.

Our travel agency project is designed to cater to the needs of modern travelers who seek unique and personalized travel experiences. Situated in a convenient location with a strong online presence, our agency will specialize in crafting tailor-made itineraries for individuals, families, and groups. We will focus on providing exceptional travel packages that include gluten-free dining options, ensuring that travelers with dietary restrictions can enjoy their journeys without compromise.

We aim to offer a seamless travel experience, from the planning stage to the return home, with an emphasis on customer satisfaction and attention to detail.

Our travel agency is set to become a go-to resource for those who value health-conscious travel options, as well as for adventurers looking to explore the world with the assurance of their dietary needs being met.

Value Proposition

The value proposition of our travel agency is centered around delivering personalized and health-conscious travel experiences. We understand the challenges faced by travelers with dietary restrictions and are dedicated to providing gluten-free solutions as part of our travel packages.

Our commitment to customization, combined with our expertise in identifying gluten-free friendly accommodations and restaurants, offers peace of mind and an enjoyable travel experience to our clients.

We are dedicated to creating travel itineraries that not only meet the dietary needs of our customers but also enrich their lives through cultural immersion and adventure.

Our agency strives to be a leader in the niche market of health-conscious travel, offering innovative solutions and educational resources that empower our clients to travel freely and safely.

Project Owner

The project owner is a seasoned travel professional with a passion for exploring the world and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by travelers with dietary restrictions.

With years of experience in the travel industry and a personal commitment to healthy living, the owner is well-equipped to guide the agency in providing top-notch, gluten-free travel experiences.

Driven by a vision to make travel accessible and enjoyable for all, regardless of dietary needs, the owner is dedicated to building a travel agency that stands out for its personalized service, health-conscious options, and commitment to customer satisfaction.

With a blend of industry knowledge and a personal touch, the project owner is the driving force behind this innovative travel agency, aiming to transform the way people with dietary restrictions experience the world.

The Market Study

Market segments.

The market segments for this travel agency are diverse and cater to various customer needs.

First, there are adventure seekers looking for unique and off-the-beaten-path travel experiences, who value personalized itineraries.

Next, there are luxury travelers who desire premium, all-inclusive vacation packages with high-end accommodations and exclusive services.

The market also includes budget-conscious travelers who seek affordable yet memorable trips, often in groups or as solo travelers.

Finally, corporate clients represent a significant segment, requiring professional travel arrangements for business trips, conferences, and team-building retreats.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis of this travel agency project highlights several key factors.

Strengths include a knowledgeable team with expertise in travel planning, strong partnerships with service providers, and a commitment to customer satisfaction.

Weaknesses might involve the volatility of the travel industry, dependency on economic factors, and the challenge of maintaining competitive pricing.

Opportunities can be found in the growing trend of experiential travel, the potential for digital marketing to reach a global audience, and the ability to offer niche travel packages.

Threats include unpredictable global events affecting travel, such as pandemics or political instability, and the intense competition from online travel agencies and direct booking platforms.

Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis in the travel agency sector indicates a highly competitive landscape.

Direct competitors include other local and online travel agencies, as well as larger travel companies with extensive marketing budgets.

These competitors strive to capture the attention of various traveler demographics by offering deals, loyalty programs, and comprehensive travel services.

Potential competitive advantages for our agency include personalized customer service, unique travel packages, expertise in niche markets, and strong relationships with reputable service providers.

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of competitors is crucial for crafting strategies that emphasize our unique selling propositions and foster customer loyalty.

Competitive Advantages

Our travel agency's competitive edge lies in our personalized approach to crafting travel experiences that resonate with individual client preferences.

We offer tailored travel solutions, from adventure tours to luxury getaways, ensuring that each trip is a perfect fit for our clients' desires and budgets.

Our dedication to customer service excellence allows us to build lasting relationships with our clients, securing repeat business and referrals.

We also pride ourselves on our insider knowledge of destinations, which enables us to provide exclusive experiences not readily available through other channels.

You can also read our articles about: - how to start a travel agency: a complete guide - the customer segments of a travel agency - the competition study for a travel agency

The Strategy

Development plan.

Our three-year development plan for the travel agency is designed to cater to the evolving needs of modern travelers.

In the first year, we will concentrate on building a robust online presence and developing personalized travel packages that cater to niche markets, including eco-tourism and adventure travel.

The second year will focus on establishing partnerships with airlines, hotels, and tour operators to offer exclusive deals and expanding our service offerings to include corporate and group travel.

In the third year, we aim to enhance our customer service with the introduction of a mobile app for itinerary management and real-time travel assistance, as well as exploring the possibility of opening branch offices in key cities.

Throughout this period, we will remain dedicated to providing exceptional travel experiences, maintaining strong customer relationships, and staying ahead of industry trends.

Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas for our travel agency targets a diverse range of customers, from solo travelers and families to corporate clients and adventure seekers.

Our value proposition is centered on delivering tailor-made travel experiences, exceptional customer service, and competitive pricing.

We offer our services through a user-friendly online platform, complemented by personalized consultation from our travel experts.

Key activities include travel planning, booking management, and customer support.

Our revenue streams are generated from service fees, commission from partners, and premium travel package sales, while our costs are associated with marketing, technology infrastructure, and staff salaries.

Find a complete and editable real Business Model Canvas in our business plan template .

Marketing Strategy

Our marketing strategy is built on creating memorable travel experiences and establishing a reputation for reliability and customer satisfaction.

We plan to engage with our target audience through storytelling and sharing travel success stories across various digital platforms.

Partnerships with travel influencers and the use of targeted advertising will help us reach a wider audience.

We will also offer loyalty programs and referral incentives to encourage repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations.

Lastly, attending travel expos and networking events will allow us to build industry relationships and stay connected with market trends.

Risk Policy

Our risk policy focuses on mitigating risks associated with travel disruptions, customer satisfaction, and industry volatility.

We will offer flexible booking options and comprehensive travel insurance to protect our clients against unforeseen events.

Regular training for staff on the latest travel advisories and safety protocols will ensure informed and safe travel planning.

Prudent financial management and maintaining a diversified portfolio of travel products will help us navigate economic fluctuations.

We will also secure liability insurance to cover any potential travel-related disputes, prioritizing the safety and satisfaction of our clients.

Why Our Project is Viable

We are committed to launching a travel agency that adapts to the dynamic preferences of today's travelers.

With our focus on personalized experiences, customer care, and strategic partnerships, we are poised to capture a significant share of the travel market.

We are enthusiastic about making travel planning seamless and enjoyable, contributing to memorable journeys for our clients while growing a successful business.

We are flexible in our approach and ready to adapt to the ever-changing travel landscape, looking forward to a bright future in the travel industry.

You can also read our articles about: - the Business Model Canvas of a travel agency - the marketing strategy for a travel agency

The Financial Plan

Of course, the text presented below is far from sufficient to serve as a solid and credible financial analysis for a bank or potential investor. They expect specific numbers, financial statements, and charts demonstrating the profitability of your project.

All these elements are available in our business plan template for a travel agency and our financial plan for a travel agency .

Initial expenses for our travel agency include securing a prime location for our office, investing in robust travel booking software, creating an engaging website for online reservations, obtaining the necessary licenses and insurance, training staff on various travel destinations and customer service excellence, as well as costs related to brand creation and launching targeted marketing campaigns to reach our ideal clientele.

Our revenue assumptions are based on a thorough analysis of the travel market, considering trends in tourism, consumer vacation spending habits, and the unique value proposition of our personalized travel planning services.

We anticipate progressively increasing sales, starting modestly and growing as the reputation of our travel agency strengthens and our customer base expands.

The projected income statement indicates expected revenues from our travel booking commissions, service fees, and customized travel packages, minus the costs of operations (staff wages, office rent, marketing, utilities, etc.).

This results in a forecasted net profit essential for assessing the long-term viability of our travel agency.

The projected balance sheet reflects assets specific to our business, such as office equipment, software, and prepaid travel inventory, and liabilities including debts and anticipated operational expenses.

It shows the overall financial health of our travel agency at the end of each fiscal period.

Our projected cash flow budget details incoming and outgoing cash flows, allowing us to anticipate our financial needs at any given time. This will enable us to manage our finances effectively and maintain a healthy cash reserve.

The projected financing plan lists the specific financing sources we plan to use to cover our startup expenses, such as business loans, investor capital, or personal savings.

The working capital requirement for our travel agency will be closely monitored to ensure we have the necessary funds to finance our daily operations, including marketing efforts, office expenses, and staff salaries.

The break-even point specific to our project is the level of sales needed to cover all our costs, including startup expenses, and begin generating a profit.

It will indicate when our business is expected to become financially sustainable.

Performance indicators we will track include the profit margin on our travel packages, the customer satisfaction rate to gauge service quality, the liquidity ratio to assess our ability to cover short-term obligations, and the return on investment to measure the efficiency of our capital invested in the agency.

These indicators will help us evaluate the financial health and overall success of our travel agency.

If you want to know more about the financial analysis of this type of activity, please read our article about the financial plan for a travel agency .

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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.

travel agency business plan target market

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.

Image of Zenbusiness business formation

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.

Image of Zenbusiness business formation

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?

Form an LLC in your state!

travel agency business plan target market

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.

travel agency business plan target market

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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06 Sep Creating a Travel Agency Marketing Plan

by Jim Nathan Vice President, Loyalty Marketing Travel Leaders Network

When you are attempting to drive to a new destination, you use a map. Modern mobile map apps give you clear, executable steps to reach your destination—turn right at exit 41, turn left on Main Street.

But what if your destination is not a city or town, but a business goal? For example, if your agency wanted to reach Successville, USA, you’d need a different kind of map than Mapquest can provide—you need a travel agency marketing plan. A marketing plan is a map of your agency’s plan for success, complete with clear, executable steps and goals to get you to your destination.

Travel Leaders Network is first and foremost a marketing organization, (which would explain all of those awards we receive for marketing innovation). As such, we stress the importance of our members having a year-round travel agency marketing plan because it gives them the best chance to succeed.

Some view a marketing plan as a calendar with, for example, a multi-channel promotion for Europe Cruising in March or Australia in August. While this is one very small component of your agency’s marketing plan you must be sure you have the fundamentals down first. What do you sell, what makes you different, who are your target clients? When you are all done with the “meaty” issues you need to decide you can build your strategically designed detailed plan.

The Six Ps of Marketing

Most marketing books only mention the famous four P s of marketing: P roduct, P rice, P lace and P romotion. To that list, I tell our travel agency members to add two more: P eople, aka your target market; and Value P roposition, which helps you differentiate your services in the minds of consumers.

Product – the services, travel types and suppliers you sell; Price —how to balance profits, service fees, markups and revenues goals; Place —where your clients interact with you: those are all easy concepts to understand as you consider your travel agency marketing plan. Here, I’d like to focus on the other three.

Promotion, Promotion, Promotion

There are four key components to promoting your services effectively: advertising, personal selling, sales promotions and public relations. They key here is to mix these elements together to communicate your message as simply, frequently and as powerfully as possible—in a fashion that smartly reaches your core target clientele

Who your targets are is a big driver of what media you use to reach them, whether it’s billboards, paid search results, travel shows, local radio or cable TC, newspapers and social media. Direct mail, email and social media generally work most effectively for our members since we know how to target each promotion to the recipient. If you belong to a travel marketing organization, I hope you’re incorporating their consumer marketing solutions in your travel agency marketing plan.

While direct mail and email are effective at reaching a large target audience, personal selling is the most powerful promotional tool you have in your arsenal. Speaking one-on-one with a potential client gives you the best opportunity to showcase your skills and experiences, something a website cannot do.

For sales promotions, always provide an incentive to the customer to act quickly, and make it super simple for them to understand how to act. And last, don’t forget about public relations as a component of your travel agency marketing plan. Clients love experts, regardless of industry, so the more you speak at events, community gatherings or are quoted in the local newspaper, the more people will view you as the expert you are.

People – Find Your Tribe

When it comes to nailing down your target market—such as young families, adventure seekers, honeymooners—think small. If you try to be everything to everyone, you won’t be anything to anyone. The finer you narrow down your search, the more effectively you can communicate with them.

Clients with niche interests are less price sensitive, because they know exactly what they want. If they recognize you as being the best person to deliver what they want, then you’re all set. Plus, as you become more of an expert in any given niche, your clients will begin referring you to their friends who share their travel passions and referrals are a terrific no cost source of new business

Value Proposition – Why You?

However, wherever, to whomever you market your services to, the essence of your message must be your personal Value Proposition. The Value Proposition is your own unique answer to this question: Why should a client buy from you rather than any of your competitors?

The more provable and concrete you answer is to that question, the stronger your Value Prop will be. If you’ve won tons of awards, visited a particular destination 18 times, are known by your clients for being reachable at any time or place they need you, have a five-star rating on Yelp, those are all important elements to build upon in defining “why you?” Once you have your Value Prop down, turn it into a 30-second elevator pitch that you have committed to memory and say with such sincerity and conviction that potential clients immediately know you’re the one!

travel agency business plan target market

Travel_marketing

Marketing for Travel Agencies: Understanding and Surviving in the Online Travel Industry

  • 16 min read
  • Business ,   Travel
  • Published: 23 Dec, 2019
  • No comments Share

Running a travel business is no joke. Well, you know, saying that the travel industry is highly competitive an understatement. Even the giants with over a hundred years under their belts can fail given bad luck and poor management. Earlier this year, Thomas Cook, the British tour operator and one of the world’s oldest travel industry titans, disastrously imploded. By the time of the breakdown, the company had 19 million annual customers. Pretty impressive, right? In addition to major reasons like enormous debts and difficulties in operating airlines, its lack of online presence and a reduced demand for tour packages caused the company to go downhill. Without changing its business model and broadening distribution channels, Thomas Cook was destined to be overthrown by Booking Holdings and Expedia.

Marketing in Online Travel Agency

Marketing in Online Travel Agency

The market is extremely competitive, and it undergoes changes, becoming increasingly more digital. This calls for intricate approaches to marketing, distribution, and travel products themselves. Here, we will describe the distribution and communication channels, revenue management techniques, product positioning, and the technology – survival strategies all.

Understanding the travel agency market

Let’s talk about challenges first. In an industry with such a competitive nature, smaller travel agencies face three major hurdles.

  • Leading players holding the market. Booking Holdings with its 41 percent share and Expedia with about 32 percent are dominating the online travel agencies market. And their shares keep growing. So, for travel agencies, it’s difficult to stay afloat without a specific niche.
  • Distrust. People tend to be skeptical and even suspicious in arranging their trips. They would rather follow word of mouth, go to their old, time-tested local travel agent, or stick to larger players, even if they are not totally satisfied. So, new travel agencies have to work hard to break through the wall of mistrust.
  • Invisibility. Unless a travel provider puts a lot of effort and resources into promotion, it risks staying unnoticed. Here, the choice of distribution channel plays a decisive role.

That said, midsize and small travel agencies narrow value propositions down to specific market segments, where you can become visible and win the trust of your small, but paying group of travelers. Unless you want to conquer the world and compete with Booking.com, Expedia and their owned brands, your profile of a travel agency is most likely to fit one or several of the following characteristics: Destination-specific. You target a certain destination or a region where you can supply customers with the best deals or unique products (not available on Booking.com/Expedia, etc.). It doesn’t mean that smaller travel agencies are always location-limited. But, usually, there’s a handful of destinations that can keep the business running. Price-oriented. Price has been one of the driving forces of travel purchases for years.

This ad, published in National Geographic by Econo-Travel hotels, dates back to 1978

This ad, published in National Geographic by Econo-Travel hotels, dates back to 1978

Today, price remains one of the key considerations for travelers. Skift 2019 Research shows that almost 60 percent of travelers name lack of money as a factor that holds back travel decisions. This is partly confirmed by the changes that low-cost carriers bring to the table, as the destinations where LLCs start flying experience higher traveler inflow. For instance, in Krakow, Poland, the number of foreign tourists grew from 680 thousand in 2003 to 2.5 million in 2007 mostly due to the development of air travel and low-cost flights in particular. So, the basic scenario for most travel agencies is to compete by price, unless you specifically target luxury or business segments. Still, you must trump major OTAs in terms of pricing and in your target segment to survive. Specific demographic. Another way to narrow down the focus of a travel agency is to work with selected regions, budget expectations, style of travel, age groups, family/single tours, etc. The unique angle to user experience. Another way to stand out is to find new approaches to searching for and purchasing trips. While there are many online travel agencies that follow the beaten path of suggesting travelers choose destinations, dates, filter the results, and pick their travel product, numerous startups are exploring and reinventing travel booking experiences. Kiwi.com suggests a powerful engine to match non-interlined flights, create complex flight itineraries with multiple stops, and book them. Eightydays.me capitalizes on travel research fatigue, allowing travelers to define the date range of their trip and the number of cities they want to visit. The service will generate an itinerary itself, choose the cheaper options, and suggest booking.

It will take days for a regular traveler to create such a complex itinerary, Eightydays cuts this to minutes

It will take days for a regular traveler to create such a complex itinerary, Eightydays cuts this to minutes

Basically, the high-level, strategic goals of modern travel agency marketing are clearly articulating a narrow segment that you address (lower prices in specific destinations, traveler region, demographics, etc.) and choosing the best tools to promote the service. So, let’s start with understanding customer segments.

Investigate and define your market and target audience

It’s likely that you already have an image of your dream traveler in mind. Or you may at least have a set of hypotheses that you must test. At this point, you want to clarify as many details as possible. Who are your travelers? First, recognize who you are targeting and how users interact with similar products in terms of their gender, age, ethnicity, income, qualification, and marital status. For instance, there are big differences in the way different age groups travel and spend during their trips. There may be different motivations. While boomers are looking for ways to relax and unwind, millennials seek more adventurous and experiential travel. Where do they go? Understanding traveler demographics will help you narrow down the number of strategic destinations and service providers that operate there. How do they look for tours and tickets and how do they book? Hold preliminary research on users’ behavioral patterns. Find out what channels they use to find a ticket or a tour. These may include different search engines, metasearch engines such as Kayak, a local offline travel agency, or a tour operator . If you aren’t new to the industry, you’ve probably heard that people use on average 2-3 travel websites to book products and make 120 to 160 visits to travel websites in general. But try to map your specific user journey by running interviews or at least checking the info in open sources. This information will help you understand the main distribution channels. How often do they travel? Exploring this question may give you some painful answers. While on average, say, Americans travel twice a year, your target group may be traveling so rarely that you can end up finding this segment is not viable.

Skift, Experiential Traveler Survey, 2019

Skift, Experiential Traveler Survey , 2019

How price-sensitive are they?  As we mentioned above, price sensitivity is an extremely powerful factor in travel. And sometimes, its strength looks absurd. Mark Trim, creator of a niche online travel agency in Australia that sells round-the-world flights, shares : “ We have noticed people are extremely price-sensitive to their main airfares in this climate, they’ll make a decision on a $10-20k trip depending on a $100-400 fluctuation in their airfare costs which still strikes me as quite strange. ” Most likely, even if you target luxury travel, you’ll find your audience price-sensitive as well. But it’s still worth analyzing the expenses that your target group is ready to pay for a ticket or a tour. In addition to further pricing strategy, it will also give an understanding of price ranges. At the end of this stage, you must have a clear portrait of your customers and their groups. We recommend creating user personas to document your findings and communicate them to your team. You may learn more about user personas in our article on UX research .

Analyze your competitors

Once you have an idea of your dream customers, it’s time to look at the ways they book trips with your competitors. Which competitor products do they use? Analyzing the market is also about researching competitors-to-be. Examining products similar to yours that your audience uses helps pinpoint the areas of improvement and develop a positioning statement. After defining the main competitors-to-be, it’s time to research their strengths and weaknesses. How do they win? Defining the good sides of products alike helps discover what components, characteristics, elements, and overall flow that are the most popular among users. We are not telling you to copy them, but this information can be extremely helpful to understanding user preferences. How do they fail? Finding out the rivals’ vulnerabilities paves the right way to identifying the market gap and creating the service that would be employed by users. This is how you find product/market fit . Run SWOT analysis. We’ve detailed SWOT analysis specifics in our product marketing article . Generally, this technique allows you to map your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to prioritize the direction of further development and define how you stack up against competitors.

Establish your partnerships with service providers

Perhaps, the main assets of any travel agency are the negotiated rates and deals with end-product suppliers, airlines, hotels, tour operators, etc. While you can hook up your booking engine to global distribution systems ( GDSs ), connect with hotel suppliers , or tours and activities APIs , and call it a day, most midsize and small travel agencies exist because of their negotiated deals in a number of travel segments. The thing is with generic offers that every other travel industry player has, your product won’t be competitive. Given that you know your target destinations, value, and price sets, you should narrow down the number of providers you try to develop relationships with. It doesn’t mean though that you can’t offer flights and listings that you haven’t negotiated at all. GDSs, for instance, will provide you with generic deals that you still can sell. Eventually, you must have a pool of key suppliers ready to work with you on exclusive conditions.

Define your pricing strategy

When you have identified your target audience, found your segment, and have negotiated all your deals with providers, it’s time to think about the pricing. Obviously, marketing here overlaps the revenue model. Exploring different pricing strategies of travel agencies and diving into all the intricacies is way beyond the scope of this article. We’ll just outline the main directions of your further research. Explore standard profit margins that your suppliers have. Different regions and different suppliers may have varying profit margins. But regardless of all factors, traditionally, they are low. Again, the competition in travel is fierce and unforgiving. You may expect to get higher returns at hotels and significantly lower ones for flights. Understanding at which profit margins your suppliers operate will help you define your commissions. Find where your key suppliers distribute besides you. In a way, your suppliers are also your clients. And you have competition on the other end of the chain. You must understand the markup other travel agencies and online travel agencies have to specify your markup and balance competition with profitability. Try setting bespoke markups for all your target suppliers. We’ve described how pricing rules work at online travel agencies . They can be as simple as setting a single markup figure for all your products, but what you really want to achieve is having varying markups for different travel products, depending on competition, demand, and commissions that you receive from each supplier. Regardless of whether you have an automated booking engine, you operate mostly manually, or you have a hybrid of these two models, you must have a set of commission rules that navigate how you approach different suppliers, how you offer discounts, and how these things differ depending on distribution channels. Which is what we’re discussing next.

Determine the right distribution and promotion channels

Once you’ve shaped the strategy, it’s time to set up the distribution channels. Here are some of the best practices.

Metasearch engine

Partnering with large metasearch engines like TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak, or Skyscanner is arguably one of the most significant steps in making your service visible and stand out from large OTAs. Metasearch engines aggregate the deals from OTAs and supplier websites to allow travelers to compare them and choose where to book. Metasearch creates a powerful distribution channel, especially if your core differentiation is price. Ultimately, people visit metasearch engines to get an idea of available deals and compare prices. Travel agencies, usually, get featured there, based on a pay-per-click model, similar to regular ads. So, if you decide to distribute using metasearch engines, what should you keep in mind? Investigate your competitors’ rates. First, you have to know the situation on the market, what deals are presented, and how you are being ranked compared to your competitors. On learning the performance of key products, you’ll understand which offers you should submit. Given that most travelers will be choosing based on pricing, the products in your target segment and by your target suppliers must be cheaper. Use analytical tools. But how exactly are you going to check whether your deals compete well? Your competitors’ markups will be constantly changing. And your deals will change their positions as well. There must be some way to keep an eye on your performance and adjust markup to stay competitive. Many small travel agencies would manually check their segments.  Another way here is to purchase the web analytic reports from some of the metasearch engines. In addition to automating all research efforts, it will also help you understand what the competition is and how your opponents rank. For instance, Skyscanner provides its Performance Analytics for Partners program . Manage your markup. To reach your final goal and be visible in the search results, you can now manage your markup or promise unique deals. The level of automation here also depends on your resources:

  • You can manually check prices and manually change markups.
  • You can use automated dashboards to track your performance and then manually change markups.
  • The most advanced scenario is to create an automated commission engine that will keep all your markup rules and will be adjusting your margin on the go, reacting to competitor results.

Prestigia, a small OTA with about 200 thousand monthly visitors, wins on Kayak with this hotel deal as it targets boutique accommodation

Prestigia, a small OTA with about 200 thousand monthly visitors, wins on Kayak with this hotel deal as it targets boutique accommodation

Consider the core value of each engine.  Each of the major metasearch engines has its own advantage. Users all around the world appreciate Google for speed, simplicity, and the fact that their flight metasearch widget appears on the search engine panel if you sell flights. Kayak is extremely valuable for its “price forecasting.” And the core value of Skyscanner, in addition to rapidly rising popularity, is greater coverage of European destinations.

Search engine

About 30 percent of travelers use Google and other search engines to find their deals. So, investing in this channel is also a viable strategy. Blogging. By writing a good, competitive, and compelling copy, you are not only making your service visible to search robots. The extra value here is that you are attracting customers with an educational and engaging read. It encourages their informative decisions and improves your chances that they accept your offer. A great example is TripMyDream, a small Ukrainian online travel agency. They’ve created a blog that eventually became the largest travel media in the country. The content includes articles on their best deals, the most popular destinations, local attractions, and the latest travel industry news. Dedicated landing pages for target deals. There’s another common approach that many modern OTAs practice. You can create dedicated landing pages for your target deals and special offers. When writing copy for them, focus on specific keywords that people use to find these deals. This will allow search robots to find your pages and rank them higher. Besides the copy itself, you may add a booking interface to these pages, a price-picker calendar, product ratings, etc.

Orbitz has dedicated landing pages for hundreds of their deals and packs them with all useful information that a traveler may need: a bookin

Orbitz has dedicated landing pages for hundreds of their deals and packs them with all useful information that a traveler may need: a booking widget, selected fares, basic information, and even short copy describing the trip

Check our case study on the technical side of generating such pages. Invest in SEO. The technical side of search engine optimization activities can also bring much to the table. Basically, SEO activities consider two main things:

  • Internal activities to meet technical standards of search engines. These usually include installing tools like Google Console and Google Analytics, working with meta tags, reviewing a website for the right page redirection, code errors, and others.
  • External activities usually include working with keywords, texts in general, and acquiring backlinks from other websites.

It’s worth mentioning that no external activities may begin without finishing all internal ones. Fundamentally speaking, the main goal of SEO activities is showing the search engine that you understand traveler problems and know how to solve them.

Email marketing

Being probably one of the oldest selling channels, email marketing still works. The travel industry is no exception. The main goal of email marketing is not only to attract but to raise a customer’s interest and retain existing travelers. Collect email accounts. The first step is gathering user emails. The easiest and most basic approach is allowing travelers to sign up for additional services like price-drop alerts and valuable newsletters. Be aware of GDPR requirements . Pick the right mailing tool. A perfect mailing agent provides emailing automation and customized segmentation (age, price expectations, departure airports, etc.). Also, it must allow for analyzing user behavior, such as opening rates, a number of clicks, or even bounce rate. Tools like MailChimp or ActiveCampaign would be a good start. Track behavior and make customized offers. Trace user behavior to understand what travel products and price range your readers usually react to. This will help you better segment customers. At the same time, you may also build your entire strategy on suggesting customized offers by email subscription only, as Moonfish does. The only thing a user has to do is subscribe to emails and pick their home airport. Moonfish will send you notifications on destinations available from there. Hot deals and discounts. You can use discounts as one of the most powerful selling points, stressing urgency or time-restricted conditions.

One of the great examples of submitting discounts was Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. The discounts promoted the unpopular post-Christmas ho

One of the great examples of submitting discounts was Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. The discounts promoted the unpopular post-Christmas holiday season

You can offer generic hot deals but also consider customizing them to a customer’s preferences, such as destination or type of activities included. Or you may even suggest the coverage within the preferable direction. Bundled options. To show care for a customer, you may also create so-called bundles – services and activities to extend and improve their experience. Say, your customer has booked a flight. In your follow-up email, you may suggest car rental services, an apartment, local restaurants, local attractions, and places to visit. Holiday specials. Some people plan their trips on holidays. In your holiday-bound emails, you can step back from a behavior-based approach and include diversified offers, just like Kayak does.

As you can see, there are both wallet-friendly and luxurious destinations and tour packages

As you can see, there are both wallet-friendly and luxurious destinations and tour packages

You might also congratulate your customers on their birthday by suggesting special discounts or giveaways to show appreciation for using your services.

Web adverts

Web banners and links also still work . But things aren’t that simple. Even though adverts remain one of the most straightforward ways to attract the right audience, the way you do web advertising can be tricky in travel. Google search ads. Yes, those top links on the search page. Google search adverts can be effective if you run them for very specific keywords that don’t compete with the major OTAs and metasearch engines. Since displaying those depends on a sophisticated bidding algorithm that considers multiple factors – including the price you’re ready to pay per click and the way Google thinks that your page is helpful and relevant – competing with major brands may be tough here. On the other hand, if you’re lucky enough to have a number of very specific segments and deals that aren’t advertised by large OTAs, Google ads are a great way to start. An interesting example here comes not from an OTA but a hotel chain, Red Roof . They realized that competing with Kayak or other heavyweight players in Google is expensive. So instead, they capitalized on stranded passengers after flight disruptions and targeted keywords like “hotels near O’Hare Airport” with mobile search only. There were a number of other smart tricks like tracking flight cancelation data using flight APIs in real time and matching it with geo-targeting in their ad campaigns. Eventually, they got 266 percent growth in nonbrand mobile bookings.   Retargeting. Sometimes it happens that a user has visited your website, searched for some flights or tours, but didn’t book. With retargeting adverts, you can remind them to do so. But here’s the trick. Given that travelers usually immerse in deep research, it’s likely that they checked your website just to browse. Some tech-savvy, online travel agencies and travel tech startups like bd4travel embark on data-science-based personalization of ads defining which of the visitors are likely to make a purchase to target ads at them. How does it work? Basically, you set up a visitor behavior tracker on a website, analyze their actions, and then choose which of them are worth retargeting. This will help you spend your retargeting budget efficiently, rather than showing your ads to everyone browsing. You may check our case study on machine-learning-driven personalization in an OTA or read a dedicated article that describes how personalization in travel works . Adverts on social media. Social media isn’t much different in terms of the approach to adverts. You’re still looking at highly targeted campaigns. And the good thing is that Facebook and its own brand, Instagram, are famous for deep and granular tools for segmenting your target audience. On top of that, Facebook has a dedicated travel-focused toolset for their platforms and audience network with learning

Video blogging and other social media

Travel bloggers are becoming increasingly popular with the audience. Travel agencies also try to capture this opportunity with useful and entertaining social media and video blogging. So, here are some general directions that you may consider. Document your social media strategy. Similar to blogging on your website, only a systematic approach to social media will work. So, plan out the platforms that you’re going to use and be prepared to post regularly. Having an editorial calendar is also a smart move. Promote the place, not your service. At the end of the day, most people go to other countries to get new experiences. It’s not about staying in an apartment or by the pool. It’s about getting impressions that they have never had before. So instead of promoting hotels or airlines, tell more about destinations. Intimate and cozy cafeterias, locales to visit, and hidden gems of local attractions – not overcrowded with hundreds of tourists – will surely broaden the horizons for your customers. Give life hacks. Many of your potential customers are looking for advice. So, you may create useful videos, both general and destination-focused. You may give some tips on packing or explain how to choose the cheapest flights and apartments in your target destinations, or maybe shoot a video or write a post explaining how transportation works in a particular city. Invest in great imagery. A widespread opinion shared by travel agents is that posts with great images of the destination attract more attention and turn out to be more effective than posts without them. This is especially relevant for Twitter and Instagram. Prepare to run customer service on social media. Most of the feedback, especially the negative variety, you’re going to receive on social media and review platforms like TripAdvisor. So, dedicate a customer service or PR specialist who will be instantly reacting to feedback and engaging in solving traveler problems. If you do look authentic and caring, it will become a powerful driver of traveler trust.

Final recommendations

Running a business in a constantly changing industry is an evolving process. Someday, techniques that worked before will have to be updated, so you’ll have to monitor where the travel sector is going. We hope this article gave you a few ideas on making it as a travel agency. Here are our final tips. Know your segment and target it. The better you understand your travel segment in regard to destinations, customer groups, and deals, the more channels and hacks you can find to stay visible. Constantly develop your partnerships. Your suppliers and exclusive deals that you have with them are your main assets. At some point, growing the number of partnerships equals the growth of your business. Invest in custom technology. Although you’ll find hundreds of tools available for travel agents and online travel agencies, having your own unique angle for reaching travelers is proven effective by many cases, some of which we described in the article. More on technological changes in OTAs here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94AaF1VmTsc Implement-iterate. Marketing activities aren’t a single campaign. It’s an iterative and ongoing work. To survive, you have to constantly track your performance, monitor the market, and discover new distribution channels and opportunities.

travel agency business plan target market

A guide to a successful travel agency marketing plan

  • November 24, 2022

A guide to a successful travel agency marketing plan

Marketing is essential to any business, but marketing your own travel agency can feel daunting. There are many options and ways to reach your target audience. We’re here to help you understand how to promote your business in our guide to creating a successful marketing plan for your travel agency.

Why a travel agency needs a marketing plan

The travel industry is highly competitive, and a well-developed marketing plan can give you the edge you need to succeed. There are many facets to marketing, and a good marketing plan will consider them all. For example, you must consider your target market, including who your clients are and what kind of trips they’re looking for. You should also consider the unique selling points of your business and the most effective way to reach potential customers. For example, you might utilise influencers via Instagram to target the luxury market. Still, a newspaper ad might be more effective if you wanted to target an older demographic. 

A well-crafted marketing plan can make all the difference to a travel agency’s success. Without a plan, you could waste time and money on marketing activities that don’t generate any new business. So, if you’re serious about growing your travel agency, take the time to develop a comprehensive marketing plan. It will be well worth the effort in the long run.

How much does creating a successful travel agency marketing plan cost?

It takes time to create a travel agency marketing plan and it can become quite complex to tackle by yourself.  While there are businesses offering to design a plan for you, it’s very expensive to go down this route. The Travel Franchise focuses on helping its members start successful travel agency businesses. Franchisees receive marketing materials, ready-made social media posts, training in marketing and a Business Development Manager offering support and guidance.

With access to Shout Out, a video marketing tool, over 450 main tour operators at your fingertips, your own ready-made website, and lots more besides, this is a great option to consider. 

What should a marketing plan for a travel agency business include?

There are some things which you absolutely must include in your marketing plan to ensure it is successful. Including the points we’ve listed below will set you up on the right track for growth and save you from wasting valuable time and resources on misdirected marketing. 

  • Who is your target market?

Your target market is the group of clients that you want to reach with your marketing message. The target market should be carefully selected, and your plan designed to appeal to them. As a travel agency, it can be easy to fall into the trap of wanting to appeal to everyone. You’ll need to narrow your focus and refine your brand to stand out in a crowded market. Choosing a niche can help to define your target audience. For example, you could target cruise holidaymakers, luxury travellers or adventure seekers. Your target market will be influenced by the type of travel agency you want to create. Once the target market is selected, the marketing plan can be created and tailored to your audience.  

  • Establish your budget

You’ll next need to set a budget. In marketing, you have to spend money to make money, but good marketing doesn’t have to break the bank. Once you have a budget, you can think about which marketing activities will be most effective for your business. Suppose you’re targeting a local market, for example. In that case, newspaper ads and leaflets could be a good option and are much cheaper than large-scale ad campaigns. You should expect to spend more for a national or international market, and digital marketing may be more appropriate. By carefully planning your spending, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are effective and affordable.

  • Where to focus your marketing efforts

You can use various marketing channels, from social media and influencers to content marketing through blogs. The key is to choose the channels that will reach your target audience and help you achieve your goals. If you need help figuring out where to start, consider using a mix of paid and organic channels for maximum reach and impact. You could run a Google PPC ad campaign , where Google places you at the top of search results to generate traffic to your website.

You can craft a slick Instagram campaign using reels to show the destinations you offer, or post live videos on Facebook. Many people starting a business use their cars as a way to advertise – logos along the side of a car draw attention and can stick in someone’s mind. It’s also worth approaching your local gym or sports club to ask if they’re open to partnering up with you.  

Whatever channels you choose, the key to success is creating great content that resonates with your target audience. Whether it’s a blog or social media posts, or even email newsletters, ensure everything you create is engaging and relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach. 

  • Why digital marketing is easier 

To reach the broadest possible audience, you need to have a solid digital or social media marketing plan for travel agency success. And there are several reasons why digital marketing is more manageable than traditional methods. Firstly, it’s cheaper to produce digital content than to create a TV or print ad. Social media is simple and cost-effective, meaning you won’t need to employ marketing wizards to reap the benefits. You can target your audience in a more focused way with digital marketing by using digital analytics to find what your audience is searching for and clicking on. Overall, digital marketing is more engaging and interactive than other forms of marketing, making it more likely to convert leads into customers. So digital marketing is the way to go if you want to reach many people efficiently and cost-effectively.

Craft a digital marketing plan for your travel agency 

Now you know what you need to include in your marketing plan, it’s time to implement it! As we’ve discussed, digital marketing is one of the best tools to market a travel agency, so we’ll guide you through 5 steps for creating your digital marketing plan. 

  • Research Your Target Audience

By now, you probably have a good idea of your desired audience, but knowing you want to target these people isn’t enough. You should find out who your clients are, what they want, what they search for online, and what will likely win them over to your business. There are various digital tools available online that you can use to research your market , so it’s worth playing around with some to see what works best. Personalised content is a great way to attract your target audience. For example, a sleek website with high-quality destination photos will likely appeal to high-end, luxury travellers.

On the other hand, to target young gap-year travellers employing an Instagram influencer could be the way to go, as fast-paced reels with popular music are likely to resonate better with a younger audience. However, travel agencies can also be destination specific, meaning your audience may be more varied. This can be a boon for your business, as it allows you to tap into a niche market of people interested in your particular location. It also means that the marketing content you produce needs to be comprehensive and appealing enough to reach a wide range of potential clients. 

  • Organise Your Assets 

As a travel business, you’ll likely utilise several marketing platforms, from your website and social media to blogs and emails. Therefore, it pays to be as organised as possible. A specific marketing plan for a travel agency allows you to manage all these different channels and keep track of which performs best. Keeping track of engagement numbers and conversions is essential to judge how your target market engages with your business. When you can pinpoint where you’re getting the most engagement, you can further tailor your marketing strategy, allowing you to spend more time and resources on the platforms which generate more business. 

Ultimately, you want to maximise conversions while minimising costs, so you’ll need to keep track of a few key metrics. First, track each activity’s price and the number of leads and sales generated. This helps you determine which activities are most efficient in cost-per-lead and cost-per-sale. Additionally, keep track of the products you’re marketing, and calculate the internal yield per sale. You can then determine which products are most profitable and have the lowest cost per sale as a yield percentage. By monitoring these metrics, you’ll be able to fine-tune your marketing strategy. 

  • Check Out Your Competition 

To stand out in a competitive market, agencies must keep up with the latest trends and find creative ways to reach their target customers. One way to stay ahead of the curve is to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. By tracking their marketing campaigns, you can quickly adapt and improve upon their strategies. Additionally, monitoring your competitors’ performance can give you valuable insights into what works and doesn’t in the travel industry. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, keep an eye on their marketing efforts.

  • Establishing the Right Partnerships 

For a travel agency to be successful, it’s essential to establish the right partnerships for marketing. Working with other businesses in the industry will give you access to a broader range of potential customers, and you can share resources and ideas. For example, you could partner with a local hotel or car rental company and offer package deals. You could also join forces with a tour operator to promote your services in their brochures and website. By partnering with other businesses, you’ll be able to reach a larger audience and make your travel agency more successful.

  • Set Goals to Track Your Success

Setting targets and goals will allow you to grow your business over time. If you need clarification on your goals, then it’s worth considering what you want to achieve with your marketing. Are you looking to increase brand awareness? Drive more traffic to your website? Convert more leads into customers? Once you’ve decided on your goals, you can start planning how best to achieve them. Remember to analyse the results of your marketing efforts and make adjustments as needed. With a little trial and error, you can fine-tune your marketing plan and ensure it’s as effective as possible. 

As you continue, you’ll come across some new strategies and be able to gain deeper insights into how your marketing strategy is performing. For example, how well is the blog catching on with readers vs lists or apps (which also require more maintenance)? Do people prefer short “top five” style articles over long-form blogging? Combining both could work better for your business. However, you won’t know unless you set goals and track the success of your marketing plan. 

The Key Takeaways

Your marketing plan will become more refined but knowing your target audience and establishing a budget is key. By creating partnerships, organising assets, setting goals, and tracking your success, you can create a successful marketing strategy for your travel agency. These tips will help increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your business.

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travel agency business plan target market

Travel Agency Marketing (11 Proven strategies & Tips)

Travel Agency marketing is something that I’m passionate about, and I’m pretty good at it too. It’s also how I really started in marketing in 2009, working on my mom’s niche travel agencies.

In this guide, I’m going to explain some tactics I use. I hope you can implement some of the ideas below.

Have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

  • Find what works

Links and PR

Social media, social advertising.

  • Set up a website
  • List yourself in all the local directories

Customer Relationship Software

Word of mouth, search engine marketing.

It wasn’t easy to start; I had to learn quite a lot and didn’t have someone to really help me, and the internet was very different back then. But I practised, learned, and tested. I grew to love it. It’s kinda why Travel Tractions Marketing was born 🙂

This guide details how I helped my mom to market her sites 10 years ago and what I do to market my own and client sites today.

My mom had one main business called Webtours, and then she decided to make niche websites for each service offering.

I thought this very silly at the time, but little did I know this was one of the smartest things we did.

travel agency websites

It enabled me to learn much quicker than normal (because she had 3+ sites – I could test, try and dabble).

Not only did it allow me to test, but the agency position was also so niche; it gave access to different markets and appeared as a “specialist”.

Becoming or positioning herself as the “specialist” was a no-brainer and her niche agencies grew so much faster (in traffic and clients) than the general brand.

In this article, you will get:

  • The best way to stand out
  • Travel marketing ideas
  • A travel marketing plan
  • Travel agency ad examples

And leave a marketing ninja, not really. But you will be wiser. 😉

Marketing for Travel Agents Tips

site speed

Know where you differentiate and sell that. This could be customer service, affordability, quality, or speed. Anything that sets you even more apart.

I know it seems like laser focus, but sometimes that’s key. Especially with data-based digital marketing today. If you can zero down on your perfect customer, your cost of Return On Marketing Investment is much lower.

Find What Works

Different things worked for different businesses. Bridal conferences worked well for honeymooners while ranking for school holiday specials worked for the beach holiday agency website. Ranking for “all-inclusive ski holidays” worked great for selling Club Med ski holidays.

When you find out what channel, gap or method of marketing works for you, double down on it! But don’t give up on the other channels – consistency is key.

When she first started her business, it was general travel, but when she specialised, things really took off. Being known as an expert and having more experience/knowledge sets you apart from most of the competition.

Travel Agency Advertising Ideas

travel agency advertising ideas

There are many methods to market your travel agency. below you will find the ones that actually worked.

Search Engine traffic accounts for 68% of the traffic , and COVID has drastically changed how consumers spend money online. So if you are not investing more than 50% of your marketing budget into SEO, you are doing yourself a disservice.

SEO does involve many different aspects that assist other channels

Creating long-tail content is KEY to surviving in the travel industry!

Google your area and “hotel” or “tour” it’s probably taken up by one of the big 5 behemoth sites like Viator, GetYourGuide, Booking, Agoda, Trip Advisor or some other monster…. You might find your site/page somewhere on the bottom or maybe on the next page, but no one will know because no one goes to the second page of Google.

By creating content that is more long tail and niche, like “best family resorts in Europe for a ski holiday”, you’ll find a lot of blogs and sites that you compete with, and beat.

woman writing

My calculations for an average ski holiday for an average family (4 people) costs start at 10k USD. Sell one holiday from this piece of content, and you’ve paid for it 3 times over. The best part? It stays on top of Google until someone outranks you. Another win, you can use this content for social over and over again.

Content is king. Even 10 years ago, when backlinks were the bee’s knees in SEO, I got the majority of my wins/leads, if not all, by great content.

Invest in SEO. Ok, I’m biased here, but I wasn’t taught SEO in my marketing degree, but it isn’t rocket science to figure out where most of our enquiries and new customers were coming from. That’s why I specialised.

Links (other websites linking to your website) is one of the top 3 ranking factors. A few years ago, it was undoubtedly the number one ranking factor.

Links serve two purposes:

#1 They help you get higher in Search Engines.

#2 If you get a link in a good publication to the right audience, you could get referral traffic and maybe a booking.

So do what you can to acquire publicity, exposure and links as much as you can.

social media team

It’s important to build credibility, especially in the travel market, so building a brand and appearing to be a trustable business is key here. If you don’t, you will lose many customers.

Putting money behind average campaigns is how I see most business owners lose faith in online marketing.

Use your social media to remind and be top of mind.

Set up your social media so that you are continuously in your PROSPECTIVE clients’ faces as often as you can. It is important that you spend money only on people who have shown interest in your business.

My view (and many others since Apple gave less targeting data to Facebook ) is that social is a branding tool more than anything else, and only when you drill down into your customer insights and have amazing targeting.  During the Cambridge Analytica scandal they also limited some targeting (like targeting people who recently got engaged with honeymoon ads).

But if you can get in front of your potential clients at the right time, this is gold. But branding, attention, and social proof has the ability to convert customers and keep you top of mind.

email gra

Touchpoints and a well-created email funnel is one of the most powerful items in your arsenal.

A monthly newsletter goes a long way but keeping in touch with your customers is key to this. Again, consistency wins here.

Travel Agent Marketing Plan

This is how I had to market a website in 2020+ It includes small steps on creating different avenues for getting customers and then tracking them and managing your leads effectively.

Set Up a Website

This can be done on almost any platform, and I will always recommend for hundreds of reasons I won’t list here. If you are going to spend money on a website, you might as well make it SEO friendly and hire a professional before you make it live. I see sooooo many businesses make this mistake, so please get an external SEO to check out your development agencies website.

List Yourself in All the Local Directories

woman working online

Once you have a website or somewhere to direct your potential customers, you need to start listing with all the directories in your local area and online. To be honest, you won’t get many leads from here, if any, but if you could rank in your area, it would be the easiest route to go from the start.

Attend Conferences

It’s important to build connections. I know in the 2020s, even passed COVID days, trade shows and conferences are a great way to make connections and learn about new developments in the industry,

Often the main pages of the website are not targeting long tail keywords. Your blog is where you get to write about the “best family resorts in Europe for a ski holiday” and many, many, many other opportunities. This also feeds into your social media and media strategy if done correctly.

I think this is really a place where businesses can excel. Make sure that you are pixeling all users (tracking who they are) that come to your site and marketing to them effectively.

If you have a CRM system, you will know their past consumer history and will appear more as a friend than some stranger off the street. Also, if tied in with email is gold in the holiday season.

How to Promote Your Travel Agency

tarvel agency marketing

There are various ways to promote your agency, and some work better than others. You can often ask your clients how they found you and then double down on that channel. All I know is that customer service and delivering what you promised is the best way to promote yourself, but below are some of the best ways that can be amplified.

Word of mouth or friends’ referrals is still the best way to get new customers – this is INCREDIBLY difficult when you are just starting out. So let any and everyone know what you are starting.

Have great service, I’m in the online game, but word of mouth is still one of the best ways to ensure your agency has some longevity increase your marketing falls flat.

Send an email to your friends. Nothing like a personalised email to a friend letting them know what offers you could have and if they would be interested. Try capturing emails on your website, an email list is an extremely powerful thing.

social media networks

Don’t just start it and then invite all your friends to like the page – if you do this often enough; it’s one way to reduce your Facebook friends without unfriending anyone.

Write about offers and news, and try to write about evergreen topics with SEO in mind.

Make specials for particular times of year like school holidays, Christmas, New Year, and Easter. Promote those holiday times the most and try to have a special running.

There are two disciplines here: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) advertising, often called organic, or PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising, often called paid ads.

It is imperative that when someone is searching for you, your business, or the problem your business solves, they find you! If not perhaps the most important thing.

SEO is more long-term. It’s an investment to be placed higher in Google or search engines naturally – think about it as buying a house (website) on Google pages; it takes a lot of time but is there for a very, very long time if done correctly.

pay per click marketing

I hope these ideas and plans help you with your marketing, and if you ever fall a little flat or are struggling to get real traction, give us a try . It’s what I’ve done for a decade, and we’d love to save you time.

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Travel Agency - Upscale Business Plan

Start your own travel agency - upscale business plan

Panache Travel Group

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

Panache Travel Group (PTG) is a company which specializes in small, escorted luxury tour packages for discriminating clients. It will operate from two bases to better serve customers across the country: one in Salt Lake City, Utah; the other in New York, New York. The founders and employees of Panache Travel Group are experienced travelers and travel professionals who are knowledgeable, capable and passionate about the services Panache Travel Group will promote and offer.

Within the growing travel industry, PTG will focus on the niche market of luxury travel. Its primary clients are individuals, couples and affinity groups of high-net-worth who travel for leisure at least once per year. Seeking the ultimate travel experience, the target clients demand the finest quality activities and accommodations accompanied by a superior level of service. PTG will have a competitive advantage over others in this market by providing smaller, more exclusive package tours enabling the clients of these intimate groups to receive personal attention from the travel hosts. PTG will cultivate this niche with one-to-one contact with potential clients; personal contact with sophisticated travel agencies whose primary clientele targets our market; broad out-reach programs through various media; special events; and an inter-active, full-service website. We have all aspects of travel technology available to us through Panache Services. The founders and personnel of PTG have experience of their own with travel, luxury retailing, personal services to high-net-worth individuals, history of travel destinations and local languages.

To broaden market share and increase brand recognition, the luxury tour packages initially will be offered at slightly below market rate. As a result, short-term operating profit margins are projected to be in low to mid range. When PTG has established a loyal core clientele and increased brand recognition, allowing the company to increase the price of the tour packages to the market rate, operating profit margin is anticipated to rise.

Travel agency - upscale business plan, executive summary chart image

1.1 Objectives

1. Achieve hefty sales in Year 1, followed by astounding increases in Year 2 and Year 3, with corresponding increases in profitability.

2. Develop the Panache Travel Group brand to facilitate customer retention, maintain mind-share of Panache resellers and increase pricing power.

3. Establish and maintain strategic alliances with service providers nationally, internationally, and with travel professionals to create additional PTG sales channels.

4. Produce the highest levels of client satisfaction in the industry.

1.2 Mission

The mission of Panache Travel Group is to provide unique, luxury tours and travel experiences, for a niche market of discriminating clients, which results in their satisfaction, evidenced by repeat bookings as well as favorable word-of-mouth comments. PTG seeks to distinguish itself as a specialist in the field of luxury travel and to be recognized for offering exceptional service and anticipating the needs and desires of its clients. An efficiently run operation, handled by smart individuals, will enable not only those who receive service, but those who give it, to enjoy the experience and the product, and for everyone to be pleased with the professional, first-class service of PTG.

1.3 Keys to Success

  • Segment and target luxury travelers within the larger travel market.
  • Position and promote Panache Travel Group as specialists in the luxury travel segment of the travel industry.
  • Communicate the unique aspects and quality of PTG offerings through personal interaction, media and other branding activities.
  • Develop repeat business from a base of loyal, satisfied customers.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

Panache Travel Group (PTG) will be the parent company of Panache Journeys and Panache Services.

  • Panache Journeys is a luxury tour company which specializes in providing the ultimate in fully-arranged, small, private tours (escorted).
  • Panache Services is a general, full-services travel provider able to meet the basic needs of both the corporate as well as the leisure travel markets. These services include arranging air, land transportation, cruise and hotel bookings, as well as consulting and custom travel arrangements. Panache Services specializes in FITs, or Free and Independent Tours (unescorted).

2.1 Company Ownership

Panache Travel Group will form as a private, Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) organized in the State of Utah by its principal founders (see below). Alternative legal corporate structures may be used once principal investors have been located and investment funding has been secured. Company stock will be apportioned as follows:

  • George Raymond 25%;
  • Dominque Pascal 15%;
  • Alica Marques 15%
  • 25% Investor(s) ownership.
  • 20% Future employees’ pool ownership.

2.2 Start-up Summary

The initial start-up capital requirement for Panache Travel Group will be used to:

  • Purchase the assets and liabilities of Panache European Journeys and Barkley Roberts Travel.
  • Finance start-up costs and payroll expenses for the first 12-months of operation, i.e.
  • Legal fees related to new filings in the state of Utah.
  • Expenses related to rent, office supplies, insurance, utilities, etc.
  • Salaries for key managers and personnel.
  • Miscellaneous costs involved in formulation and execution of strategic plan.

Initial venture capital or individual investment, to be obtained by mid-Year 1.

Travel agency - upscale business plan, company summary chart image

Start-up
Requirements
Start-up Expenses
Legal $500
Stationery etc. $600
Brochures $0
Consultants $0
Insurance $0
Rent $0
Research and Development $0
Expensed Equipment $0
Other $0
Total Start-up Expenses $1,100
Start-up Assets
Cash Required $100,000
Other Current Assets $0
Long-term Assets $0
Total Assets $100,000
Total Requirements $101,100
Start-up Funding
Start-up Expenses to Fund $1,100
Start-up Assets to Fund $100,000
Total Funding Required $101,100
Assets
Non-cash Assets from Start-up $0
Cash Requirements from Start-up $100,000
Additional Cash Raised $0
Cash Balance on Starting Date $100,000
Total Assets $100,000
Liabilities and Capital
Liabilities
Current Borrowing $1,100
Long-term Liabilities $0
Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills) $0
Other Current Liabilities (interest-free) $0
Total Liabilities $1,100
Capital
Planned Investment
Investor 1 $100,000
Investor 2 $0
Other $0
Additional Investment Requirement $0
Total Planned Investment $100,000
Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) ($1,100)
Total Capital $98,900
Total Capital and Liabilities $100,000
Total Funding $101,100

2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

Panache Travel Group has two locations from which it will conduct business:

  • The main office address is 129 Market Street, Suite 600, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103. This is a commercial building that can accommodate walk-in customers.
  • The East Coast office address is 150 Broadway, Suite 1200, New York, New York 10019.

The offices in both locations are fully-equipped and staffed.

The mission of Panache Travel Group is service and luxury for discerning travelers. An observation well-known in the travel and hospitality industry is that achieving a reputation for excellence relies on word of mouth. We want the Panache brand to be synonymous with service and luxury. When the conversation turns to travel, we want our clients to say, “ I travel with Panache! ”

For the current year, 2001, Panache Journeys has planned and described twelve escorted tours:

  • French Portfolio (French Riviera/ Provence)
  • Historic France (Paris/ Loire Valley/ Normandy)
  • Cosmopolitan Europe (Amsterdam/ Paris/ London)
  • Timeless Italy (Italian Riviera/ Tuscany)
  • Italian Glory (Rome/ Florence/ Venice)
  • Portuguese Discovery (Estoril Coast/ Lisbon/ Algarve)
  • Escape to Morocco (Fez/ Casablanca/ Marrakesh)
  • Alpine Luxury (Austria/ Germany)
  • Heart of Europe (Germany/ Czech Republic/ Austria)
  • Orient Express (Venice/ Paris/ London)
  • Panache Explorer-Burma
  • Panache Explorer-Iran

To handle the myriad details involved, we will rely on the technology afforded by Panache Services, the World Wide Web and the focused attention of our founders and staff who will make all plans and arrangements.

3.1 Service Description

Pro Tip:

Well-known luxury hotels engaged for these journeys include, to name just a few: The Splendido, in Portofino; The Carlton, in Cannes; The Ritz in London; and The Gritti Palace in Venice. Arrangements for notable dining experiences of equal caliber have been made in Michelin two-and-three-star restaurants.

Local subject experts have been engaged to impart their invaluable knowledge and perspective to our clients. For example, the services of Professore Marco di Navo, native Venetian, author of Venice , retired professor of art history, University of Padova, and a former head of the Venetian Tour Guide association have been reserved to give everyone new eyes with which to see the glories of Venice.

Of equal importance to everything mentioned above are the Panache hosts who accompany each Journey. Each is excellent and is prepared to give the utmost personal attention to clients on the road. Each host has a broad background of knowledge, experience and the all-important quality of a sense of humor. Each host understands the luxury field is unique unto itself; each client is unique, and the care, feeding and transporting of this demanding clientele requires him to be ever-ready to serve.

The goal of everyone at Panache Journeys is not only to meet the travel needs of its clients: it is to anticipate them. We want our service to be exceptional, not simply friendly. Panache Services provides complementary travel services for Panache Journeys clients, as well as corporate and general leisure travelers. In addition, unescorted FITs, or Free and Independent Tours, are happily arranged for clients for whom a Panache Journey is not quite right.

3.2 Competitive Comparison

Panache Journeys has addressed these issues by positioning itself as a luxury travel company , offering exceptionally small groups (none larger than ten) and delivering an exceptionally high level of service. It understands that these aspects are highly valued, cannot be discounted, reduced or otherwise cheapened. Panache Journeys has not identified a direct competitor in this particular niche of the luxury travel market when aspects of service, group size, quality of accommodations and quantity of personal attention are included. Other luxury tour operators will be discussed under a separate topic in the market analysis and analyzed with a comparison of strengths and weaknesses.

3.3 Sales Literature

A handsome, full-color brochure describes the Panache Journeys, which includes prices and terms. They were printed by The Printing of Salt Lake City and will be mailed to potential customers upon request. Additional brochures will be used in direct mail campaigns and as sales promotional material. Panache Travel Group will maintain, and regularly add to, its database of previous customers/contacts/potential clients information. Notes, additions and revisions will be made on a continuous basis. The website of PTG at www.panachetravelgroup.com gives information about Panache, its hosts, journeys offered with dates, prices, terms and booking information. An e-mail address is given for a Panache Journeys representative to respond to inquiries from prospective travelers. The site is adequate for the 2001 season, but will be thoroughly redesigned and developed for the 2002 season. Money has been allocated in the 2002 marketing budget for this project by an expert, outside firm.

3.4 Fulfillment

The key fulfillment and delivery will be provided by the acquisition of both Panache European Journeys and Barkley Roberts Travel. The core value of these companies is professional expertise, achieved through the combination of travel experience, hard work and educational background.

Panache European Journeys established relationships with providers of travel-related products and services. Extensive market research enabled them to identify and create working relationships with numerous service providers around the world. Panache European Journeys identified opportunities to capture markets with great growth potential. They continually sought and evaluated new sources. Panache European Journeys took advantage of trade shows, travel industry personnel and publications and other sources of industry-related information as it monitored the quality of its offering. They have a history of three successful years providing tours, virtually identical, to those which will be offered by Panache Travel Group.

Barkley Roberts Travel is a full service travel agency. It is a member of the Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC), International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN), Association of Travel Agencies (ASTA), along with many other groups and trade associations. It is also a member of www.vacation.com that is one of the largest consortium for obtaining additional commission and discounts prices on airline, hotel room, rental car and cruise line bookings. In addition, Barkley Roberts Travel has a large client base of both corporate and leisure clients, many of whom travelled with Panache European Journeys. Barkley Roberts Travel is staffed with two full-time certified travel professionals.

The bi-coastal offices staffed with the knowledgeable founders and personnel of PTG will facilitate attracting clients both to and within the luxury travel market though one-on-one meetings with potential clients, personal contact with sophisticated travel agencies which target up-scale consumers, and broad out-reach programs including travel conferences and media and special events.

3.5 Technology

Panache Travel Group will rely on the Computerized Reservation System (CRS) of Barkley Roberts Travel. Barkley Roberts Travel is currently under contract to WorldSpan, a leader in the CRS world. The CRS enables travel agents to identify what the customer is looking for and to make that information available quickly. It increases the speed and efficiency with which PTG can communicate with suppliers. In addition, the CRS simplifies customer data storage and retrieval. PTG will make use of the latest computer technology and the Internet for market research, communications, data storage and sales. PTG will also create working agreements with other travel agencies in the Salt Lake City and New York areas that will enhance its technological abilities and its financial profitability.

3.6 Future Services

Panache Travel Group will increase the geographical areas of the world in which it offers tours. In addition, as the luxury travel market expands, PTG may develop business in additional segments of the luxury travel market, i.e. tours with an architectural, music festival, golf or local festival emphasis. PTG is researching the market to identify potential opportunities for future sales. The long-term goal of PTG is to establish itself as an internationally recognized provider of top-of-the-line luxury travel. This goal does not prohibit PTG from participating in additional areas of the travel industry. It does, however, provide a corporate focus and a differentiated offering.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

Panache Travel Group will focus its initial efforts in obtaining clients in the United States interested in the luxury travel market. Travel and tourism is the nation’s largest services export industry. U.S. resident travelers spent $81.4 billion on travel to foreign countries in 1999. The travel & tourism industry is expected to account for 5.1% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Production (GNP) in 2000. The World Economic Forecast Association (WEFA) forecasts travel & tourism to grow by 4.1% a year between 2000 and 2005 in terms of real spending.

4.1 Market Segmentation

The target customers of Panache Travel Group are couples and individuals, with median household incomes in excess of $100,000 between the ages of 40-70 years of age. These people are interested in adventure, history, gastronomy, travel culture and unique travel experiences. Target groups are as follows:

  • Householders with incomes of $100,000 and over.
  • Travel agents and professionals with an established client base, particularly in the luxury market.
  • Corporations, civic groups and nonprofit organizations, interested in incentives, retreats, field trips and fund raisers.
  • Internet users seeking sites related to luxury travel.

Travel agency - upscale business plan, market analysis summary chart image

Market Analysis
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Potential Customers Growth CAGR
USA Household Incomes Over $100K 6% 2,000,000 2,120,000 2,247,200 2,382,032 2,524,954 6.00%
Travel Agents & Professionals 4% 300,000 312,000 324,480 337,459 350,957 4.00%
Corporations, Civic Groups & Non-profit Organizations 4% 250,000 260,000 270,400 281,216 292,465 4.00%
Internet 5% 1,000,000 1,050,000 1,102,500 1,157,625 1,215,506 5.00%
Total 5.42% 3,550,000 3,742,000 3,944,580 4,158,332 4,383,882 5.42%

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

Panache Travel Group is located in Salt Lake City and the New York City area. It will target and develop relationships with satisfied clients who have traveled with the PTG with the idea of capitalizing on their satisfaction by encouraging favorable word-of-mouth comments to their friends and acquaintances. It will place a great emphasis on targeting key travel agents/professionals, i.e. Virtuosi agents, who have established, luxury client bases. Luxury trade shows, informational meetings, and contact of clients from elite agencies will also be used to identify markets and clients.

4.2.1 Market Growth

The travel industry is growing. Reasons for this growth include a healthy domestic economy and the devaluation of currency in other parts of the world which has made travel less expensive for U.S. residents. Leisure travel has increased each year since 1990 and luxury travel, which is growing at an estimate 5% annually, is one of the fastest growing segments of the travel industry. Additionally, there has been a dramatic increase in corporate participation in the luxury travel market in the form of incentives and retreats.

4.2.2 Market Needs

Many potential customers have questions related to numerous aspects of foreign travel. Experience travelers and travel professionals have invaluable knowledge about destinations, accommodations, prices and the myriad questions that arise. General customers look to the travel professional to provide them with sound advice on these matters.

However, luxury travelers look to and depend on the travel professional to an even greater extent for an even greater number of things. Simply stated, they want someone to help them with everything: “Please take care of it all!” Panache Travel Group is confident in its ability to do just that. PTG saves the client time and money through their knowledge and travel experience, and ensures that clients are worry-free and completely satisfied.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

The U.S. travel and tourism industry is the nation’s third largest retail industry, and according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, indicators suggest it will be the leading industry in 2001. Revenues from travel have increased approximately 100% in the last decade. U.S. travel agencies produce over $100 billion in revenues each year.

The travel market is separated into two categories: business and leisure. Each contributes about 45% to total revenues. The remaining 10% of the revenue is generated from combined business/leisure trips. The market is further separated into domestic and international travel. Leisure travelers are classified according to the type of trip taken, income and/or age.

The leisure travelers are divided into the following groups (not being mutually exclusive):

  • Those focused on adventure, special-interest, rest and relaxation, honeymoons and/or sightseeing.
  • High-income.
  • Budget-conscious.
  • Families, students, groups with mutual affinity and seniors.

Lifestyle, age, and disposable income influence the decision to travel and the type of travel. Luxury travelers make purchase decisions based upon their desire to combine many interests with vacation time. Panache Travel Group will emphasize high-income travelers particularly interested in special-interest, rest and relaxation, honeymoons and sightseeing trips who may be families, groups with a mutual interest and/or seniors. When combined they form a very significant, lucrative market from which to draw potential clients.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

There are many activities and types of travel available to people contemplating a luxury vacation. Moreover, potential customers do not have to vacation: they may elect to spend the discretionary portion of their budget in any number of ways, or invest the money they would otherwise have spent on a vacation.

However, if they are disposed to a luxury vacation, direct competition for Panache Services can come from virtually any agency. That being said, however, these same agencies can be direct sales agents of Panache Journeys. They are valued and are to be sought out. The average luxury traveler engages in one grand travel vacation every twelve months.

4.3.2 Main Competitors

As mentioned above there are competitors for Panache Services, but the market of potential clients is truly vast. On the other hand, Panache Journeys has found a very nice niche with limited direct competition.

Several luxury tour companies compete directly with Panache Journeys for the luxury travel dollar. Three competitors are listed below with their strengths and weakness:

  • Abercrombie & Kent: Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, is the most well-known and largest luxury tour company in the world. They have been providing luxury travel packages for over 40 years. They have the advantage of an established reputation, economies of scale, and strategic alliances. However, their packages are over-priced, and their group size is larger than 24 people per trip as opposed to 10, the maximum for Panache Journeys.
  • Travacoa: Based in Newport Beach, California, is the second leading luxury tour operator in the United States. Again they have advantages of size and length of operation. However, their tours lack imagination, have large group size, 24, and we have been told by our clients who have experienced both Travacoa and Abercrombie & Kent, that Panache Journeys was by far their best traveling experience. They cited hotels, meals, group size, and guides among their reasons for preferring the Panache Journeys traveling experience.
  • Butterfield & Robinson: Based in Toronto, Canada, is an excellent travel company specializing in walking and biking tours throughout the world. They offer a superior product to an up-scale clientele. We, quite frankly, have adapted some of their business practices. But our target group does not want to walk from place to place.

4.3.3 Business Participants

The travel industry is similar to other industries inasmuch as it has large national chains, small home-based businesses, consolidators on the Internet, etc. Membership numbers in some of the travel-related associations give some indication of the number of participants in this market. The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) reports 25,000 members in 135 countries, most of whom are small businesses. The Association of Retail Travel Agencies (ARTA) has another 3,000 members. In addition, many agencies are not affiliated with these associations but rather with one or more of the approximately 35 other travel industry organizations in the country.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

In order to reach its goal of becoming one of the premiere luxury tour operators and travel planners, Panache Travel Group will adopt the following strategy:

  • Establish the reputation of PTG as a differentiated, specialty provider of luxury travel. This will be accomplished through a diverse marketing communications program directed at the target market of PTG utilizing various media.
  • Provide unparalleled service to clients in order to gain repeat business and referrals. This will include providing superior service in all phases of the Panache experience, including timely follow-through.
  • Aggressively promote the Panache brand of luxury travel and, in particular, small group travel through Panache Journeys which will be promoted as “the ultimate in luxurious small group travel.”

5.1 Value Proposition

5.2 competitive edge.

The competitive edge of Panache Travel Group is its focus, passion, experience, and in its superior product with Panache Journeys. PTG provides a differentiated offering with creative management and commitment.

5.3 Sales Strategy

Panache Travel Group will sell the benefits of the services it promotes and the luxury tours it offers. PTG will provide clients with all the arrangements which they can foresee, as well as many they would not have contemplated. Our concern is not to maximize profits on any individual sale, but to satisfy the client. We are confident that doing so will reduce costs and increase profits in the long run. It is less expensive to maintain a relationship than it is to create a new one. At PTG, we believe in the value of the travel we sell and we are confident that we can satisfy the seasoned traveler and the newcomer as well. Sales projections are detailed in the Yearly Sales chart accompanying the Sales Forecast topic and table.

5.3.1 Sales Programs

Sales programs will include sales awards for the highest grossing sales representative and customer service awards for those employees who best exemplify Panache Travel Group’s commitment to clients. On-site sales, telephone sales, on-line sales, off-site sales and third-party sales will all be closely correlated with marketing promotions. Aspects of the sales processes, which may include training, cold-calling, leads, productivity, order-fulfillment, measurable and attainable goal-setting and follow-up efforts, will all be evaluated and clearly described.

5.3.2 Sales Forecast

Detailed projections are located in the sales chart and table below. Panache Travel Group expects sales to double in the first three years of operation. We believe this is a conservative estimate, given the nature of the vast market of potential clients and the market niche of Panache Journeys.

Travel agency - upscale business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

Sales Forecast
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Sales
Journeys $310,000 $900,000 $2,700,000
Services $190,000 $600,000 $1,800,000
Total Sales $500,000 $1,500,000 $4,500,000
Direct Cost of Sales Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Journeys $202,800 $688,500 $2,025,000
Services $144,000 $534,000 $1,584,000
Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales $346,800 $1,222,500 $3,609,000

5.4 Marketing Strategy

Panache Travel Group adheres to the theory that the goal of business is to create and keep customers. Its marketing strategy will reflect this goal as it builds its reputation to clients throughout the United States.

5.4.1 Marketing Programs

Direct marketing methods may include the following:

  • Advertising Specialties. Items, specifically, cotton T-shirts printed with Panache Journeys & (destination), to be given to Panache Travel Group clients.
  • E-Mail Mailings. Regular or infrequent mailings to lists with updated information and special offers.
  • Direct Mail. Brochures, newsletters.
  • Sampling: Occasionally a discounted journey may be offered as a “trade-in-kind” to a visible and vocal trend-setter who is otherwise unable to afford a Panache Journey. Clear expectations would be established for what we would receive in exchange.

Informal Marketing/Networking. Activities such as joining organizations, public speaking, or attending conferences will be explored. For example, an invitation has been extended to one of the founders of PTG for membership in the “DOM professionals,” club a charitable organization for women engaged in the sale and or promotion of passenger transportation and travel in New York City. Its membership is a who’s who of the industry and is a valuable networking organization.

Customer-Based Marketing may include the following:

  • Emphasizing repeat sales by clients who have taken one Panache Journey.
  • Exploring add-on sales to increase the total revenue per client through the sale of extra products or services, such as additional, unescorted, trip planned through Panache Services which might follow a Panache Journey or a domestic trip, business or leisure.
  • Add-on sales facilitated by links to our website.
  • Strategic Partnerships may include cooperative advertising, distribution agreements and bundling.
  • Special Offers and Promotions may include increased commissions or limited-time-only offers to PTG representatives or travel agents for seasonal promotions.

5.4.2 Positioning Statement

Our aim is directed at individuals, corporations, civics groups and charitable organizations who wish to participate in luxury travel, and towards travel agents who want to sell the finest small group luxury tours on the market.

5.4.3 Pricing Strategy

Much of the pricing of Panache Travel Group is determined by market standards. It will attempt to maintain modest margins on Panache Services and slightly higher margins on Panache Journeys. PTG will make every effort to maintain a competitive pricing policy and keep the price of Panache Journeys slightly below the price of other luxury tours for the first three years. However, as Panache Journeys builds its reputation as a premier small group luxury tour operator, it expects to earn the ability to charge comparable rates to other luxury tour companies.

5.4.4 Promotion Strategy

The image we are promoting:

“ Panache :

from Late Latin (pinnaculum): small feather; from Old Italian (pennachio): ornamental tuft of feathers, often on a helmet; a tassel; from Middle French (pennache): flamboyantly or stylish confident manner.” —Oxford English Dictionary

This is the meaning of PANACHE, and this is the message we want to promote!

We seek to project our company’s name, and subtleties of its meaning, to the luxury traveler!

The luxury traveler travels with Panache — therefore he/she has panache!

We aim to convey the myriad benefits the luxury client will receive by traveling with Panache!

A Panache client will have an experience evoked by these phrases:

  • Top-of-the-line, top-drawer care-free leisure.
  • Worry-free and problem-free, all-details-handled without hassle.
  • Personally tailored, friendly expert guidance, seamless operations, attention to details.
  • Pampered and “spoiled”, luxurious and permeated with stylish confidence.
  • Irreplaceable memories, not astronomically priced.

Therefore, we have addressed the Five F’s a customer wants:

Function . Our service meets their concrete needs and desires. Finances . Our prices are somewhat under market-rate. Freedom . We make purchase very convenient, thereby freeing the client’s time and mind. Feelings . We provide a service that makes the clients feel pleased with themselves for their acumen in selecting such a superior product. Future . The service creates great satisfaction. The client’s only longing is for another Journey!

The brochures are sleekly elegant. The logo printed on business cards and stationery is sophisticated and unusual: acid green and black dramatically create attention and the elegance of the Romanesque Panache script is eye-catching. Our sales representatives and Panache hosts are experienced, knowledgeable, cosmopolitan, polished and poised. Our website reinforces these images and messages.

How our image and services will be promoted:

During the first year, Panache Travel Group will continue a relationship begun with the Guild of Ballet West, a professional, nonprofit ballet company located in Salt Lake City, in affiliation with the San Francisco Ballet Company, with a membership of 354. Two journeys will be offered as the grand prize for their annual fund-raising extravaganza given by the Guild in April 28, 2001. This will create buzz and publicity for Panache Journeys, build interest for others to join the prize-winners to travel together, and give back to the community in which PTG is based.

An East-coast based promotion will be participation in the fund-raising auction of educational, public television station WLIW, Channel 21, based on Long Island, New York. The auction will take place June 1-3, 2001. One journey will be auctioned. We will create a 30-second spot with WLIW’s production team. The spot will be aired ten times; print acknowledgement will be made in a Newsday newspaper ad; we’ll receive promotion on WLIW’s auction website and link access to our website; and we have an on-air guest auctioneer opportunity and live interview about Panache Journeys. WLIW has a viewership in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut of more than 1.9 million households weekly and we will be publicized before this vast audience.

PTG will continue calling on travel agencies, in person and by telephone, especially in areas identified as having high levels of income. A select, edited list has been prepared for us by a high-profiled, much-loved and respected, travel professional in New York City. Her stamp-of-approval, gained at the Las Vegas Luxury Travel Expo held in December 2000, has opened many doors. PTG will collaborate with up-scale travel agencies in joint promotions. For example, we will co-sponsor a select mailing in Pittsburgh to high-net-worth individuals who have been identified as interested in luxury travel.

PTG will co-host a kick-off cocktail party with an important agency as they launch their new website. One hundred top local CEO’s, clients of this agency, will be invited.

PTG is working with a Virginia agency and an important museum curator and lecturer to customize an itinerary emphasizing architectural aspects of European cities for interested museum members. PTG may develop an affiliation with the Great Books Program of the University of Chicago, initially in Westchester County, New York. Members have expressed an interest in having PTG tailor travel itineraries highlighting points of specific literary interest. An offer has been made to link our website with that of the Great Books program as well.

PTG will participate in national and regional trade shows. The next one on the calendar is the 2001 Alliance of Westchester Travel Agencies (AWTA) to be held in Tarrytown, New York, April 2, 2001. It draws more than 400 owners, corporate managers and travel agents from Westchester and Rockland counties in New York, Connecticut and other surrounding areas.

Two nationally important trade shows held annually are the Luxury Travel Expo (LTE) in Las Vegas and the Incentive Travel Marketing Expo (ITME) in Chicago. Both are worthwhile. We will attend and exhibit.

Our website will be a very important avenue for reaching prospective clients not reached in other ways. Casually speaking, “It’s a way to put more feet on the street!” It is also an ideal location to introduce tie-in products and services. For example, if we were to believe that a particular Tumi piece of luggage was ideal, we might seek an affiliation with them and create a link on our website. Additionally, if we created a reading list, we might profitably seek a tie-in with one of the on-line book sellers such as Amazon.com.

Another marketing program contemplated is the publication of a chatty newsletter, perhaps distributed quarterly. Its purpose would be to increase customer contact and serve as a vehicle for exemplifying our dedicated, personal attention. We could also highlight new Journeys, interesting travel tidbits, etc., etc. through this means.

Personal selling will also occur utilizing the extended networks of everyone affiliated with Panache Travel Group.

5.5 Strategic Alliances

Strategic alliances for promotions will be developed with travel agents, corporations, civic groups and non-profit organizations. Some of these alliances have been established by Panache Journeys and will continue and be expanded by Panache Travel Group.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

The initial management team depends on the founders of Panache Travel Group and the current employees of Barkley Roberts Travel. George Raymond will act as General Manager. As PTG grows, a board of directors will be formed and additional employees will be added in support, sales, field and marketing.

6.1 Organizational Structure

Panache Travel Group will begin operations with 4 full-time positions and employ independent contractors where necessary for sales and field operations. It will use the service of the certified public accounting firm of Terry Price & Wunderli for payroll, taxes, and accounting. The positions are as follows.

General Manager, LC Partner and President: George Raymond

Marketing Director, LC Partner and Vice President: Dominque Pascal

Travel Director, LC Partner and Vice President: Alica Marques

Office Manager and 2nd Travel Agent: Suzy Brown

6.2 Management Team

General Manager and Development Director

George Raymond, 47, B.A. History, M.A. Comparative Literature, University of California, PhD.Comparative Literature, University of Utah. Seven years as Adjunct Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Utah. A life-long world traveler and sophisticated bon vivant who speaks French fluently and can make himself understood in myriad other languages. So well-traveled there isn’t a silver/gold/platinum metal precious enough to indicate the millions of frequent-flyer air miles he has flown around the world.

Marketing and Sales Director

Dominque Pascal 48, B.S. History, English, Yale University. Twenty-five years of experience with Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., Junior League of Westchester, and personal family offices of financiers Willam Dupont Jr., and marketing director of Deluxe World Tours. Mother of an 3 adult sons, an accomplished cook and an avid reader, she has lived in New York for over thirty years and led many lives.

Travel Director

Alica Marques, 39. Twenty years experience in the travel business, including two years as managing partner of Barkley Roberts Travel. With extensive travel experience she has first-hand knowledge of many locations. An expert on CRS and other travel-related computer applications, Alica has many contacts in the industry, knowledge of critical daily operations, and speaks Spanish.

Office Manager and Travel Agent

Suzy Brown, 26. Five years experience in travel, including her work as the current office manager of Barkley Roberts Travel. Not only familiar with the CRS system, she is a wizard with TRAMS, a back-office accounting program designed specifically for the travel business.

6.3 Personnel Plan

The personnel plan of Panache Travel Group depicts anticipated head count for the start-up year. The following table provides more detailed information. PTG anticipates the need to increase personnel in the first 2-3 years, but will need to significantly increase independent contractors for sales reps and tour guides, who will be paid on a commission basis.

*Positions marked with an asterisk, in addition to their base salaries, also receive commission from sales and hosting tours. The cost of paying these commissions is built into the cost of the sale.

Personnel Plan
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
President and Development Dir. * $14,000 $25,000 $40,000
Marketing & Advertising Dir. * $14,000 $20,000 $35,000
Office Manager * $14,000 $20,000 $35,000
Accounting $3,500 $9,000 $12,000
Travel Dir. * $7,000 $13,000 $14,000
Travel Agent $0 $0 $0
Sales Reps. $0 $0 $0
Tour Guides $0 $0 $0
Additional Office Support $0 $0 $13,000
Total People 10 14 20
Total Payroll $52,500 $87,000 $149,000

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

The financial plan of Panache Travel Group is detailed in the following sections. Preliminary estimates suggest that PTG will experience rapid growth and will increase in gross margin and sales volume. This is partly due to the vast market, but will be facilitated by increased marketing. Income estimates are based, in part, on anticipated revenues from accounts and clients that are secured by PTG prior to its acquisition of both Barkley Roberts Travel and Panache European Journeys. PTG will need sufficient cash to allow for a possible negative cash flow during start-up. It will also need investment to acquire the assets and liabilities of Barkley Roberts Travel and Panache European Journeys. Thus, the overall financial plan presents a conservative, but realistic, depiction of the financial position of PTG.

7.1 Important Assumptions

Panache Travel Group assumes the following:

  • Market growth projections for the travel industry and for luxury travel are accurate.
  • National economic conditions, which are favorable to the travel industry, will not experience significant decline in the next three years.
  • International conditions will remain favorable for service providers and PTG will be able to maintain those relationships.
General Assumptions
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Plan Month 1 2 3
Current Interest Rate 10.00% 10.00% 10.00%
Long-term Interest Rate 10.00% 10.00% 10.00%
Tax Rate 25.42% 25.00% 25.42%
Other 0 0 0

7.2 Key Financial Indicators

The following chart indicates key financial indicators for the first three years for Panache Travel Group. Growth is expected in sales and a proportional increase in operating expenses during expansion.

Travel agency - upscale business plan, financial plan chart image

7.3 Projected Profit and Loss

The profit picture of Panache Travel Group improves as operations move into the second year. PTG anticipates improving its profitability dramatically by 2003. The annual estimates are included in the table below.

Travel agency - upscale business plan, financial plan chart image

Pro Forma Profit and Loss
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Sales $500,000 $1,500,000 $4,500,000
Direct Cost of Sales $346,800 $1,222,500 $3,609,000
Other $0 $0 $0
Total Cost of Sales $346,800 $1,222,500 $3,609,000
Gross Margin $153,200 $277,500 $891,000
Gross Margin % 30.64% 18.50% 19.80%
Expenses
Payroll $52,500 $87,000 $149,000
Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses $11,700 $38,600 $76,000
Depreciation $0 $0 $0
Leased Equipment $0 $0 $0
Utilities $875 $1,574 $1,653
Insurance $700 $1,200 $1,200
Rent $2,100 $3,600 $3,600
Payroll Taxes $2,625 $4,350 $7,450
Other $0 $0 $0
Total Operating Expenses $70,500 $136,324 $238,903
Profit Before Interest and Taxes $82,700 $141,176 $652,097
EBITDA $82,700 $141,176 $652,097
Interest Expense $110 $110 $110
Taxes Incurred $20,647 $35,267 $165,713
Net Profit $61,943 $105,800 $486,274
Net Profit/Sales 12.39% 7.05% 10.81%

7.4 Projected Cash Flow

Cash flow projections are critical to our success. The monthly cash flow for 2001 is shown in the illustration, with one bar representing the cash flow per month and the other representing the monthly balance. The annual cash flow figures are included here in the following table.

Travel agency - upscale business plan, financial plan chart image

Pro Forma Cash Flow
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Cash Received
Cash from Operations
Cash Sales $500,000 $1,500,000 $4,500,000
Subtotal Cash from Operations $500,000 $1,500,000 $4,500,000
Additional Cash Received
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received $0 $0 $0
New Current Borrowing $0 $0 $0
New Other Liabilities (interest-free) $0 $0 $0
New Long-term Liabilities $0 $0 $0
Sales of Other Current Assets $0 $0 $0
Sales of Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0
New Investment Received $0 $0 $0
Subtotal Cash Received $500,000 $1,500,000 $4,500,000
Expenditures Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Expenditures from Operations
Cash Spending $52,500 $87,000 $149,000
Bill Payments $343,452 $1,241,864 $3,654,519
Subtotal Spent on Operations $395,952 $1,328,864 $3,803,519
Additional Cash Spent
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out $0 $0 $0
Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing $0 $0 $0
Other Liabilities Principal Repayment $0 $0 $0
Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment $0 $0 $0
Purchase Other Current Assets $0 $0 $0
Purchase Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0
Dividends $0 $0 $0
Subtotal Cash Spent $395,952 $1,328,864 $3,803,519
Net Cash Flow $104,048 $171,136 $696,481
Cash Balance $204,048 $375,184 $1,071,665

7.5 Projected Balance Sheet

The balance sheet indicates sustained and planned growth. Net worth improves considerably in years two and three and will provide Panache Travel Group with a strong financial position.

Pro Forma Balance Sheet
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Assets
Current Assets
Cash $204,048 $375,184 $1,071,665
Other Current Assets $0 $0 $0
Total Current Assets $204,048 $375,184 $1,071,665
Long-term Assets
Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0
Accumulated Depreciation $0 $0 $0
Total Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0
Total Assets $204,048 $375,184 $1,071,665
Liabilities and Capital Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable $42,105 $107,441 $317,649
Current Borrowing $1,100 $1,100 $1,100
Other Current Liabilities $0 $0 $0
Subtotal Current Liabilities $43,205 $108,541 $318,749
Long-term Liabilities $0 $0 $0
Total Liabilities $43,205 $108,541 $318,749
Paid-in Capital $100,000 $100,000 $100,000
Retained Earnings ($1,100) $60,843 $166,642
Earnings $61,943 $105,800 $486,274
Total Capital $160,843 $266,642 $752,916
Total Liabilities and Capital $204,048 $375,184 $1,071,665
Net Worth $160,843 $266,642 $752,916

7.6 Business Ratios

The following table shows the projected business ratios. Panache Travel Group expects to maintain healthy ratios for profitability, risk and return. Industry Profile ratios are also shown, based on Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code 4724, Travel Agencies.

Ratio Analysis
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Industry Profile
Sales Growth 0.00% 200.00% 200.00% 4.00%
Percent of Total Assets
Other Current Assets 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 38.10%
Total Current Assets 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 64.00%
Long-term Assets 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 36.00%
Total Assets 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
Current Liabilities 21.17% 28.93% 29.74% 39.60%
Long-term Liabilities 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 16.30%
Total Liabilities 21.17% 28.93% 29.74% 55.90%
Net Worth 78.83% 71.07% 70.26% 44.10%
Percent of Sales
Sales 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
Gross Margin 30.64% 18.50% 19.80% 38.30%
Selling, General & Administrative Expenses 18.25% 11.45% 8.93% 27.50%
Advertising Expenses 1.40% 1.67% 1.11% 0.40%
Profit Before Interest and Taxes 16.54% 9.41% 14.49% 1.30%
Main Ratios
Current 4.72 3.46 3.36 1.44
Quick 4.72 3.46 3.36 1.13
Total Debt to Total Assets 21.17% 28.93% 29.74% 55.90%
Pre-tax Return on Net Worth 51.35% 52.90% 86.59% 3.20%
Pre-tax Return on Assets 40.48% 37.60% 60.84% 7.20%
Additional Ratios Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Net Profit Margin 12.39% 7.05% 10.81% n.a
Return on Equity 38.51% 39.68% 64.59% n.a
Activity Ratios
Accounts Payable Turnover 9.16 12.17 12.17 n.a
Payment Days 27 21 20 n.a
Total Asset Turnover 2.45 4.00 4.20 n.a
Debt Ratios
Debt to Net Worth 0.27 0.41 0.42 n.a
Current Liab. to Liab. 1.00 1.00 1.00 n.a
Liquidity Ratios
Net Working Capital $160,843 $266,642 $752,916 n.a
Interest Coverage 751.82 1,283.42 5,928.15 n.a
Additional Ratios
Assets to Sales 0.41 0.25 0.24 n.a
Current Debt/Total Assets 21% 29% 30% n.a
Acid Test 4.72 3.46 3.36 n.a
Sales/Net Worth 3.11 5.63 5.98 n.a
Dividend Payout 0.00 0.00 0.00 n.a
Sales Forecast
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Sales
Journeys 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $30,000 $30,000
Services 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $20,000 $20,000
Total Sales $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $50,000 $50,000
Direct Cost of Sales Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Journeys $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $39,000 $39,000 $39,000 $39,000 $23,400 $23,400
Services $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $27,000 $27,000 $27,000 $27,000 $18,000 $18,000
Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $66,000 $66,000 $66,000 $66,000 $41,400 $41,400
Personnel Plan
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
President and Development Dir. * 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000
Marketing & Advertising Dir. * 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000
Office Manager * 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000
Accounting 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $500
Travel Dir. * 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000
Travel Agent 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Sales Reps. 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Tour Guides 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Additional Office Support 0% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total People 10 10 10 10 12 14 14 14 12 10 10 10
Total Payroll $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500
General Assumptions
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Plan Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Current Interest Rate 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00%
Long-term Interest Rate 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 10.00%
Tax Rate 30.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00% 25.00%
Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pro Forma Profit and Loss
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Sales $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $50,000 $50,000
Direct Cost of Sales $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $66,000 $66,000 $66,000 $66,000 $41,400 $41,400
Other $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total Cost of Sales $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $66,000 $66,000 $66,000 $66,000 $41,400 $41,400
Gross Margin $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $80,000 $14,000 $14,000 $14,000 $14,000 $8,600 $8,600
Gross Margin % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 100.00% 17.50% 17.50% 17.50% 17.50% 17.20% 17.20%
Expenses
Payroll $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500
Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $2,100 $1,600 $1,600 $1,600 $1,600 $1,600 $1,600
Depreciation $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Leased Equipment $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Utilities $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $125 $125 $125 $125 $125 $125 $125
Insurance $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100
Rent $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300 $300
Payroll Taxes 5% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $375 $375 $375 $375 $375 $375 $375
Other $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total Operating Expenses $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $10,500 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000
Profit Before Interest and Taxes $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $69,500 $4,000 $4,000 $4,000 $4,000 ($1,400) ($1,400)
EBITDA $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $69,500 $4,000 $4,000 $4,000 $4,000 ($1,400) ($1,400)
Interest Expense $9 $9 $9 $9 $9 $9 $9 $9 $9 $9 $9 $9
Taxes Incurred ($3) ($2) ($2) ($2) ($2) $17,373 $998 $998 $998 $998 ($352) ($352)
Net Profit ($6) ($7) ($7) ($7) ($7) $52,118 $2,993 $2,993 $2,993 $2,993 ($1,057) ($1,057)
Net Profit/Sales 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 65.15% 3.74% 3.74% 3.74% 3.74% -2.11% -2.11%
Pro Forma Cash Flow
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Cash Received
Cash from Operations
Cash Sales $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $50,000 $50,000
Subtotal Cash from Operations $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $50,000 $50,000
Additional Cash Received
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received 0.00% $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
New Current Borrowing $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
New Other Liabilities (interest-free) $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
New Long-term Liabilities $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Sales of Other Current Assets $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Sales of Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
New Investment Received $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Subtotal Cash Received $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $80,000 $50,000 $50,000
Expenditures Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Expenditures from Operations
Cash Spending $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500
Bill Payments $0 $6 $7 $7 $7 $686 $22,019 $69,507 $69,507 $69,507 $68,642 $43,557
Subtotal Spent on Operations $0 $6 $7 $7 $7 $8,186 $29,519 $77,007 $77,007 $77,007 $76,142 $51,057
Additional Cash Spent
Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Other Liabilities Principal Repayment $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Purchase Other Current Assets $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Purchase Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Dividends $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Subtotal Cash Spent $0 $6 $7 $7 $7 $8,186 $29,519 $77,007 $77,007 $77,007 $76,142 $51,057
Net Cash Flow ($0) ($6) ($7) ($7) ($7) $71,814 $50,481 $2,993 $2,993 $2,993 ($26,142) ($1,057)
Cash Balance $100,000 $99,993 $99,986 $99,980 $99,973 $171,787 $222,267 $225,260 $228,254 $231,247 $205,105 $204,048
Pro Forma Balance Sheet
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Assets Starting Balances
Current Assets
Cash $100,000 $100,000 $99,993 $99,986 $99,980 $99,973 $171,787 $222,267 $225,260 $228,254 $231,247 $205,105 $204,048
Other Current Assets $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total Current Assets $100,000 $100,000 $99,993 $99,986 $99,980 $99,973 $171,787 $222,267 $225,260 $228,254 $231,247 $205,105 $204,048
Long-term Assets
Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Accumulated Depreciation $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total Long-term Assets $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total Assets $100,000 $100,000 $99,993 $99,986 $99,980 $99,973 $171,787 $222,267 $225,260 $228,254 $231,247 $205,105 $204,048
Liabilities and Capital Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable $0 $6 $7 $7 $7 $7 $19,702 $67,190 $67,190 $67,190 $67,190 $42,105 $42,105
Current Borrowing $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100
Other Current Liabilities $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Subtotal Current Liabilities $1,100 $1,106 $1,107 $1,107 $1,107 $1,107 $20,802 $68,290 $68,290 $68,290 $68,290 $43,205 $43,205
Long-term Liabilities $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total Liabilities $1,100 $1,106 $1,107 $1,107 $1,107 $1,107 $20,802 $68,290 $68,290 $68,290 $68,290 $43,205 $43,205
Paid-in Capital $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000
Retained Earnings ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100) ($1,100)
Earnings $0 ($6) ($13) ($20) ($27) ($34) $52,084 $55,077 $58,070 $61,064 $64,057 $63,000 $61,943
Total Capital $98,900 $98,894 $98,887 $98,880 $98,873 $98,866 $150,984 $153,977 $156,970 $159,964 $162,957 $161,900 $160,843
Total Liabilities and Capital $100,000 $100,000 $99,993 $99,986 $99,980 $99,973 $171,787 $222,267 $225,260 $228,254 $231,247 $205,105 $204,048
Net Worth $98,900 $98,894 $98,887 $98,880 $98,873 $98,866 $150,984 $153,977 $156,970 $159,964 $162,957 $161,900 $160,843

Garrett's Bike Shop

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travel agency business plan target market

Destination management company in Russia

Destination management in Russia is one of the main focus areas of our agency.

For the years we are successfully carrying of corporate groups in Russia as professional incoming agency in Moscow. The Proekta’s staff is experienced specialists with excellent knowledge of all local features of Russia. The most popular destinations that corporate groups visit are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kamchatka, and Sochi. We develop unique programs and concepts for each corporate tour to create a memorable experience.

Destination management company in Moscow is needed to ensure running event and logistics at the highest professional level. The knowledge of city’s dynamics, original places and non-tourist sights is the main difference of a professional incoming agency from a mass tour operator.

Destination management in Moscow is quite a young industry, but it has great potential. Here in Russia you can always find what to research and make discoveries every day. Russia is a vast country, not like all the others. Here you can experience different climatic conditions for a few hours, get familiar with different cultures and history of our civilization. There’re infinitely many nuances in such a large country as Russia, and dmc in Moscow and Saint Petersburg should take them into account. That’s why we develop each service for our clients on an individual basis.

Direct and long-term contracts with hotels, transport companies and many other service providers allow us to follow flexible pricing policy. For dmc Moscow is city with endless cultural and historical potential, you can discover it hundred times and find every time something new.

We have taken all the best and most interesting in Russia for our customers. We’re excited to use difficult and out-of-the-box solutions since we know nothing is impossible and want you to remember Russia with love. 

Advertising campaign for Dubai

Snowed car installations in Moscow, Prague and Frankfurt

Elbphilharmonie installation

Mobile installation of Elbphilharmonie in Hermitage

Launching the new flagship Dongfeng A9

Launch event of new Dongfeng A9 at MIAS 2016 press day

MIAS 2016

Building of the exhibition stand and exhibition management at MIAS 2016

Mosbuild 2016

Interviewers for Wacker booth at MosBuild 2016

Incentive tour to Switzerland

Incentive event for Nissan dealers

Severstal USA

Corporate conference in Dearborn, Michigan

Press day - Comtrans

Stand opening ceremony at Comtrans exhibition and press conference

MIAS

Presentation of new models at Moscow International Automobile Salon

Golden Dragon

Stand buildup for Golden Dragon Company on Comtrans exhibition

Nissan Barcelona

Conference for Nissan dealers in Barcelona

Moscow, Butyrskaya Street 62

+7 (499) 653-65-25 (Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00)

[email protected]

facebook.com/proekta

Saint Petersburg, St. Lva Tolstogo 1-3

[email protected]

Rostov-on-Don, St. Koroleva 5b

+7 (863) 333-21-96 (Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00)

[email protected]

COMMENTS

  1. Understanding the Target Market for a Travel Agency

    Depending on the type of services that you offer, your target market could be singles, families, couples, business travelers, or luxury travelers. The target market for a travel agency will also change based on the type of travel and travel experiences being offered. For instance, you will attract a different type of customer if are offering ...

  2. How To Market A Travel Agency + Marketing Plan

    A marketing plan will help you to identify your target market, develop strategies to reach them, and track your progress over time. Keep reading to learn how to develop a marketing plan for your travel agency business. Download the Ultimate Marketing Plan Template. Key Components of a Travel Agency Marketing Plan

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    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.

  4. Travel Agency Business Plan Example

    Explore a real-world travel agency business plan example and download a free template with this information to start writing your own business plan. ... AEU's target market is an exploitable niche and our service is differentiated. AEU's target market members will have similar activity interests, more disposable income and less sensitivity ...

  5. Marketing plan for a travel agency (examples)

    Here's a 10-step action plan to create a marketing strategy that resonates with potential travelers. Step. Action. Details. 1. Identify your target market. Understand who your ideal clients are based on factors like age, travel preferences, and budget. 2. Research competitors.

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    3. Place: For a travel agency, place can include both online and offline sales outlets, such as tour operators, wholesalers, OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), mobile apps, websites and retail stores. To maximize reach potential your customers should be able to book flights and tours conveniently across all these platforms. 4.

  7. Marketing Plan for Travel Agents

    Read on to learn the seven key components of a marketing plan and start growing your travel agency today. Key Components of a Marketing Plan for Travel Agents. ... you may confuse them because they won't know who you are as a travel agent. Select Your Target Market. Once you've chosen your niche, you'll want to define your target market ...

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    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.

  9. How to Write Travel Agency Business Plan + Free Template

    In addition, highlight any milestones you have accomplished, such as the number of clients served, positive reviews, new travel agency openings, etc. 4. Conduct an Industry and Market Analysis. An industry and market analysis section is one of the most important ones in your travel agent business plan.

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    You need to take a multi-pronged approach to marketing your travel agency. Your marketing strategy should include elements like social media marketing, paid marketing, content marketing, seasonal SEO, and local SEO. These pillars will contribute to the overall strength of your marketing plan.

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  12. The #1 Travel Agency Business Plan Template & Guidebook

    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 ...

  13. Travel Agency Marketing Plan

    To that list, I tell our travel agency members to add two more: People, aka your target market; and Value Proposition, which helps you differentiate your services in the minds of consumers. Product - the services, travel types and suppliers you sell; Price—how to balance profits, service fees, markups and revenues goals; Place—where your ...

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    2. Understand your audience. Within the overall market, travel agencies must clearly define their target audience. Use identifiers such as age, gender, family size, earning potential, location, etc. You can also create elaborate buyer personas to guide your digital marketing efforts. 3.

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    Travel marketing ideas; A travel marketing plan; Travel agency ad examples; And leave a marketing ninja, not really. But you will be wiser. 😉. Marketing for Travel Agents Tips. Have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Know where you differentiate and sell that. This could be customer service, affordability, quality, or speed.

  18. Travel Agency

    Panache Travel Group has two locations from which it will conduct business: The main office address is 129 Market Street, Suite 600, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103. This is a commercial building that can accommodate walk-in customers. The East Coast office address is 150 Broadway, Suite 1200, New York, New York 10019.

  19. How to write a business plan for a travel agency?

    Start Your Free Trial Now Or learn more about our solution here. 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.

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  21. Destination management company in Moscow DMC

    Destination management in Russia is one of the main focus areas of our agency. For the years we are successfully carrying of corporate groups in Russia as professional incoming agency in Moscow. The Proekta's staff is experienced specialists with excellent knowledge of all local features of Russia. The most popular destinations that corporate ...

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    Moscow is one of the world's busiest cities with a population of more than 12 million people. Every day thousands of foreigners come to Moscow on business. Our travel agency "MoscowNavigator" provides a range of services for business people in Moscow. -Visa support. -Hotel booking. -Meeting at the airport/train station. -Transfers from/to ...

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