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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:

Customer Segmentation

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

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

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

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

Fun Destinations Travel Agency

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

Best Fit Vacations Travel Agency

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

Trustworthy Travel Agency

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

Competitive Advantage

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

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

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

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

Promotions Strategy

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

Social Media Marketing

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

Professional Associations and Networking

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

Print Advertising

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

Website/SEO Marketing

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

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

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

Operations Plan

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

Operation Functions:

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

Milestones:

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

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

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

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

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

2/15/2023 – Finalize contracts for initial vendors

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

Financial Plan Business Plan FAQs

Key revenue & costs.

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

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

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

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

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

Financial Projections

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

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

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

What are the Main Types of Travel Agencies?

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

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

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

What are the Steps To Start a Travel Agency Business?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • How to Start a Travel Agency Business
  • Host Agencies
  • Accelerator Course
  • Travel Jobs
  • Travel Agent Chatter
  • Etiquette & Rules
  • Privacy Policy

Free Travel Agency Business Plan Template

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

Sound like a (business) plan?!

Levarté Travel February 2024 Article Ad

What Is the Purpose of a Travel Agency Business Plan?

Here's a sneak preview of what you can expect from HAR's business plan below. (Need no convincing? Download it here .)

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

Now when it comes to travel agencies, you may think having a business plan is overkill or outdated. Sure, if you’re opening a storefront agency or a franchise you may need some capital from the bank/investor so a business plan may be a necessity. But now that most agencies are home-based, the median start-up cost for a non-franchise travel agency is $1,000 . If you’re not getting a loan, do you really need a business plan?

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

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

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

Download HAR’s Free Travel Agency Business Plan Template

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7DS Accelerator Travel Agency Startup Courses

Now, let's go over the business plan!

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 1: Overview

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

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

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

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

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

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 2: Business Foundations

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

This section can include:

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

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

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 3: Product or Service

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 3: Management Structures

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HAR dogs

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

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 4: Marketing Strategy

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

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

Marketing Plan

What is your marketing plan? Consider things such as:

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

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

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 5: Technology

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

You might want to consider things like:

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

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

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

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

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 6: Operations

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

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

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

Travel Agency Business Plan, Part 7: Administrative Support

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

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

Congratulations. You Have a Travel Agency Business Plan!

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

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

Comment below!

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

About the Author

Mary Stein - Host Agency Reviews

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

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Travel Agency Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Growthink.com Travel Agency Business Plan Template

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

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

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

Why You Need a Business Plan

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

Source of Funding for Travel Agencies

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

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

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

Executive Summary

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

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

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

Company Analysis

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

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

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

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

Include answers to question such as:

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

Industry Analysis

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

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

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

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

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

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

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

Customer Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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Competitive Analysis

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

Direct competitors are other travel agencies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marketing Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

Operations Plan

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

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

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

Management Team

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

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

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

Financial Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travel Agency Business Plan Summary

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

Travel Agency Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my travel agency business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Travel Agency Business Plan.

Where Can I Download a Travel Agent Business Plan PDF?

You can download our travel agent business plan PDF template here. This is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

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

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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.

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What is a Travel Agency Business Plan?

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

Why Write a Travel Agency Business Plan?

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

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

Writing an Effective Travel Agency Business Plan

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

Executive Summary

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

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

Company Description

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

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

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

Industry Analysis

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

Questions to answer include:

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

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

Customer Analysis

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

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

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

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

Competitive Analysis

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

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

Marketing Plan

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

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

Operations Plan

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

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

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

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

Management Team

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

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

Financial Plan

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

This includes the following three financial statements:

Income Statement

Your income statement should include:

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

Sample Income Statement for a Startup Travel Agency

Balance sheet.

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

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

Sample Balance Sheet for a Startup Travel Agency

Cash flow statement.

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

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

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

Sample Cash Flow Statement for a Startup Travel Agency

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

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

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

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

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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.

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  • How to Start a Profitable Travel Agency Business [11 Steps]
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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?

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sample business plan for travel agency

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.

sample business plan for travel agency

Frequently Asked Questions About Travel Agency Business Plans:

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

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

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

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

Can you write a travel agency business plan yourself?

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

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

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

From assessing market viability and formulating business plans to selecting the right technology and navigating the financial landscape, I am dedicated to helping fellow entrepreneurs overcome challenges and unlock their full potential. As a steadfast advocate for small business success, my mission is to pave the way for a new generation of innovative and driven entrepreneurs who are ready to make their mark on the world.

ProfitableVenture

Travel Agency Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

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

Travel and Tour Agency

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

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

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

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

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

How Do Travel Agencies Make Money?

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

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

A Sample Travel Agency Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Executive Summary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Our Products and Services

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

Our business offering are listed below;

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

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

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

Our Business Structure

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

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

  • Chief Executive Officer

Travels and Tours Consultant

Admin and HR Manager

Marketing and Sales Executive

  • Customer Care Executive / Front Desk Officer

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Office:

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

Client Service Executive / Front Desk Officer

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

6. SWOT Analysis

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

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

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

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

  • Opportunities:

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

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

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Our Target Market

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our Competitive Advantage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

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

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

10. Sales Forecast

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

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

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

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

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

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

12. Our Pricing Strategy

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

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

  • Payment Options

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

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

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

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

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

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

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

Check List / Milestone

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

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sample business plan for travel agency

Home » Travel & Tourism

A Sample Travel Agency Business Plan Template

Travel Agency

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

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

Steps on How to Write a Travel Agency Business Plan

Executive summary.

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

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

Company Profile

A. our products and services.

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

b. Nature of the Business

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

c. The Industry

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

d. Mission Statement

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

e. Vision Statement

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

f. Our Tagline (Slogan)

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

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

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

h. Our Organizational Structure

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

i. Ownership/Shareholder Structure and Board Members

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

SWOT Analysis

A. strength.

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

b. Weakness

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

c. Opportunities

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

i. How Big is the Industry?

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

ii. Is the Industry Growing or Declining?

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

iii. What are the Future Trends in the Industry

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

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

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

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

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

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

i. Who are the Major Competitors?

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

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

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

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

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

Marketing Plan

A. who is your target audience.

i. Age Range

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

ii. Level of Educational

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

iii. Income Level

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

iv. Ethnicity

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

v. Language

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

vi. Geographical Location

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

vii. Lifestyle

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

b. Advertising and Promotion Strategies

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

i. Traditional Marketing Strategies

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

ii. Digital Marketing Strategies

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

iii. Social Media Marketing Plan

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

c. Pricing Strategy

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

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

Sales and Distribution Plan

A. sales channels.

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

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

b. Inventory Strategy

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

c. Payment Options for Customers

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

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

d. Return Policy, Incentives, and Guarantees

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

e. Customer Support Strategy

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

Operational Plan

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

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

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

b. Production Process (If Any)

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

c. Service Procedure (If Any)

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

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

d. The Supply Chain

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

e. Sources of Income

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

Financial Plan

A. amount needed to start your travel agency business.

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

b. What are the Cost Involved?

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

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

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

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

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

e. What is the Average Salary of your Staff? 

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

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

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

Financial Projection

A. how much should you charge for your service.

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

b. Sales Forecast?

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

c. Estimated Profit You Will Make a Year?

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

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

d. Profit Margin of a Travel Agency Business 

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

Growth Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How to write a business plan for your travel agency.

business plan for a travel agency

Starting a travel agency can be a great way to capitalize on the growing travel industry.

It can also be a great way to provide a personalized service to customers looking to plan their dream vacation.

But, first thing first, you need to write a business plan.

A business plan is essential for any new project, as it helps to ensure that the project is well thought out and organized. It also helps to determine the necessary resources and potential risks associated with the project.

In short, a good business plan will help ensure the profitability of your travel agency .

What should be covered when creating a business plan for a travel agency? What is the best way to structure it? Which key financial indicators should be incorporated? What are some steps I can follow to quickly create a business plan?

Get ready to have all your questions answered in this article.

One last thing, you don't have to start your business plan from scratch.

Instead, you can download our professional business plan for a travel agency and tailor it to suit your project.

business plan travel agency and tour operator

How to prepare a business plan for a travel agency

Is it worth considering a business plan for your travel agency.

Yes, you should definitely consider creating a business plan for your travel agency.

Constructing a sound business plan will empower you to:

  • get familiar with the travel agency market
  • familiarize yourself with the industry's evolving landscape
  • uncover what makes a travel agency successful
  • understand the travel destinations, vacation preferences, and travel experiences desired by customers
  • come up with a great value proposition for your tour operator company
  • evaluate competitor marketing campaigns
  • find competitive advantages for your travel agency
  • find a business model that delivers consistent positive financial outcomes
  • implement a comprehensive and tactical action plan to achieve success
  • assess potential risks associated with a travel agency, such as travel disruptions, customer satisfaction, and data security

Our team has drafted a business plan for a travel agency that is designed to make it easier for you to achieve all the elements listed.

How to organize a business plan for a travel agency?

A carefully prepared business plan offers a complete package of content, metrics, and financial information. It must be presented in a structured format, to make easy to read and digest.

When we made our business plan for a travel agency , we made sure to set it up correctly.

The structure is divided in 5 sections: Opportunity, Project, Market Research, Strategy and Finances.

1. Market Opportunity

The section number one is called "Market Opportunity".

Our team has compiled vital data and metrics about the travel agency, providing insights and trends for entrepreneurs in the travel and tourism industry.

We update this section twice a year to keep the data current.

2. Project Presentation

Describe your travel agency in the following "Project" section, including the range of travel services, personalized itineraries, expert travel consultants, and emphasize the unique value proposition for clients seeking unforgettable travel experiences.

Also, provide a short description of yourself at the end of this section.

Share your background in the travel industry, your enthusiasm for helping people explore the world, and highlight the expertise you possess to create memorable travel experiences.

We have provided language for you in this section, you may customize it so it perfectly fits your concept.

3. Market Research

Then, we have the "Market Research" section.

The purpose of this section is to introduce the market segments for your travel agency.

It includes a competition study, outlining other travel agencies in the area. Your agency's unique travel packages and competitive advantages are also highlighted. A customized SWOT analysis is included.

4. Strategy

The "Strategy" section outlines a comprehensive 3-year action plan, detailing the initiatives and steps needed to transform your travel agency into a highly profitable endeavor.

Furthermore, there is a marketing strategy for a travel agency, a way to manage risks, and a completed Business Model Canvas included in this section.

5. Finances

Ultimately, the "Finances" section is where you can present a detailed financial plan for your project.

business plan travel agency

How to elaborate an Executive Summary for a travel agency?

The Executive Summary serves as an introduction to the business plan for your travel agency.

Don't exceed 2 pages; emphasize only the significant points.

The purpose of this document is to engage the reader and make them want to read your business plan.

In the Executive Summary of your travel agency, answer these questions: what's your target audience? competitors? are you better than them? background info? required funding?

How to do the market analysis for a travel agency?

The market study of your travel agency helps you understand external factors such as customer preferences for destinations and travel experiences, competition in the travel industry, and emerging travel trends.

By conducting a comprehensive market analysis, a travel agency can understand traveler preferences, offer personalized travel services, optimize pricing strategies, and execute targeted marketing campaigns, ultimately leading to a loyal customer base, increased bookings, and a prominent position in the travel industry.

You'll discover the following in the "Market Research" section of our business plan for a travel agency :

  • market trends and data about the travel agency industry, including popular destinations, booking patterns, and the impact of technology
  • a list of potential market segments for a travel agency
  • the competitor study
  • the competitive advantages for a travel agency

business plan travel agency

The key points of the business plan for a travel agency

What's the business model of a travel agency, business model of a travel agency.

A travel agency's business model centers around offering travel planning, booking, and advisory services to individuals or groups. Revenue is generated through service fees, commissions from travel suppliers, or selling travel packages.

The business model focuses on providing personalized travel itineraries, delivering exceptional customer service, effective marketing to target travelers seeking assistance, and building strong customer relationships based on trust and travel expertise.

Success depends on destination knowledge and expertise, delivering seamless travel experiences, fostering positive customer reviews and recommendations, maintaining partnerships with reliable travel suppliers, and continuously adapting to changing travel trends and customer preferences in the travel industry.

Business model vs Business plan

Keep in mind the difference between "business plan" and "business model."

A business model is a framework that demonstrates how a company operates profitably and adds value to customers.

In a business plan, you use the Business Model Canvas as a visual aid to explain the inner workings of your business.

Rest assured, there is a Business Model Canvas (already completed) in our business plan for a travel agency .

How do you identify the market segments of a travel agency?

Market segmentation for your travel agency involves dividing your potential customers into different groups based on their travel preferences, interests, and demographics.

These categories may include factors such as adventure travel, luxury travel, family vacations, or customers seeking specific travel destinations or experiences (e.g., beach resorts, cultural tours, cruise vacations).

By segmenting your market, you can offer specialized travel services and packages that cater to each segment's specific requirements. For example, you might focus on adventure travel and curate adrenaline-filled trips or outdoor expeditions for adventure enthusiasts, offer luxury travel experiences that encompass premium accommodations, personalized itineraries, and exclusive services for travelers seeking indulgence and relaxation, specialize in family vacations and provide family-friendly destinations, accommodations, and activities that cater to the needs of parents and children, or focus on specific travel destinations or experiences such as beach resorts, cultural tours, or cruise vacations to accommodate customers with specific preferences or travel aspirations.

Market segmentation allows you to effectively target your marketing efforts, communicate the unique features and benefits of your travel services, and provide memorable and personalized travel experiences that meet the unique needs and preferences of each customer segment.

In the business plan for a travel agency , you will find a comprehensive market segmentation that helps you know and understand your customers.

How to conduct a competitor analysis for a travel agency?

Undoubtedly, you won't be the only travel agency in the industry. There are other agencies providing travel planning and booking services to individuals and groups.

Include a comprehensive assessment of your competitors' characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses in your business plan.

Be mindful of their weaknesses (such as limited destination offerings, inadequate travel packages, or poor customer communication).

Why is it important to address these concerns? Because these weaknesses can impact the success of travel agencyes.

By focusing on these areas, you can offer personalized and tailored travel experiences, provide expert destination knowledge and itinerary planning, and deliver exceptional customer service, positioning your travel agency as a trusted and preferred partner for memorable and hassle-free vacations.

It's what we call competitive advantages—invest in cultivating them for a standout business.

Here are some examples of competitive advantages for a travel agency: personalized and tailored travel itineraries, extensive destination knowledge, strong industry connections and partnerships, exceptional customer service, competitive pricing and packages, positive client testimonials and referrals, seamless travel experiences.

How to draft a SWOT analysis for a travel agency and tour operator?

A SWOT analysis can help identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a travel agency, allowing for informed decision-making and strategic planning.

As you can guess, there is indeed a completed and editable SWOT matrix in our business plan for a travel agency

The strengths for a travel agency

The "S" in SWOT symbolizes Strengths, indicating the project's areas or aspects of superiority.

For a travel agency, some possible strengths are wide selection of travel packages, competitive pricing, knowledgeable staff, and excellent customer service.

The weaknesses for a travel agency

When we say "W," we mean Weaknesses, which are the parts of the project that need improvement.

For a travel agency: lack of resources, limited marketing budget, limited customer base, and reliance on third-party suppliers.

The opportunities for a travel agency

O represents Opportunities, which are the external factors or circumstances that can benefit the project.

In the case of a travel agency, potential opportunities could include offering customized tours, luxury cruises, discounted airfare, and corporate travel packages.

The threats for a travel agency

The letter "T" denotes Threats in SWOT, signifying the external risks or unfavorable factors that can impact the project's outcomes.

How to elaborate a marketing strategy for a travel agency and tour operator?

A marketing strategy in your business plan is crucial for attracting customers and driving sales.

Implementing a targeted marketing plan will attract travelers seeking personalized and memorable experiences to your travel agency.

Travelers won't book their trips with your travel agency without proper promotion; showcasing your expertise and personalized service is crucial.

Have you explored marketing approaches to attract customers to your travel agency? Consider organizing destination-themed events or travel expos, leveraging social media platforms to inspire wanderlust, and partnering with local hotels or airlines for special deals and promotions.

No worries if you don't know anything about marketing and communication.

How to build a solid financial plan for a travel agency and tour operator?

A comprehensive business plan requires a detailed analysis of financial data to ensure its success.

As part of your business plan, it will be necessary to forecast the revenue for your travel agency.

Gaining the trust and confidence of potential investors who read your business plan requires presenting revenue projections that are reliable and supported by strong assumptions.

Our financial plan for a travel agency is easy to use and includes built-in checks to help you identify and correct any assumptions, ensuring you create reliable projections with confidence.

Of course, you will need to create a preliminary budget for your travel agency. Don't forget any expense (we have listed them all in our financial plan !).

The break-even analysis is a crucial tool in your financial plan, providing insight into whether your travel agency will be profitable or not.

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Travel agency business plan template

Download this travel agency business plan template in PDF or Word format, or tailor it to your project directly in our business plan software.

Discover our travel agency business plan template

Our travel agency business plan template gives you the structure to write a professional plan.

Not accustomed to writing business plans? Our travel agency business template will turn a typically challenging process into a total breeze.

Modelled on a complete business plan of an travel agency in Trouville sur Mer, our template features both the financial forecast and the written part that presents the project, its team, the local market and the business strategy implemented by the management.

Cast your eyes on this template to achieve a better understanding of what your bank and investors would like to see, so that you can create a business plan that meets their expectations.

travel agency businesss plan template

7 day free trial. No credit card required. Travel agency business plan template available with paid plans only.

How to use this travel agency business plan template

Edit the travel agency business plan template online, or download it.

There are 3 ways to use this template:

  • Edit it online: you can adapt this template to your business idea by changing the text or the financial forecast directly in our business planning software
  • Download in PDF: if you're just after a little inspiration, you can download the travel agency business plan template in PDF to read over it
  • Download in Word format: want to edit your plan on Word? Simply export the travel agency business plan template to Ms Word (.docx) format

online editor for travel agency business plan template

Travel agency business plan template content

This template includes a complete travel agency business plan example, with a financial forecast and the following sections:

  • Executive summary: the executive summary gives the reader a clear and concise overview of your business idea
  • Company: this section lays out the structure of your business, including its location, management team and legal form
  • Products and services: here, you'll give an overview of the services offered by your travel agency (excursions, business trips and international trips)
  • Market analysis: the market analysis is where you’ll demonstrate that there is a strong demand for your travel agency through a thorough assessment of the industry (customer profile, hot trends, regulation, competition, etc.)
  • Strategy: this section highlights your travel agency's game plan when it comes to pricing, marketing and mitigating risks along the way
  • Operations: this step lays out your travel agency's operational organisation, including the recruitment plan
  • Financial plan: the financial plan includes a table of sources & uses (initial funding plan), and complete financial statements (P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statements).
  • Appendices: this part provides the opportunity to include multiple financial appendices generated by our software (debt maturity profile, monthly financial statements, financial analysis, etc.).

cover page and table of contents for the travel agent business plan template by The Business Plan Shop

Executive summary for a travel agency business plan

The executive summary gives the reader a clear and concise overview of your business idea.

Our travel agency's executive summary is formed of the following subsections:

  • Business overview: in this subsection, we outline who the travel agency founders are, what legal form they've chosen for the business, and the rationale behind the choice of their location
  • Market overview: in this subsection, we summarize the conclusions of the market analysis performed by the travel agency's owners and explain what age groups they aim to target (our travel agency business plan template targets locals, tourists passing through Deauville-Trouville as well as small and medium-sized businesses in lower Normandy and Paris)
  • Financial highlights: in this subsection, we give an overview of the forecasted financial performance of the travel agency over the first 3 years of operation
  • Our ask: in this subsection, we outline the amount of financing required to start the travel agency and how it's going to be funded (the founders are seeking a bank loan to start their travel agency)

executive summary for travel agency business plan sample

Company overview included in our travel agency business plan sample

This section lays out the structure of your business, including its location, management team and legal form.

Our travel agency business plan template's company section is formed of the following subsections:

  • Structure & Ownership: in this subsection, we outline who the travel agency's shareholders are and what legal form they've chosen for the business
  • Location: in this subsection, we present the area surrounding the location chosen for the business and the layout and main features of the premises
  • Management Team: in this subsection, we give an overview of the background of each of the travel agency's founders, explain how they met and why they decided to start a company together

company overview included in travel agency business plan template

Products and services offered by the travel agency

The products and services section is where you will state the different services that your travel agency will offer (trips abroad, excursions and business trips).

In our travel agency business plan template products and services section, we cover:

  • Excursions in Normandy: a choice of short trips including both the D-Day beaches tour and cider distillery tour
  • International trips: departure from either Deauville or Caen
  • Custom-made business trips: a selection of seminars and team-building events in Normandy

product and services description of the travel agency business plan example

Market analysis for the opening of the travel agency

The market analysis is where you’ll demonstrate that there is a strong demand for your products and services through a thorough assessment of the industry (customer profile, hot trends, regulation, competition, etc.)

Our travel agency business plan example's market analysis section is formed of the following subsections:

  • Demographics and Segmentation: in this subsection, we explore the market in depth. We look at the supply and demand sides both at the national and local level, analyse the hot trends perceived by the founders, and the key statistics that will help the founders build their positioning
  • Target market: in this subsection, our founders explain who they view as their ideal customer (our travel agency business plan template targets locals, tourists passing through Deauville-Trouville as well as small and medium-sized business in Lower Normandy and Paris)
  • Competition: in this subsection, we take a look at the direct (independent or franchise travel agencies nearby) and indirect (travel agencies and tour operators online) local competition to ensure we have a differentiated positioning and that the market is large enough to accommodate the arrival of a new travel agency
  • Regulation: in this subsection, we give an overview of the main regulation applicable to our travel agency

market analysis section of the travel agency business plan template

Setting the strategy for our travel agency

This section highlights the company's game plan when it comes to pricing, marketing and mitigating risks along the way.

Our travel agency business plan template strategy section is formed of the following subsections:

  • Pricing: in this subsection, we explain how service rates are decided (our travel agency earns a 13% base rate commission through selling trips for network partners such as Tourcom) and the rationale behind our choice
  • Marketing plan: in this subsection, we explain what action we'll put in place to build awareness and loyalty among our travel agency customers
  • Milestones: in this subsection, we give an overview of the main goals we set for ourselves for the next 3 years
  • Risks and Mittigants: in this subsection, we perform an assessment of the medium and long-term risks that could jeopardize the financial viability of our travel agency and outline how we intend to mitigate them

travel agent business plan example: stragtegy section

Operations section of the travel agency business plan template

This part lays out the company's operational organisation, including the recruitment plan.

Our travel agent business plan operations section is formed of the following subsections:

  • Personnel plan: in this subsection, we explain what our opening hours will be and explain the responsibilities of each of staff member in our travel agency
  • Key assets and IP: in this subsection, we list the assets and intellectual property rights which are critical to our business operations and explain how we will secure and protect each of these
  • Suppliers: in this subsection, we give an overview of the main suppliers we will use our what commercial terms have been negotiated with them

travel agency business plan template: operations section

Financial plan included in our travel agency business plan template

This section presents the expected financial performance of the travel agency over the next 3 years.

Our travel agency business plan example's financial plan is formed of the following subsections:

  • Start-up funding: in this subsection, we list the cost of each item required to launch the travel agency
  • Important assumptions: in this subsection, we explain the methodology and the main assumptions used to build the travel agency's financial forecast
  • Sales forecast: in this subsection, we detail the expected revenues and growth rate for our travel agency in the coming years
  • Cost structure: in this subsection, we list all the expenses required for our travel agency to operate smoothly
  • Projected Profit & Loss statement: in this subsection, we analyse our forecasted P&L and comment on the expected profitability of our travel agency over the next 3 years
  • Projected cash flow statement: in this subsection, we analyse the expected cash generation of the travel agency
  • Projected balance sheet: in this section we give an analysis of the liquidity and solvability implied from our balance sheet

travel agency business plan forecasted P&L

Appendices of the travel agency business plan template

This part provides the opportunity to include multiple financial appendices generated by our software (debt maturity profile, monthly financial statements, financial analysis, etc.).

Our travel agency business plan template's appendices include:

  • A maturity profile chart showing the principal repayments of their loans over the next 3 years
  • A monthly cash flow forecast: showing how much cash is being generated or consumed each month over the first 3 years of operations

travel agency business plan template: monthly cash flow forecast

Travel agency business plan template sample

Executive summary, business overview.

Bersara Travel Agents will be a travel agency based in the heart of Trouville sur Mer, close to the tourist office.

Our primary aim is to help tourists experience the very best Normandy has to offer.

We will offer customers:

  • Excursions within Normandy
  • International trips from Deauville or Caen
  • Business trips and seminars

Bersara Travel Agents is a limited liability company managed by its two partners - Mrs Sarah F and Mr Bernard T.

Market Overview

National Market

Key figures from the French travel industry

Tourism was France's leading industry in 2014 - comprising 7.4% of the economy's total GDP.

Whilst the French travel market was dynamic at the time, it was also on the cusp of change.

In 2013, 8,122 travel agencies generated a combined turnover of €13.7bn (8.6% of the industry's total turnover).

It's estimated that French residents booked 15.4% of their trips through travel agencies or tour operators (including online bookings) in 2014. The market share of travel agencies reached 39.5% of all overseas trips booked by the French.

Local Market

With over 4 million trips made each year, Calvados is the 8th most visited region in France.

Calvados' main areas of attraction include:

  • The 1944 landing sites and corresponding Battle of Normandy tours
  • Sites linked to the history of William the Conqueror
  • Local produce (visits to cider distilleries and cheese factories)
  • Leisure activities (seaside activities, sailing, horse riding, tennis and golf)

The Coeur Côte Fleurie collection of villages, of which Trouville Sur Mer is included, has a year-round population of 20,582. This figure is, on average, six to eight times higher in the summer.

The Trouville Sur Mer tourist office, located near the agency's premises, welcomes an estimated 20,000 people in July.

Business tourism is also very prevalent within Coeur Côte Fleurie, thanks to the Centre International de Deauville (CID). The convention centre is occupied 300 days a year, hosting 150 events and accommodating 200,000 visitors.

Financial Highlights

We expect our travel agency to be profitable from year 3.

We anticipate that our turnover will increase from €488,025 in year 1 to €789,000 in year 3. The gross margin is expected to remain stable (12%) throughout.

We expect to generate an EBITDA of €-31,222 in year 1, €-13,995 in year 2 and €5,110 in year 3.

Despite the company's loss-making situation in the first two years, the business should be sufficiently capitalised to enable us to meet our loan repayments while retaining sufficient headroom to deal with unforeseen circumstances.

Bersara Travel Agents has a negative working capital requirement, which should give our startup further leeway during the first two years.

Bersara Travel Agents will require an initial investment of €55,000.

Our partners will contribute €50,000 (€25,000 in share capital and €25,000 in directors loan) i.e. 91% of the amount. We would like to obtain a bank loan of €5,000 to complete the financing.

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Quite frankly excellent because I was able to finalize my business plan in less time than expected. This software offers a very coherent and complete approach to writing your project.

It is a very well designed software that allows you to visualise each step of your project, understand if the idea is viable or not and think about the steps needed to start your business.

The software is just impeccable. Of course, it meets the requirements of people starting a business. In addition to having a tool for putting together a proper financial forecast, there is also a tool to help write the business plan.

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travel agency owner using our business plan template

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Travel agency business plan template faq.

A travel agency business plan is a written document that sets out the commercial, operational and financial objectives of the company over the next 3 to 5 years.

It consists of two main parts:

  • A written part that presents, in detail, your travel agency business, the team, your strategy, and your medium-term objectives.
  • A financial forecast that highlights the expected profitability of the travel agency and the initial funding requirements.

The lack of business planning is one of the main reasons why more than 50% of startups fail within 5 years. If you're starting a travel agency, writing a business plan is a must-have in order to reduce the risk of failure of your project.

Business plans are also required by most lenders and investors in order to secure financing, therefore a business plan is also highly recommended if you're seeking a loan or equity investment for your travel agency.

Writing a travel agency business plan without The Business Plan Shop can be both error-prone and time-consuming - whether you're new to entrepreneurship or experienced:

  • You'll need to research the structure of a business plan, what to include in each section, and what key elements investors and lenders expect to see
  • You may encounter writer's block (especially if it's the first time you're writing a business plan for your travel agency)
  • You'll need to create a financial forecast on a spreadsheet which requires a solid understanding of accounting and financial modelling in order to be done without error
  • You'll need to spend hours formatting financial data on Excel or Sheets before it's ready to integrate into your business plan
  • Any updates to your travel agency business plan or financial forecast will need to be done manually

Luckily for you, The Business Plan Shop's online platform and travel agency business plan template guide you through every stage of writing a business plan, so that you can spend more time managing and growing your business instead.

Our editor follows a best-in-class structure for professional business plans. Each section and subsection includes examples and instructions to help you, while our business plan templates provide further inspiration if you're stuck.

Our financial forecasting software helps you create a forecast and integrate it into your business plan with ease. Anytime you update your data, your business plan automatically updates.

And with our forecasting software all the calculations are done for you, without errors.

The budget to start and run a travel agency will depend on the exact concept and location.

If you're starting an online travel agency, your costs are likely to be much lower than if you are going to use a physical location. This is because you will save on rent and overheads amongst other expenses.

If your travel agency is located in the city centre or on any busy high street, you're likely to incur much higher expenses than if you are on the outskirts of a town or city.

A stylish website, that's well designed (professionally), will likely increase your startup costs, in comparison to a simple, yet workable website.

As an example, in our travel agency business plan template the total initial funding requirement amounted to €55,000, with the founders contributing €50,000.

In order to assess the exact budget for your travel agency idea, you need to do a financial forecast using a financial projection tool such as the one we offer .

The package we offer at The Business Plan Shop goes way beyond a simple blank template you need to fill. With our platform you get:

  • Access to one of the best business plan software on the market
  • Access to our travel agency business plan template which contains a complete example of a written business plan and financial forecast to start a travel agency
  • Access to our entire business plan templates library - giving you dozens of examples to take inspiration from
  • Access to our financial planning and analysis platform so that you can track the actual performance of your business against what you had planned in your business plan and re-plan easily

But you shouldn't take our word for it: try our solution for free and make your own opinion!

The free trial enables you to try the software for free during 7 days in order to verify that it meets your requirements before buying.

Some features are limited during the free trial, the main limits are:

  • You can only create one business plan
  • The financials of the first year are visible, but data for other years are hidden
  • You can export your plan in PDF but not in Word or CSV
  • No access to our business plan templates

You can create your account and start your free trial here .

Access to our template is included with all our paid subscriptions.

Please visit our pricing page to learn about this in more detail.

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Travel Agency Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

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Travel Agency Business Plan Template

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

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

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

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

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

travel agency business plan template

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Travel Agency Business Plan Sample

SEPT.23, 2013

travel tour agency business plan

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

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

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

Why Travel Agencies Continue to Thrive

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

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

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

Description of Targeted Destinations

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

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

The Customer Profile

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

Travel Product and Services

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

Tracking of Sales and Quality of Services

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

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

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

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

A stupefying Traveling Agency Business Plan Template of OGSCapital

Shine travel agency is a renowned company that assists its customers with high-end feasibility and support. Our travel support has been producing eminent business policy across the USA, the UK and Canada. Our travel agency advertising policy is supported by Guerrilla sample template that has bestowed countless customers with incredible profits. Furthermore, it has offered myriad of occupational opportunities directly and indirectly to many entrepreneurs across the globe. Right from inception, many travel agency marketing plans have followed a striking vision for distinguished groups of companies. It has bestowed many traveller groups too with marvelously designed successful travel programs.

Travel Agency Business Plan Sample

Our approach has been significantly unique and we have assisted all our customers in developing, executing and analyzing various sets of mind-blowing programs right from the start till the end. It’s our endeavor that customers make huge savings reaping the benefits and rewards of traveling business strategy. To pursue the beautifully designed travel tours, the interested customers can get the template details by contacting our experienced and professional customer support officers. The customers do not have to frame any content themselves; instead they can get an idea as in what their sample will look like. Everything will be present in the form of professional printed papers. They may select the best one or purchase the additional travel business policy templates to run their retail business.

What are the Advantages of Shine Travel & Tourism Business Plan?

Shine Tour Company has myriad of reasons to commence tour business with t ravel tour agency business plan s. People had been travelling and would continue to travel from a place to another always. Apart from tourists, there are many other who travel for personal reasons and professional tours. These travels may be sometimes from a city to other city and sometimes from a country to other. At this point the significant role of tour company business plan has come into picture.

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

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

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

What all travel agent startup have to do?

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

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

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

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

Role of Shine travel agency business plans

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

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

Shine travel agency Business Plans

The prime objective of Shinel Tour & Travel Company

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

The chief most services & products offered by the agency

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

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

What is the incredible dream of Shine Travel Agency?

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

Mission Statement of Shine Travel Agency Business

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

Line of work for our tour company

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travel Tour Agency Business Plan

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

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

The primary role of Accountant in Shine travel agency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travel Tour Agency Business Plan

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

The Advertising and Sales Strategy of Shine travel agency

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

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

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

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

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

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

The advertising policies of Shine travel agency are as follows-

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

Sales forecast of Shine travel agency business

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

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

What is the pricing policy behind traveling agency business plan?

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

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

Wide variety of available Payment options with us :

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shine tour company business plan restricts the start up principal

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

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

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

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

Generating funds through our travel support advertising Strategies

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travel Tour Agency Business

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

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

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

Download T ravel Tour Agency Business Plan Sample in pdf

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

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

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Travel Tour Agency Sample Business Plan

Start-up your travel tour agency with a business plan similar to this detailed example..

ExpertHub Staff

Related Topics

Car wash business plan, event planning sample business plan, coffee shop business plan.

Starting your own travel tour agency but don’t know how to compile your business plan? Here’s an example of a dummy company’s business plan to get you thinking about how to create yours.

Travel Tour Agency Business Plan

1. executive summary.

The tourism industry has undergone rapid growth of unsurpassed nature over the last several decades. This has mainly been due to the advent of a ‘borderless’ world and increased information dissemination about the majestic sceneries throughout the world, with the southern African region being no exception.

We are on the brink of penetrating a lucrative market in a rapidly growing industry. The current trend towards an increase in the number of tourists entering the country presents an opportunity for Sephats Tours to penetrate the market.

An opportunity for Sephats Tours’ success exists because the national tourism industry is growing at a rapid pace annually.

Sephats Tours is poised to take advantage of this growth and moderate competition in the city travel portion of the industry, with a dedicated and experienced staff, excellent networking, and effective management and marketing. Sephats Tours intends to provide travel and adventure packages to tourists primarily in the Southern region, but also the whole of Botswana.

Services and products provided by Sephats will initially include pre-arranged tours, custom packages according to clients specifications, travel consultation, and as time progresses making reservations for lodging amongst other related services. Sephats Tours seeks to differentiate itself as the premier adventure mobile operator in the greater Gaborone area.

Our services will be positioned very carefully: They will be of extremely high quality, comfortable, informative and tailored to the clients needs such that they will enable individuals to have a greater appreciation of the natural environment and its intricacies.

Our marketing strategy will be based mainly on ensuring customers know about our existence and the service(s) we fulfill. Hence our intention is to make the right information available to the right target customers. This will be done through implementing a market penetration strategy that will ensure that we are well known and respected in the tourism industry.

We will ensure that our prices take into consideration peoples’ budgets, that these people appreciate the service(s), know that it exists, and how to contact us. The marketing will convey the sense of quality in every picture, every promotion, and every publication.

Our promotional strategy will involve integrating advertising, events, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing and the Internet, details of which are provided in the marketing section of this plan.

It is important to recognise that we do not intend to just take individuals on sightseeing excursions, but also to ensure that they appreciate nature through informative briefings on objects’ origins.

This element will assist in differentiating us from our competitors and contribute towards the development of a sustainable competitive advantage.

Hence we need to engage the right people in the right place at the right time if we are to ensure optimum growth. We intend to develop our team so that our people can grow as the company grows – a mutually beneficial relationship.

We project sales to increase from more than P350,000 (Botswana Pula [P]) the first year to more than P556,500 the second, and P630,000 in the third year.

In a nutshell, we do not just intend to market and sell our service, but to market and sell travel solutions and a total-quality environment. This will ensure we establish a reputable corporate image.

1. Objectives

Business-man-travelling

Our business strategy will revolve around the need to provide quality service to our various target customers, in the process fully satisfying their needs. This shall be undertaken through recruitment of a professional team and the provision of good quality custom-designed travel packages, catering to the client’s particular needs.

With time our marketing campaign will increase the awareness of our services in the various market segments we shall be targeting. This is particularly so with the organisation looking at establishing a clear advantage(s) in an increasingly competitive market.

We will provide clients with the opportunity to focus on their core activities whilst their transportation side needs are fully satisfied. Marketing material shall be professionally done so as to be reflective of our intended image and reputation.

We shall position ourselves as a quality commercial transportation operator that provides customer-need fulfillment, enjoyment, reliability and a good image. We intend to establish a good rapport with all the relevant stakeholders, especially hotels and travel agents.

We also intend to have well-designed brochures and other promotional material that will enable clients to have an understanding of the types of services we offer and advantages of utilising them.

In addition well-done, informative brochures, fact sheets and business cards often have a triggering effect on clients contemplating utilising our services. Hence this will undoubtedly generate increased sales of our service.

In summary we intend to attain the following objectives:

  • Continuously provide enjoyable quality excursions/trips on time and on budget.
  • Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.
  • Establish a market presence that assures short-term and long-term profitability, growth and success.
  • We are fully committed to supporting growth and development in the tourism and overall economy of Botswana.
  • Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.

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 so as ensure customer satisfaction and make any improvements as recommended by the customers in 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 the work and effort.

3. Keys to Success

The keys to Sephats Tours success will undoubtedly be effective market segmentation through identification of several niche markets and implementation strategies.

Along these lines the company intends to implement advertising, personal selling and direct marketing strategies to the target markets.

Our personal selling marketing strategies will rotate around keeping in touch with hotels and travel agencies for major customers, and advertising for more individual customers.

Hence our key success factors will include the following:

  • Excellence in fulfilling the promise: We intend to offer completely enjoyable, comfortable and informative travel excursions that will ensure that travelers are thoroughly satisfied and appreciative at the end of their trip.
  • Timely response to customers’ requests: We cannot afford to delay our clients for whatever reason, as this will have a negative bearing on our image and reputation, including future business. Hence we need to be continually communicating with the client, including hotels and lodges so as to ensure that we are constantly available to the client meeting their expectations.
  • Solid and fruitful strategic alliances : Considering the nature of our services and our relative infancy on the market, we realise the importance of establishing and maintaining fruitful strategic alliances with various stakeholders, including hotels, lodges, and travel agencies, amongst others, so as be assured of a constant flow of customers, fulfilling their needs at every opportunity.
  • Marketing know-how: As a relatively new company on the market there will be a need to aggressively market our business and the services we provide so as to be continuously at the top of our prospective clients minds. This will also act as a temporary deterrent for companies contemplating entering our market. Advertising shall be undertaken on a regular basis.

2. Company Summary

Travel-insurance

Sephats Tours intends to provide individual and group travel to leisure clients.

Services and products provided by Sephats will initially include pre-arranged tours, custom packages according to clients specifications, travel consultation, and as time progresses making reservations for lodging amongst other related services.

Sephats Tours seeks to differentiate itself as the premier adventure travel company in the greater Gaborone area.

As it grows it will take on people and expand into related markets and services. It will also look for additional leverage by establishing relationships and representations with appropriate strategic allies.

1. Company Ownership

Sephats Tours is a Private Limited company incorporated at the Registrar of Companies through the foresight and vision of Mr. X and Mrs. Y. It is a 100% wholly owned Botswana firm.

2. Start-up Summary

Thus far the directors have contributed one hundred and sixty seven thousand pula (P167,000) to purchase a Mercedes Benz mini bus currently in its possession and P30,000 for cash expenses. Total start-up expenses covered (including legal costs, business plan compilation, license costs and related expenses) come to approximately P5,000.

3. Company Locations and Facilities

At present the company offices are located at Plot Number 28338, Block 3, Belabela road opposite Gaborone Television Station, near Hill Crest Primary School.

However, as time progresses the intention is to move into more accessible and attractive offices in a prime area. This regardless of the fact that our type of business is not too dependent on office location and size.

3. Services

travel-passport

Sephats Tours is a travel company that intends to deliver leisure travel excursions to customers. Sephats intends to guide customers in selecting a trip(s) based on pre-defined vacation criteria. This analysis will be based on user profiles, set by the consumers, which includes preferences such as:

  • Activities sought
  • Destination, and
  • Time of Travel

A traveler will hence be able to select areas of interest based on their preferences and subsequently identify destinations to visit.

The intention is to provide customers with access to exclusive travel destinations, service to fully appreciate destinations through information packages, not just sight-seeing, and access to special interest travel according to the group’s/individual’s preferences.

1. Competitive Comparison

There are presently few competitors offering services similar to ours. However considering the pace of change and current growth rate of the tourism industry luring many companies into the sector, this may be short-lived.

Hence there will be a need to not only firmly establish ourselves on the market, but also strongly differentiate ourselves from these other businesses. However on a broader scale our competition comes in several forms:

The most significant competition are hotels and travel agencies offering travel excursions to their clients. They undertake this service in order to establish a competitive advantage over their competitors.

However, instead of directly competing with them we intend to establish good working relationships in the form of strategic alliances such that we are able to offer the service for their clients and thus enabling them to concentrate on their core activities whilst ensuring customers are fully satisfied.

Our key advantage in this regard will be our specialty of the service and hence wide knowledge ensuring customer satisfaction at all times as well as flexibility in providing the service. Existing hotels, lodges and travel agencies may identify the opportunity to diversify into our intended services utilising their current client database.

Naturally, existing clients will be inclined towards utilising these familiar companies due to the fact that a good relationship may have already been nurtured over the years during their business dealings.

This presents a potential challenge to us, as we need to aggressively market our services and expertise in the field. Existing safari operators that mainly focus on the remote environs such as Maun and Kasane are at times able to compromise, offering excursions in and around Gaborone, though very rare. Hence we intend to focus on this market. An analysis of competition is provided in the Market Analysis section of this plan.

2. Service Description

Sephats Tours intends to offer the service and knowledge a discerning leisure traveler seeks whilst on vacation, with the intention of seeing and appreciating the numerous sights in the area.

Keeping in mind the comforts of a tourist, our fleet shall be very well maintained and designed as per customer standard and expectations. However not wanting to limit ourselves we intend to be open to special hire by churches, organisations, groups, schools and sports teams, amongst other related groups.

The game reserves and lodges that we intend to be our main destinations are:

  • Mokolodi Nature Reserve
  • Goborone Game Reserve
  • Gaborone Dam
  • The Oodi and Mochudi Craft Villages
  • Kolobeng and Thamaga
  • Khutse Game Reserve

Below is a briefing of several places of interest and their various attractions.

  • Mokolodi Nature Reserve: Set in a wide valley just 10 minutes drive from the city, this scenic reserve offers a well-developed network of game drives and stone and thatch chalets overlooking a water hole. Mokolodi also offers the rare opportunity to track rhino or to walk through the bush with young elephants. These excursions offer excellent photographic opportunities. Evening drives can include a bush braai giving visitors the chance to see the more unusual nocturnal creatures.
  • Gaborone Game Reserve: This 550 hectare reserve provides an ideal get-away for tourists who can see a remarkable range of wildlife in the park including rhino, eland, zebra, gemsbok, wildebeest, kudu, ostrich and impala, all on well-maintained bush roads that are designed for easy access. Bird watching in the Gaborone Game Reserve is excellent, particularly along the eastern edge, bounded by Notwane River, and it typifies the incredible diversity of bird life to be found throughout the Gaborone area.
  • Gaborone Dam: On the south bank a remarkably rich variety of bird and wildlife can be seen, including herds of impala, kudu and scuttling families of warthog. New picnic sites, which are currently under development will also provide places of interest. The Gaborone Yacht Club is the main attraction on the dam with its swimming pool, bar and wide verandah overlooking the water off a rocky koppie in the middle of the dam which often becomes an island in the wet season.
  • The Oodi and Mochudi Craft Villages: In Oodi the main attraction will be the Lenstwe-la-Oodi weavers. In Mochudi apart from traditionally decorated Setswana architecture, the tourists will find the most southerly baobab trees in Botswana and traditional crafts including the Ithuteng Tin Workshop and Ikgabiseng handmade jewelery. The Phuthadikobo Museum in Mochudi will also be an attraction site.

Other sites will include Matsieng Foot Point, Gemsbok National Park, Mabuasehube Game Reserve, Legaga la ga Kobokwe, Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve, Nxaii Pan and Khama Rhino Sanctuary.

Integrating the above places of interest into our tours we intend to be offering the following tours:

  • “Capital Crusade” – City Tour: This will be a professionally guided tour around the city centre including visits to the Main Mall, Finance Mall, National Museum, City Council Library, Gaborone Station, and House of Parliament including others. These tours shall be eye opening in terms of the normal Botswana town folk life style providing knowledge and information throughout the guided tour. Included in this package will be refreshments and information folders detailing the main sites and history of Gaborone. This tour will cover approximately 50 kilometers taking about half a day to complete. Cost: PX per person.
  • “Cultural Enrichment” – Cultural Tour: This shall involve tours to the main historical and cultural sites in and around Gaborone including Mokolodi Nature Reserve, Oodi and Mochudi Craft Villages, including the cultural dances. This tour shall reveal the ‘Kgotla’ – cultural villages, traditional paintings and art, as well as the traditional lifestyle. Obviously baobabs will make for good viewing. The tour package will include an information folder, guided tour and refreshments. This tour will cover approximately 200 kilometers taking the whole day to complete. Cost: PY per person.
  • “The Essence: Past & Present” – City & Cultural Tour: This will be a combination of the cultural tour and city centre excursion. This will be marketed as a “total package” enabling tourists with very little time to appreciate the Botswana lifestyle, both in the present and past. This tour will invariably take the whole day and cover approximately 250 kilometres. The tour package will include the information folder, guided tour, refreshments and a picnic lunch. Cost: PZ per person.

3. Macro-environment

At a large scale research demonstrates that tourism is undergoing a rapid growth of unsurpassed nature. Generally there is a trend towards shorter stays but increased visits, as individuals strive to experience as many cultures as possible, including seeing as many attractions as possible.

Increasingly Botswana is being marketed as “one of the few places in Africa where game sanctuaries have remained completely unspoiled.

A destination that unlocks the mystery of nature – an oasis in a wilderness which is an ideal escape for nature lovers. Very little of this fascinating country has seen human habitation – this is true Africa in all her remoteness and authenticity.

With such marketing in place the number of tourists entering the country is bound to increase, presenting a larger potential market for ourselves. This potential market is what we seek to tap.

4. Sales Literature

The business will begin with a general corporate brochure establishing its position on the market. This brochure will be developed as part of the start-up expenses including the business cards and Company Profile, mainly for the large organisations that often recommend services to potential customers.

Compliment slips are also intended so as to raise awareness of the company and its services. We also intend to have information pamphlets that will provide information on our various tour packages. Literature and mailings for the initial market forums will be very important.

5. Fulfillment

The key fulfillment and delivery will be provided by the employees of the company. The real core value will be professional expertise, provided by a combination of expertise, experience, hard work, and education (in that order). Hence we intend to ensure that the work we undertake is always thorough and relevant to the clients’ needs.

We will turn to reputable companies for supplying the necessary individuals and groups for our services. Hence the need to establish good relationships with our strategic allies.

6. Technology

Sephats Tours will strive to ensure that it contains the latest, or extremely recent personal computer including relevant software so as to ensure that the company is continuously at the forefront in our market arena.

The one certainty in our industry is that technology will continue to evolve and develop, changing what we market as well as how we market it. Our aim will be to be aware of the implications of this new technology and utilizing it in our existing framework where possible. However it should be noted that as we are new on the market it will take some time before we have in place our own website and other multimedia presentations.

With time we also intend to have the latest and most efficient software in place to enable smooth operations.

7. Future Services

In putting the company together we have attempted to offer enough services to allow us to always be in demand by our customers and clients. The most important factor in developing future services/products is market need.

Our understanding of the needs of our target market segments shall be one of our competitive advantages. It is critical to our effort to develop the right new services. In the future, Sephats Tours intends to broaden its coverage by expanding into additional markets.

One of the main services it aims at providing is to become a destination management company that brings alive the magnificence of this country to the traveler. This will be done by co-coordinating the traveler’s entire experience from hotel bookings, safaris and tours, greeting and porter services, and to tour packages and incentives. However in doing so we will strive to ensure that it is compatible with the existing products and company personnel.

As time progresses the intention will to provide a Southern Africa tour package covering the whole of southern Africa.

4. Market Analysis Summary

Tour-bus

We are today experiencing a rapid growth in the economy of unsurpassed nature. This has been brought about by, amongst other things, the relaxation of foreign exchange policies and macroeconomic policies geared towards attracting foreign investors into the country.

The fiscal and monetary policies of the government geared towards maintaining growth with social justice have largely contributed towards this, evidenced by our economy averaging a growth rate of 7% since 1990 – very high by international standards.

The current drive and emphasis by the government on diversification of the industrial base away from the minerals sector presents an opportunity for Sephats Tours to make a valuable contribution towards achieving this goal. Having undertaken a thorough and comprehensive research of the market we realized that there was a need for a tourist transport company that focuses on providing leisure excursions to tourists.

Though there are mobile operators currently on the market, some of whom have been in existence for a relatively long period of time, we believe that there is a market need for one that specializes on providing comfortable and enjoyable transport to tourists and visitors.

This, also considering the fact that, potentially Botswana’s richest natural resource, the tourism industry is becoming an increasingly important player in the economy and may in the long term prove even more valuable than mineral resources in earning foreign exchange.

Aware of the fact that operating in such a market is largely dependent on good networking, we intend to establish networks and strategic relationships with various hotels, lodges and travel agents to ensure a steady stream of clients.

However in so doing we intend to ensure that the service we provide is of extremely high quality and comfortable. Our initial overall target market share shall be 10% of the market, mainly focusing on the greater Gaborone area and southern Botswana.

We appreciate that entering such a market is not a ‘bed of roses’ and will require us establishing strong links with strategic partners as outlined previously. Hence we intend to implement an aggressive marketing strategy, well supported by the other business functions.

The above prognosis influenced our decision to enter the tourist transport industry.

1. Market Segmentation

We will be focusing on those foreign tourists seeking leisure travel and excursions whilst on vacation in Botswana, with the intention of letting them see and appreciate the numerous attractions in our country.

Though we realise that the majority of our tourists come from South Africa we shall be mainly targeting those from Europe and the Americas who often do not have transport or adequate knowledge about the country, unlike their South African counterparts who often do. Hence we shall be mainly targeting those who are not that mobile but wanting to see as many sites as possible.

These people often do not want to waste their money on hiring vehicles to move about by themselves, but instead want to be escorted around places of interest by a reliable source. Hence the need to professionally market ourselves and the services we provide, offering a service of uncompromised nature.

2. Target Market Segment Strategy

Our marketing strategy will be based mainly on making the right service(s) available to the right target customer. We will ensure that our services’ prices take into consideration organisations’ and peoples’ budgets, and that these people know that we exist, appreciate the value of our services, and how to contact us.

The marketing will convey the sense of quality in every picture, every promotion, and every publication. Our intension will be to target those individuals and groups looking for leisure activities and places to visit.

We realise the need to focus our marketing message and our service offerings. We need to develop our message, communicate it, and make good on it. The decision to establish strategic alliances with several hotels, lodges and travel agencies is aimed at tapping our target market effectively and efficiently.

2.1. Market Needs

Though the tourism sector has undergone rapid growth over the last decade the vast majority entering this sector have rushed to the North where we have the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, and other sites as attraction points.

Very few have focused on south and central Botswana. With this in mind we intend to exploit the untapped market in this area so as to provide our customers with a good service and realize our business objectives.

We understand that our target markets need more than just being shown the areas of interest but also to be informed about their significance and origins. Hence we don’t just intend to provide a service(s), but to provide one of unparalleled nature relative to the market.

2.2. Market Trends

Of all the uncertainty surrounding this industry, one fact is certain: tourism is here to stay. The only question is how large the industry will become and whether it can sustain, if not exceed, its current growth rate. However large the market ultimately becomes, the company strongly believes that travel will be an important component of this market place. Tourism statistics provide a reliable guide as to the size of the market.

According to the latest tourism statistics total arrivals for 1998 amounted to 1,351,798 representing an increase of approximately 12.65% from the previous year. Of the total arrivals in 1998 205,146 (15.2%) were holiday/tourists whilst 319,440 (23,6%) were visitors, both groups of which constitute our target market, totaling approximately 524,586 individuals.

Source: Tourism Statistics 1998 – Central Statistics Office .

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International Travel Agency Business Plan

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Adventure Travel International

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.">.

Adventure Travel International (ATI) will begin operations this year and provide adventure and sport/travel packages to people in the Pacific Northwest, specifically the greater Woodville area. An opportunity for ATI’s success exists because the national tourism and travel industry is growing at 4%, and adventure travel at 10% annually. Further, the Woodville adventure travel market is growing at least 12% annually and there are no providers who specialize solely in adventure travel in the greater Woodville area. ATI is poised to take advantage of this growth and lack of competition with an experienced staff, excellent location, and effective management and marketing.

The company’s goals over the next three years are:

  • Sales of $650,000 by year three.
  • Maintain margins of 10% on all airline travel.
  • Achieve 15% of sales from the Internet.
  • Develop strategic alliances with service providers nationally, internationally, and in the Woodville area.

In order to achieve these goals ATI needs to focus on the three key areas of:

  • Effective segmentation and targeting of adventure travelers within the larger travel market.
  • Successfully position ourselves as adventure travel specialists.
  • Communicate the differentiation and quality of our offering through personal interaction, media, and regional marketing.
  • Develop a repeat-business base of loyal customers in order to create sufficient sales.

ATI will be a sole proprietorship owned and operated by Shea Delaney in the town of Atkins Grove, California. The founder and employees of ATI are experienced travel industry professionals and are passionate about the activities ATI will promote and offer.

ATI’s total start-up capital requirement is approximately $102,500. Start-up will be financed through the owner’s personal investment and a long-term note of $85,000 secured from the Woodville First National Bank.

The travel agency market is competitive, and technology, namely the Internet and Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS), has changed the way travel agencies operate. The Internet gives agencies and individuals the ability to perform travel related research. Discount airfare brokers have taken advantage of the Internet by offering tickets online at discounted rates. This has increased price competition. Computerized Reservation Systems have increased the speed and efficiency of the agency-to-customer transaction. They have also increased the start-up costs for travel agencies who wish to be competitive. One notable trend in the travel industry is increased deregulation. Deregulation has increased the need for differentiation and has, in many cases, lowered the prices of airfare and other travel-related services. Additional trends include caps on agency commissions by many of the larger airlines, increases in adventure travel, and reduction of profit margins.

The travel industry is highly fragmented. There are 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. ATI has approximately 30 immediate competitors in the greater Woodville area, including two agencies that are branches of national travel agency chains.

ATI is researching the market to identify potential opportunities for future sales in this rapidly changing environment. ATI’s long-term goal is to establish itself as an internationally recognized provider of top-of-the-line adventure travel. This goal does not prohibit ATI from participating in additional segments. It does, however, provide a corporate focus and a differentiated offering.

ATI’s target customers are health-conscious couples and individuals, with median household incomes of approximately $50,000. They are interested in popular adventure activities such as skiing, whitewater sports, and mountain biking. ATI’s most important target customers, however, will be married couples, ages 25-35, with children and household incomes over $50,000.

The Woodville area, like much of the Pacific Northwest, has a large concentration of outdoor recreation enthusiasts. These health-conscious individuals, couples, and groups interested in popular adventure sports, such as skiing, kayaking, trekking, etc., are ATI’s primary customers. ATI’s target market is an exploitable niche, and ATI will provide a specialized and thus differentiated service.

ATI has established relationships with providers of travel-related products and services. Two major airlines have been selected as our primary ticket providers in part because they do not cap the agent’s profit on tickets. This allows us to capture the 10% margin on ticket sales that was for many years the industry standard. Market research has enabled us to identify and establish working relationships with service providers around the world. ATI has been able to identify opportunities to capture margins of up to 25% from certain parties. Sourcing will be continuously evaluated. ATI will take advantage of trade shows, travel industry publications, and other sources of industry-related information to monitor the quality of its offering.

ATI has a number of major competitors that the company will seek to acquire market share from. They are:

  • Rollins & Hayes;
  • Sundance Travel;
  • Global Adventure Travel.

None of these competitors have the combination of price, scope, or local focus that ATI will be able to offer.

ATI’s pricing strategy will be a major consideration. Much of it will be determined by market standards. ATI will attempt to maintain margins of 10% on all airline travel. Margins on all other products and services vary depending upon the provider but are expected to average 20%. ATI will make every effort to maintain a competitive pricing policy. However, as ATI builds its reputation as the premier provider of adventure travel, it expects to earn the ability to charge a premium for its services.

The company will also pursue an aggressive marketing campaign. During ATI’s first year of operation it will hold a grand opening and will organize and sponsor several athletic events. All ATI employees promote ATI’s services to local athletic clubs. Negotiations with area health clubs have begun and additional promotions will likely occur through these strategic alliances. Specialty, rather than large national publications, will serve as media vehicles for ATI advertising. Local radio stations will also be used. Personal selling will occur, though phone solicitation will be limited. ATI plans to occasionally station sales personnel in locations around Woodville such as shopping malls. ATI’s goal is to develop personal familiarity between its employees and the community.

ATI will be a small organization and its employees will share in management duties and decision making. Shea Delaney will act as the General Manager, but it will be important for each member of the team to be capable in all aspects of the business. Prerequisites for all ATI employees include at least five years travel industry experience, knowledge and ability in the types of activities ATI will promote, and Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) certification for applicable positions. The CTC designation can be obtained through the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA).

Prices will be competitive with the remainder of the market. The company’s estimated sales for the first year of operations are approximately $534,000, increasing 10% annually for the next two years.

ATI will begin operations with four full-time positions. The positions are as follows; general manager and president: Shea Delaney; marketing and advertising director: Jordan Barnes; accountant: Paul Mclellan; and one travel agent.

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International travel agency business plan, executive summary chart image

1.1 Objectives

1.2 mission.

Adventure Travel International (ATI) is a travel agency that specializes in adventure tourism and travel. It will provide consulting and custom travel arrangements and packages. ATI’s mission is to become the foremost provider of adventure travel to the people of the Pacific Northwest. ATI’s employees and owner are outdoor adventure and travel enthusiasts as well as seasoned travel industry professionals. ATI seeks to connect adventure travel newcomers and veterans with service providers, adventure activities, and accommodations that fit the client’s desires, budget, and skill level.

1.3 Keys to Success

  • Effectively segment and target adventure travelers within the larger travel market.
  • Communicate the differentiation and quality of our offering through personal interaction and media.
  • Develop a repeat-business base of loyal 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.">

ATI is a full service travel agency that specializes in adventure travel and provides recreational and business travelers with professional service and consultation. ATI will position itself as a specialist in the field of adventure travel and will generate the majority of its income from this segment.

2.1 Start-up Summary

ATI’s total start-up capital requirement is approximately $103,000. Start-up will be financed through the owner’s personal investment and a long-term note secured from the Woodville First National Bank. Start-up details are located in Table 1.

  • ASSETS: Primarily cash and computers.
  • INVESTMENT: The bulk of the investment will come from a loan from Shea Delaney’s personal savings.
  • LOANS: An $85,000 loan has been secured from Woodville First National Bank.

International travel agency business plan, company summary chart image

2.2 Company Ownership

ATI is a sole proprietorship owned and operated by Shea Delaney in the town of Atkins Grove, California. ATI’s owner is researching the possibility of establishing ATI as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Partnership (LLP). This may occur within eighteen months of operation.

2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

ATI has identified three potential locations for office space. All potential locations are in the town of Atkins Grove, California, and are between 800 and 1000 sq. ft. Once successfully established, ATI will be one of approximately 30 travel agencies in the greater Woodville area, population 325,000. ATI will be the only adventure travel specialist in the immediate area.

ATI provides individual and group travel to leisure and corporate clients. Services and products provided by ATI include travel consultation, pre-arranged tours, custom packages, reservations for lodging, rental cars, rail passage, etc. ATI seeks to differentiate itself as the premier adventure travel agency in the greater Woodville area.

3.1 Service Description

ATI is a full service agency and sells standard travel agency goods and services, including airfare and travel packages. Additional services include assistance with passports, providing access to top-of-the-line equipment and supplies, and a superior offering that includes access to better than average terrain and activities, accommodations, and entertainment. The value added of ATI’s offering is its knowledge and expertise, competitive rates, and specialty focus on adventure travel, which translates into increased satisfaction for the customer.

Adventure travel is divided into two categories, hard and soft adventure. Both hard and soft adventures involve active and athletic activities. Hard adventure activities, as the name suggests, generally consist of activities that involve risk and athletic competence. Soft adventure activities are less physically demanding and more passive than their hard adventure counterparts. Economic indicators suggest that an increased demand for adventure travel services exists. ATI can position itself as a niche service provider within the travel and tourism market and offer high quality travel packages for various sporting trips. ATI will serve the adventure travel market as a top quality, full service provider. All suppliers with whom ATI will deal will be top-notch professionals with accomplished backgrounds. If suppliers fail, at any time, to meet our rigid standards of quality, they will not be used.

3.2 Competitive Comparison

The travel agency market is competitive, and technology, namely the Internet and Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS), has changed the way travel agencies operate. The Internet gives agencies and individuals the ability to perform travel related research. Discount air fare brokers have taken advantage of the Internet by offering tickets on line at discounted rates. This has increased price competition. Computerized Reservation Systems have increased the speed and efficiency of the agency to customer transaction. They have also increased the start-up costs for travel agencies who wish to be competitive. Moreover, industry competition and the increased number of travel options available have made it necessary for smaller travel agencies to establish themselves as specialists in one or more types of travel. ATI has done this by positioning itself as an adventure travel specialist. ATI has not identified a direct competitor in the greater Woodville area. However, a travel agency does not have to be an adventure travel specialist to book an adventure travel trip. Therefore, ATI will compete with other Woodville area travel agencies as they offer alternatives to adventure travel, have the ability to arrange adventure travel themselves, and have the advantage of established relationships with clients.

3.3 Sales Literature

Brochures for travel locations, rental car companies, entertainment, etc. are obtained from the wholesale houses and service providers with whom ATI deals. Brochures for ATI are handled by a local graphic arts company and are mailed to potential customers upon request. Additional literature such as direct mail, print ads, and sales promotion materials will be utilized as needed. ATI will maintain a database from which customer/contact information will be drawn.

3.4 Fulfillment

ATI has established relationships with providers of travel related products and services. Two major airlines have been selected as our primary ticket providers in part because they do not cap the agent’s profit on tickets. This allows us to capture the 10% margin on ticket sales that was for many years the industry standard. Market research has enabled us to identify and establish working relationships with service providers around the world. ATI has been able to identify opportunities to capture margins of up to 25% from certain parties. Sourcing will be continuously evaluated. ATI will take advantage of trade shows, travel industry publications, and other sources of industry related information to monitor the quality of its offering.

3.5 Technology

3.6 future services.

ATI may in the future open agencies at additional locations. In addition, as the adventure travel market reaches maturity, ATI may participate in additional segments of the travel market. ATI is researching the market to identify potential opportunities for future sales. ATI’s long-term goal is to establish itself as an internationally recognized provider of top-of-the-line adventure travel. This goal does not prohibit ATI from participating in additional segments. It does, however, provide a corporate focus and a differentiated offering.

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

ATI plans to focus its initial efforts on the adventure travel market in the greater Woodville area. Adventure travel falls primarily under the leisure travel category. Revenues from leisure travel earned by U.S. travel agencies exceed $50 billion annually. Adventure travel is a sub-category of leisure travel and can be further broken down into hard and soft adventure travel. Annual expenditures in the U.S. market are estimated to be approximately $40-50 million for soft and $12-15 for hard adventure travelers.

4.1 Market Segmentation

ATI’s target customers are health-conscious couples and individuals, with median household incomes of approximately $50,000. They are interested in popular adventure activities such as skiing, whitewater sports, and mountain biking and major purchasers are located in urban areas within these states:

  • Pennsylvania

Adventure travelers are slightly more likely to be men between the ages of 18-34. However an increasing number of hard adventure travelers are women (some statistics suggest that women comprise 49% of the adventure market). Men on average spend more than women on their adventure travels. ATI’s primary customers, however, are married couples, ages 25-35, with children and household incomes over $50,000.

International travel agency business plan, market analysis summary chart image

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

ATI is located in the heart of the Pacific Northwest. The natural beauty and abundance of outdoor activities attract many fitness oriented individuals. Per capita, the area has more people than any other in the nation who actively participate in mountain and water sports such as skiing, climbing, kayaking, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, etc. These are the people in ATI’s target market. ATI will focus on the sale and promotion of adventure travel primarily to individuals, but also to corporate clients in the Woodville area.

4.2.1 Market Trends

One notable trend in the travel industry is increased deregulation. Deregulation has increased the need for differentiation and has, in many cases, lowered the prices of airfare and other travel related services. Additional trends include caps on agency commissions by many of the larger airlines, increases in adventure travel, and reduction of profit margins. More than 50% of the U.S. adult traveling population, or 147 million people, have taken an adventure trip in their lifetime, 98 million in the past five years. Approximately 31 million adults have engaged in hard adventure activities like whitewater rafting, scuba diving, and mountain biking. An additional 25 million engaged in both a hard and soft adventure activity. Activities most commonly participated in during adventure vacations: camping (85%), hiking (74%), skiing (51%), snorkeling or scuba diving (30%), sailing (26%), kayaking or whitewater rafting (24%), and biking trips (24%). Customers tend to be young and affluent, ages 18-34, and one fourth are from households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more.

4.2.2 Market Growth

The travel industry is growing. Reasons for this growth include a healthy domestic economy and the devaluation of currency in other regions which has made travel less expensive for U.S. residents. Leisure travel has increased by 3.2% in 1997 and is predicted to grow 2.0% in 1998. The healthy economy has increased business which in turn boosted domestic business travel 4.8% in 1997 with an estimated increase of 3.6% in 1998. Adventure travel, which is growing 10% annually, is one of the fastest growing segments of the travel industry. Statistics show that 8,000 U.S. companies offered adventure packages that generated $7 billion in 1997. There also has been a 66% increase in executive participation in adventure travel between 1992 and 1996.

4.2.3 Market Needs

Many potential customers are unsure of the location they wish to reach. Part of the value associated with travel agencies is the knowledge they possess about destinations. Customers look to the agency to provide them with sound advice for a competitive price. ATI is confident in its ability to do so. Time is a precious commodity. ATI can save the customer time and money, and help to ensure that they are satisfied with their vacation.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

The U.S. travel and tourism industry is the nation’s third largest retail industry, and the U.S. Department of Commerce says that it will be number one by the year 2000. Revenues from travel have increased approximately 100% in the last decade. U.S. travel agencies produce over $100 billion in revenues each year. The market is separated into two main categories, business and leisure travel. Each contribute about 45% to total revenues. The remainder of revenues are generated from combined business/leisure trips. The market is further separated into domestic and international travel. Domestic travel accounts for approximately 70% of industry revenues. Business travel can be divided into two categories, the medium to large corporate account and the small independent businessman. Leisure travelers are classified according to the types of trips they take, income, or age.

The four primary leisure travel groups are:

  • Adventure, Special-Interest, R&R, Honeymoons, and Sightseeing Trips.
  • High-Income Travelers.
  • Budget-Conscious Travelers.
  • Families, Students and Seniors.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

There are many activities and types of travel available to people contemplating an adventure vacation. These substitute products and services are one type of competition. Theme parks, motorhome trips, and cruises are just a few. Other substitutes include less expensive, self-planned, or trips geared towards more traditional types of vacations. In addition, potential customers do not have to vacation. Instead, they may elect to spend elsewhere, or invest the money they would have otherwise spent on a vacation. Direct competition can come from virtually any agency, and there are several agencies who specialize in adventure travel in the United States. Lifestyle, age, and disposable income influence the decision to travel and in which type of travel to participate. Adventure travelers make purchase decisions based upon their desire to combine athletic interests with vacation time. The average adventure traveler engages in one adventure travel vacation every 12-18 months.

4.3.2 Main Competitors

  • Rollins & Hayes: Based on the east coast, Rollins & Hayes are the most well known and respected adventure travel agency in the world. They have been providing adventure travel packages for over twenty years. Rollins & Hayes have successfully integrated travel agency services and adventure travel activities. This offers them complete control over the entire vacation. They have the advantage of an established reputation, high-quality trips, economies of scale, and strategic alliances. However, their packages are expensive and appeal primarily to a high-income clientele.
  • Sundance Travel: Based in Colorado, Sundance is a traditional agency and has been in business for 10 years. They have gradually made the move towards adventure travel specialists and are now recognized as such. Their strengths are experience, reputation, and financial solvency. Weaknesses may include high personnel and management turnover and the lack of a clear plan for future growth.
  • Global Adventure Travel: Global was established in 1995 and they have successfully established themselves as adventure travel specialists. They are based in the Los Angeles area. Global has done a good job positioning themselves through successful marketing communications and management. The Los Angeles area contains a large adventure travel market. It is, however, a very competitive area.

4.3.3 Business Participants

4.3.4 distributing a service.

The primary distribution pattern in the travel industry is from supplier to agent to consumer. Distribution between supplier and agency is regulated by a conference system. The two conferences through which agencies gain access to air travel providers are the Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) and the International Airlines Travel Agents Network (IATAN). These suppliers can be contacted through Computerized Reservation System (CRS). Travel agencies receive a supply of blank airline ticket vouchers from the ARC. The agency is responsible for proper storage of and collecting payments for the vouchers. One notable change in the distribution channel has occurred. Wholesale houses have started buying large quantities of airline tickets and selling online for reduced prices.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

In order to reach its goal of becoming the Pacific Northwest’s premiere adventure travel agency, ATI will adopt the following strategy:

  • Establish ATI’s reputation as a differentiated, specialty provider of adventure travel. This will be accomplished through a diverse marketing communications program at ATI’s target market, utilizing various media.
  • Provide unparalleled service to the people of Woodville in order to gain repeat business and build trust. This will include providing superior service in all phases of the transaction, including timely follow-through.
  • Aggressively promote adventure sports as healthy and exciting activities and those who participate in them as pioneers, heroes, and true Pacific Northwesterners.

5.1 Value Proposition

The value proposition of ATI’s services comes from ATI’s experience with and love of adventure sports. ATI’s employees are confident in their ability to meet the needs of their customers because they share the customers’ enthusiasm for the activities ATI offers. ATI’s confidence and ability translates into confidence for the consumer and a starting point towards developing long-term relationships and trust.

5.2 Competitive Edge

ATI’s competitive edge is its focus, passion, and experience. ATI seeks to promote and provide access to adventure sports and travel. ATI provides a differentiated offering with the management experience, capital, and commitment to make it work.

5.3 Marketing Strategy

ATI 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 in the Woodville area. Though ATI operates in the travel industry, it provides much more than travel. ATI provides adventure and freedom. Many of ATI’s customers spend 50 weeks of the year in an office. ATI offers people the ability to get away and remember how much they love the challenge and excitement of an athletic endeavor. ATI will promote the benefits of adventure travel. These benefits include better health, excitement, personal growth, ear-to-ear grins, and a whole lot of fun.

5.3.1 Promotion Strategy

During ATI’s first year of operation it will hold a grand opening and will organize and sponsor several athletic events. Events will include an off-road triathlon, 10k race and 5k fun run, and a mountain bike race. ATI will provide various travel packages and other items as prizes. All ATI employees belong to local athletic clubs and will, through interaction with other members, promote ATI’s services. During the grand opening and other events, ATI will provide literature with information about the trips and activities. Negotiations with area health clubs have begun and additional promotions will likely occur through these strategic alliances. Specialty, rather than large national publications, will serve as media vehicles for ATI advertising. Local radio stations will also be used. Personal selling will also occur, though phone solicitation will be limited. ATI plans to occasionally station sales personnel in locations around Woodville such as shopping malls. ATI’s goal is to develop personal familiarity between its employees and the community.

5.3.2 Distribution Strategy

ATI’s distribution strategy will focus on the target market in the Woodville area to whom it will sell directly. Secondarily, ATI seeks to establish distribution capability on the World Wide Web. Doing so will improve ATI’s ability to establish a national reputation.

5.3.3 Marketing Programs

Customers will be reached through traditional marketing communication methods. Information has been located detailing profiles of both hard and soft adventure travelers, where they live, work, what they do, etc. Research suggests that many of our target customers, and travelers in general, are Internet savvy and many adventure travelers purchase over the Internet or buy through travel agents. As such, the Internet will serve as an appropriate and effective medium of communication. ATI will target the primary customer group initially. This group has been defined as persons who have purchased or are likely to purchase an adventure vacation. In addition to the Internet, methods by which we will communicate with customers will depend on the results of our marketing research. ATI will likely use trade or special interest magazines, mailing lists and direct mail, and personal selling. Initially, service will be introduced regionally. Sales will be extended into the national and global markets within a few years of operation. We hope to promote out of season services through frequent customer contact and through our own publication, most likely a monthly newsletter.

5.3.4 Positioning Statement

For individual and corporate clients who wish to participate in adventure travel, ATI is the premier adventure travel agency in the Pacific Northwest. ATI’s experience with and enthusiasm for adventure travel is displayed in the exceptional service, value, and advice it provides for the customer.

5.3.5 Pricing Strategy

Much of ATI’s pricing is determined by market standards. ATI will attempt to maintain margins of 10% on all airline travel. Margins on all other products and services vary depending upon the provider but are expected to average 20%. ATI will make every effort to maintain a competitive pricing policy. However, as ATI builds its reputation as the premier provider of adventure travel, it expects to earn the ability to charge a premium for its services.

5.4 Sales Strategy

ATI will sell the benefits of the services it offers and the activities it promotes. ATI sells the freedom that is part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. The benefits of that lifestyle are many. People need to be reminded occasionally that there is more to life than building bigger barns. ATI can provide clients with all of the arrangements they can think of and likely many they would not have thought of. Our concern is not to maximize profits on any individual sale but to satisfy the customer. Doing so will reduce costs and increase profits in the long run. It is less expensive to maintain a relationship than it is to develop a new one. At ATI we believe in the benefits of the activities we promote, and we are confident that we can satisfy the desires of the seasoned adventure traveler and the newcomer alike.

Sales projections are detailed in the Yearly Sales Total chart.

International travel agency business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

5.4.1 Sales Forecast

Detailed projections are located in the Total Sales by Month table in the appendix. ATI expects sales to be slow in the first quarter of operation. Sales growth is estimated at 20% annually through year three of operation.

International travel agency business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

5.5 Strategic Alliances

Strategic alliances for promotion have been developed with Body Works Health Club, Woodville Whitewater, The Great Wall climbing gym, and several area retailers. Alliances with adventure trip providers in several U.S. states and foreign countries have also been established.

5.6 Milestones

ATI’s important milestones are detailed in the following table. The milestones reflect ATI’s philosophy that it is important for a company to set goals. Goals determine strategy and tactics, and help to maintain corporate focus. The milestones can be seen as progress points and will be used as a way to measure ATI’s success in reaching its goals.

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Shea Delaney will act as the General Manager. However, ATI is a small organization and its employees will share in management duties and decision making. It will be important for each member of the team to be capable in all aspects of the business. Prerequisites for all ATI employees include at least five years travel industry experience, knowledge and ability in the types of activities ATI will promote, and Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) certification for applicable positions. The CTC designation can be obtained through the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA).

6.1 Organizational Structure

ATI will begin operations with 4 full-time positions. The positions are as follows.

General Manager and President: Shea Delaney, age 37, B.A. Marketing Management, University of California Santa Cruz. Shea has 12 years experience in the travel industry, including five years experience as manager of the Transworld travel agency, Southern California branch. As manager at Transworld, Shea increased revenues by $1.5 million and established the adventure travel division which, in its first 18 months, generated an additional $400,00 in revenues. His background in adventure sports includes four years on the U.S. pro kayaking tour, two years as a sponsored cross-country mountain bike racer, 25 years surfing, including three years as an amateur competitor, and participation in many other adventure and organized sports such as snowboarding, beach volleyball, and track and field.

Marketing and Advertising Director: Jordan Barnes, age 31, B.S. Communications, Brigham Young University. Jordan spent five years as an adventure travel and freelance writer and has been a marketing consultant specializing in adventure sports for the past three years. Jordan has an extensive mountaineering background and has summitted three 8,000 meter peaks, including Everest. In addition to mountaineering, Jordan is an avid climber and has skied since the age of five.

Accountant: Paul Mclellan, age 45, B.S. Accounting, University of Alaska, Anchorage. Paul is an accountant and an Alaskan. His ability with numbers has helped keep his mind occupied during competition in the Iditarod, marathons, and mountaineering expeditions. Paul worked as an auditor for the State of Alaska for four years after college and then as an accounting department manager for a non-profit organization for another four years. Before going back to school and earning his degree, Paul was a commercial sport fisherman out of Homer, Alaska. During that time he established connections with many service providers in the state of Alaska. ATI will capitalize on these connections as Alaska is a popular destination amongst adventure travelers.

Travel Agent #1: Sue Taylor, Certified Travel Counselor. Sue has eight years experience as a travel counselor. She is an avid cyclist, runner, and kayaker. In addition, Sue has traveled extensively and has first-hand knowledge of many of the destinations our clients wish to reach. Her trips include a year-long trek in South America, four months in Nepal, and a four-month stint as a ski instructor in Wanaka, New Zealand.

6.2 Personnel Plan

The personnel plan depicts ATI’s anticipated head count for the start up year. The following table provides more detailed information. ATI does not anticipate the need to significantly increase personnel in the first 2-3 years.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

ATI’s financial plan is detailed in following sections. Preliminary estimates suggest that ATI will experience slow growth in the first two quarters of operation. This is partly due to ATI’s status as a start-up company and seasonal factors. Income estimates are based, in part, on anticipated revenues from accounts that were secured by ATI employees prior to their departure from former employers. ATI has sufficient cash to endure the negative cash flow situation that it may encounter initially. ATI also anticipates an increase in gross margin and sales volume. Thus, the overall financial plan presents a conservative but realistic depiction of ATI’s financial position.

7.1 Important Assumptions

ATI assumes the following:

  • Market growth projections for the travel industry and for adventure travel are accurate.
  • National economic conditions, which are favorable to the travel industry, will not experience significant decline in the next five years.
  • International conditions will remain favorable for service providers and ATI will be able to maintain those relationships.

7.2 Key Financial Indicators

The following chart indicates ATI’s key financial indicators for the first three years. ATI anticipates growth in sales with relatively stable operating expenses. Favorable economic conditions and forecasts of continued growth in the adventure travel market support ATI’s planned financial success.

International travel agency business plan, financial plan chart image

7.3 Break-even Analysis

The following table details ATI’s break-even analysis, including monthly sales break-even points.

Break-even calculations assume a 20% gross margin. This is a conservative estimate, and it will be improved as strategic relationships develop and the benefits of ATI’s offerings are realized by customers.

International travel agency business plan, financial plan chart image

7.4 Projected Profit and Loss

ATI’s profit picture improves as operations progress into the third quarter of the first year of operation. ATI anticipates improving its gross margin from 22% in year one to 23% in year two. Annual estimates of profit and loss are detailed in the following table.

International travel agency business plan, financial plan chart image

7.5 Projected Cash Flow

Monthly cash flow is shown in the following illustration. Annual cash flow figures are estimated based on a 60-day collection period. Cash flow for the first year of operation becomes positive mid-year.

International travel agency business plan, financial plan chart image

7.6 Projected Balance Sheet

The pro forma balance sheet indicates sustained and planned growth. Net worth improves considerably in year two and will provide ATI with a strong financial position. Monthly estimates are included in the appendix.

7.7 Business Ratios

The following table details our primary business ratios. Initial analysis indicates that ATI’s ratios for profitability, risk, and return are financially favorable and will improve greatly in year two of operation. Industry Profile ratios are based on Standard Industry Classification (SIC) Index code 4724.

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