How To Become A Tour Operator
Wondering how to start a travel business but don’t know where to start?
The travel industry is currently one of the largest industries in the world. It is also considered an economic sector that’s most profitable with a high success rate. So, how do you get into that business anyway?
Before you get all hyped up, have in mind that starting a tour operator business is one thing, and being a successful tour operator is another. It’s challenging, especially when you enter the legal and financial issues zone.
For that reason, we’ve put together a summary of the most important things to remember before starting your business journey.
1. Have Passion For What You’re Doing
Starting your own travel business doesn’t come with overnight success. It takes months, years, maybe even a decade.
Things tend to get tough at the beginning and that’s normal (unless you’re a musician that posted a Vine and woke up famous.)
Be patient. Don’t lose your initial enthusiasm.
A lot of young and prosperous people dream of having their own business. The thing is, not everyone is ready to trade their 9–5 job to chase an idea that may or may not thrive enough to become profitable.
Like starting any new business on your own, you need to be certain that you love the idea.
And we don’t mean kinda erm…hm… like it, you have to LOVE it.
If you’ve read The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy, you’ll know what we’re talking about.
You must LOVE your idea. Not LIKE. Like isn’t going to get you through the hard times.
Get a paper and a pen. Start jotting down all the things you truly love to do. Then around that, build a framework of things you can do to make a living doing the things you love.
When you love what you do, that passion will continually push you forward.
2. Have the Right Mindset
First things first — you have to be insanely self-motivated.
Yes, to the point where it becomes an obsession.
Be Obsessed or Be Average by Grant Cardone is a great book to start building your enthusiasm, mental skillset, and obsession.
Get used to the fact that you’ll be dealing with uncertainty, stress, and pressure. Also, unplanned madness is always going to pop up on some occasions.
3. Find Your Niche
Choose a tour niche you’re going to operate in.
Research it.
Know everything there is to know about it.
Have a clear vision and a good sense of what the tour industry is all about, what you can offer and add to it, when, and how.
Design a unique selling proposition.
For example, do you offer adventure, nature, cultural, domestic, or sightseeing tours? Or for instance, do you wish to specialize in luxury tours?
Take everything into consideration, like the geographical position. I’m sure you’re aware that you can’t offer wine tours and tastings when there is not a single vineyard in a 5000 mile radius.
Instead, look what quality sights are near you.
Is your region known for anything?
It doesn’t necessarily have to be known for food, but it could be if you have something special and unique to offer.
If there is indeed something special about your town, city, or region —that it’s not a thing someone already cashed in on (saturated market).
When you find your niche, devise a plan how to infiltrate it.
You have two choices — be the first one or be the better one.
When you’re the first one on the “battlefield”, you don’t necessarily have to be the best if you haven’t figured out all the details yet. But you need to make sure you’re the first and the only one offering these kinds of services.
Don’t forget to keep up with the latest travel industry trends and research what your potential customers want.
Now, if you want to be the best in your field — here’s where you are going to work your butt off.
Research the way other tour operators do business. Carefully create a service that will prove better than the competition.
RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH.
Don’t be shy and get out there — talk to other people who share your dream. Discuss your ideas and plans with other entrepreneurs. The more you find out, the better.
Plus, there’s a good reason why we’re advising you to be a social butterfly and talk to other tour guides. For any startup, networking is what gets things done and how you spread the word about your business.
4. Create A Business Plan
This basically means write everything down that you have just researched. Write. Everything. Down. To the very last detail. Then arrange this in a coherent and formal business plan.
Once you have it written down, you can move on to the next phase: registering your tour business.
This is the step where you name your business, create a brand that you’re going to nourish, design a logo, and have a website set up.
5. Calculate the Costs and Create A Budget
Registering a business doesn’t come cheap. Nor does obtaining all the legal licenses.
Before you can start selling your tours, you need to acquire a bunch of paperwork and proper licenses, among other things.
Check online as well as with your local municipality which license/licenses you need and how to get them. Again, do your homework and write everything down.
Find out how much money you need to get your business running.
That’s why you need a carefully outlined financial plan. Expenses vs. profit. What you offer must cover all the expenses in the long run.
Once you have a rough financial draft, perfect your business and financial plan and pitch it to your potential partners or investors.
Be prepared that there may be certain expenses you won’t be able to avoid.
This might even include hiring a skilled lawyer to help you with the paperwork and legal issues.
Additionally, insurance is something that should be high on your priority list; namely because it could shield your business from potential risks and unexpected events — delays, sickness, accident, poor weather, etc.
Some liabilities are attached to the organizer and the retailer as well. You might want to research more about the following tour operator insurance terms:
- Public and Product Liability
- Professional Indemnity
- Fidelity cover
- Business interruption
6. Come Up with a Marketing and Advertising Strategy
If you don’t know what you’re doing, it might be best to ask for advice. You see, marketing can be a tricky thing. The trends change constantly as well as search optimization best practices.
Here are some references that are going to help you with
- What Tour and Activity Providers Need to Know About SEO
- How to Save Time — Social Media Marketing Strategy for Tour Operators
- 7 Tips for Growing Tour Business through Online Marketing
- Best Online Marketing Resources for Tour Companies
- What are the Top Marketing Tips for Tour Business
7. Organize Your Business with An Online Booking Software
Having a ton of work, papers flying everywhere, and at the beginning, not many people around you to help you handle everything — it can get hectic.
Once you get your business up and running, you need an online booking software to boost your sales and keep everything organized.
Use the technology at your disposal. Make your life easier.
You don’t want to be on the phone all day, with multiple calls on hold with, twice as many missed calls, buried in paperwork and post-it notes, now do you?
Writing down (with an actual pen, oh dear…), retyping customer information into your computer and manually handling your bookings.
Customers calling to book a tour, re-sellers calling to ask all sorts of question, you’re not sure whether you can take it anymore without losing your mind.
No. Stop it.
You need a tool to sell tours and activities on your website.
The same tool will also automate tedious tasks like the ones we’ve mentioned above. Automating certain tasks should be their top priority because it saves times and resources.
Finding the right tour operator software requires a lot of research. You have to try a few of them before you are able to figure out exactly what is it that you’re looking for and what fits your business best.
Why do you need to invest in such a thing?
Because YOU ARE WASTING YOUR PRECIOUS TIME by doing everything manually. (And making errors and omissions as you go, admit it.)
And no, investing in such a tool is not laziness — it’s wisdom in practice!
What Is an Online Tour Operator Software?
Let’s get down to business:
An online booking software is a type of program that allows you to manage your bookings. With it, you are able to manage your important tour dates online, appointments, meetings, itineraries, and receipts.
Online booking software allows your website to become a key selling tool.
Everything is online. All your potential customers are online. That means YOU have to be online. Savvy travelers expect to be able manage the booking process themselves, as well as pay for an activity through your website.
And guess what, you don’t have to have a phone glued to your ear all day!
Now for the important thing:
Your main goal is to book more tours and activities to make a profit.
You need a responsive, mobile-friendly alongside an easy-to-use booking platform. A very important thing to note here is that you need to have a reliable payment process, keep track of all the bookings and payments.
Good luck!
This post was originally published on Orioly.com
