How To Start A Travel Business In 12 Steps

It takes guts and inner strength to start a business. But it seems since the pandemic there are more people than ever before taking this leap of faith. In fact, BBC News reported a record year for business start-ups in 2020 and five years later the trend is still going strong.

One lucrative business area that is booming is travel. However, if you want to be a travel entrepreneur, the first thing to understand is that there are many types of travel businesses you can start.

For example, you can open a shop, start a travel website, blog or become a home-based personal travel consultant. Each one comes with its own specific challenges and advantages.

In this article, we show you how to start a travel business in just 12 steps.

1) Choose the type of travel business you want to run

Setting up a travel agency can take several different forms including becoming an independent agent, being associated with a travel consortium or becoming a homeworking personal travel consultant via a company such as The Travel Franchise. You’ll need to make decisions as to whether you will work from a home, an office or shop selling online or in person – or in some instances all three!

As an independent travel agent, you’ll need to create your own brand, apply for licences like Air Travel Organisers’ Licencing (ATOL) scheme and Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) and negotiate directly with suppliers. You’ll have full control, but also higher upfront costs and face greater risks.

Meanwhile, with a franchise model like The Travel Franchise, you start with an established brand, supplier network and marketing systems. You avoid the steepest startup costs and benefit from ongoing training and support.

In short, the latter is a far more cost effective way of getting started. It also allows you to launch quickly, keep costs and overheads low through a home-based model and work around your schedule with part-time or full-time options. Additionally, it comes with a recognised brand that customers trust. Not to mention more than 450 supplier partnerships that you can tap into to help plan your clients’ next amazing holiday.

While both routes can work for you, franchising reduces your risk by giving you a ready-made business model.

To explore the differences between running an independent travel agency and joining a franchise, read our blog Independent Travel Agency Vs Franchise: What’s The Difference (And Which Is Right For You)?

2) Do the boring but necessary bits: legal requirements, licences and business setup 

 To run any professional travel business, you’ll need to fulfill all the legal requirements and licenses required and set up the right business structure. 

• Business structures: Choose between operating as a sole trader, partnership or limited company. Each has different tax and liability implications.
• Licences, accreditations and associations: Consider joining ABTA for credibility and consumer trust. You’ll also need ATOL protection to sell flight-inclusive holidays.
• Insurance and compliance: Don’t overlook professional indemnity insurance, GDPR compliance and contracts with suppliers.

The good news is that you don’t need any experience or official qualifications to become a travel consultant, so in reality, anyone could do it. Of course, you’ll need to build up fantastic knowledge of the travel industry so that you can provide a great experience for your customers.

Exclusively at The Travel Franchise, you get full initial travel training, a personal Business Development Manager (BDM) and a back office ticketing team who are there to support you as you build your travel knowledge over time. You’ll also get supplied with travel agent booking systems, marketing materials, ongoing training, licences and much more. 

If you go it alone, it will greatly increase your chances of success if you join an association. You’ll be taken more seriously and it will build trust with customers. The most widely recognised trade association is ABTA. Although this is also the most expensive and therefore less aimed at start-ups. Also, you must have ATOL, which allows you to sell airline tickets. Without it you’ll only be able to sell accommodation and ground transport, which isn’t much use for your customers. 

To run any travel business in the UK means dealing with an increasingly regulated market. 

It’s becoming even more stringent with the introduction of The New Package Travel Directive. This directive protects European travellers’ rights when booking package holidays. However, the regulations are purely in place to protect consumers, not to make business within the travel industry difficult.

If this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. The good news is that when you join The Travel Franchise, all of this is handled for you. You’ll benefit from all of the brand’s supplier network which is ATOL protected. Plus, the team’s know-how and experience is there to continuously support you. This means that you don’t have to spend time figuring out how to navigate all the important stuff and you can focus on what you love most: creating special memories and organising amazing holidays.

Costs, funding and earning potential in travel

Starting a travel business comes with financial commitments, whether you go independent or join a franchise.

Independent costs may include:

• Licensing fees and membership (ATOL, ABTA)
• Professional insurance and legal fees
• A website build, online booking tools and travel agent software
• Marketing and advertising budget
• Office rent or home office setup
• Ongoing supplier costs – forging partnerships etc.
• Ticketing, amendments etc.

These can easily add up to several thousand pounds before you’ve even made your first booking.

However, there are funding options to consider:

• Redundancy payouts or savings, which is a common starting point for career changers.
• Government Start Up Loans. These are available to UK entrepreneurs (subject to eligibility).
• Bank loans or small business grants, depending on your individual circumstances.

Opting to go the franchise route, the good news is that with The Travel Franchise, packages start from £2,995 + VAT with the most popular Elite package which includes free mentorship retreats abroad and the Money-Back Challenge) costing £14,995 + VAT. See the different packages  giving you immediate access to:

• 450+ suppliers with industry-leading commissions
• A fully functioning website and booking platform
• Training and mentorship included in the cost
• Marketing materials
• Ongoing support including a personal business development manager

See everything that you get with The Travel Franchise

As for earning potential, here’s what to keep in mind:

• Independent agents may have to begin with a smaller number of travel partners 
• Franchisees benefit from the group’s buying power and preferred supplier agreements, meaning you can earn more from each booking from day one.

Having a clear picture of startup costs and revenue opportunities will help you choose the path that fits your budget and long-term goals.

3) Build your product base 

It seems obvious, but it has to be said: you can’t run a travel business unless you have something to sell. You’ll need flights, hotels, transfers, attractions tickets, guided tours and more. All this across different destinations.

But where do you get all this from? Well, there are 2 paths ahead.

Independent path: 

You can approach companies directly, negotiate commission rates and maintain those relationships. This takes time, patience and strong negotiation skills.

You’ll need to make a list of companies you can approach and you’ll need to ask them permission to sell their packages. The well established operators will have lots of questions for you, as they’ll want to associate with professional businesses. 

If your travel business is just starting out, you are unlikely to be in a position to demand a great percentage to retain as your commission, which means generating income will be harder (as you’ll need to sell more holidays). Equally it might be worth working on your negotiation skills and watching a few videos to get yourself prepared. 

Once you have some suppliers/companies to work with – great. But it doesn’t end there. You’ll need to maintain those relationships and grow them. Which will require time, effort and plenty of patience.

The consortium path:

Another route to building your travel product base is joining a travel consortium. A consortium is a collective of independent travel agents who band together to leverage buying power, access exclusive deals and share marketing resources. By joining a consortium, you gain access to pre-negotiated rates with suppliers, training programmes, marketing support and sometimes even technology platforms.

The advantage here is that you retain your independence while benefiting from some of the support structures that franchises offer. You can sell a wide range of products, from flights and hotels to cruises and tours, without having to negotiate directly with every supplier. Consortiums often offer preferred supplier agreements, which means better commissions and discounts.

However, it’s worth noting that consortia may charge membership fees or require you to meet minimum sales targets. Unlike a franchise, you won’t have a fully branded business or the same level of ongoing mentorship. Success depends heavily on your ability to market your business, maintain customer relationships, and actively participate in consortium activities.

Franchise path: 

With The Travel Franchise, you instantly gain access to 450+ suppliers and millions of travel options through an affiliation with the Hays Independence Group, with £2 billion in buying power and pre-negotiated commissions.This will dramatically accelerate your new business and will mean you can hit the ground running, selling all kinds of travel. It also means access to the best commercial terms (and commissions) around so you can earn more, right from the start..

4) Find your customers and a niche

One mistake some people make when it comes to starting a business is considering where they will find their customers – and what those customers may want to buy. You might want to sell everything to everyone but it’s wise to promote a niche or a specialisation to stand out.

Having a niche, will help you to:

• Develop your expertise faster 
• Differentiate yourself 
• Stand out from the competition 
• Develop a community

If you’re not sure where to start, try researching what others are doing online, what the trends are and which emerging markets are most popular. Perhaps revisit what you love most about travelling or look at your trips over the years. Is there a recurring theme? This could be your niche or a source of inspiration for it.

How to research your niche:

• Use Google Trends to check demand for destinations or travel types.
• Study competitors and see where the gaps are.
• Run small surveys or polls to test customer interest.

It’s up to you to become an expert in the space and differentiate your business from the rest. 

Popular niches include luxury travel, adventure holidays, cruises, sustainable travel and family getaways. The key is matching your passion with real market demand.

It’s also important to stay ahead of current trends – such as Sustainable Travel.

“Sustainable travel has been on the rise for years now. Not only is a global pandemic unlikely to change that—it could even make traveling sustainably seem more important than ever.”

National Geographic

Skip the setup struggle – start selling today.
Watch our Discovery Tour to see the ready-made business: ATOL protection, 450+ suppliers, and marketing systems included.
Watch the Discovery Tour

But why not get the best of both worlds?

Because you get trained across all types of travel and you’re taught how to niche-down, working with The Travel Franchise enables you to sell any kind of travel for any budget. Many current Travel Franchise travel agents have already taken advantage of this. For example, David W. specialises in luxury travel, Ben and Toni R. sell many trips to Lapland and Liz and Ian capitalise on their knowledge of South Africa, just to mention a few. 

You may say, “it’s too late.” Or “It’s already been done” / “There are no niches left.” This is simply not the case. There is no one in this world that can do what you do, that can say what you say and utilise your own skills and experience. You just have to have the faith to trust in yourself and make it happen. 

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” 

Chinese Proverb

5) Decide on a name and create a brand 

Branding is just a fancy name for creating an online ‘shop window’, a perception of your company and the products/services it sells, and ultimately who it’s for. Some areas of branding you’ll need to consider is deciding on a name, a logo and brand colours etc. 

This can cost a lot of money, if you decide to work with a professional design agency. 

If you decide to join The Travel Franchise, the good news is, this is all taken care of. The name of the brand, the logo, the lot. Almost all our franchisees operate under the already established ‘Not Just Travel’ brand, so that they benefit from all our experience and ongoing investment.

However, if this isn’t for you and you want to operate under your own brand name, no problem. We have David Walker from ‘The Travel Snob’ and Mark & Isobel McCardie who operate under ‘Rock My World’. 

6) Create a marketing strategy

Marketing, particularly online, may well take a chunk of your initial investment to get your travel business off the ground. Your marketing strategy will be largely dependent on your niche, the target audience you are trying to reach, your budget and your resources. 

What does a marketing strategy include? 

Think of “marketing” as an umbrella term, and the areas below sit under that umbrella.

There’s a lot to do, and it can feel overwhelming. 

These bullet points below are a good place to start your planning. There are both ‘types’ of marketing and the ‘different platforms’ to create a strategy for. This will get you off on the right foot. 

• Social media
  • Organic posts  
  • Paid ads
• Content marketing
  • Video, blog, case studies, testimonials, reviews
  • YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest  
• Search (Google, Bing)
  • Organic ranking  
  • Paid ads  
• Email campaigns
  • To newsletter subscribers to convert them
  • To existing customers to keep them engaged
• Website
  • The imagery, layout, design 
  • The copy and call-to-actions

For some more inspiration in marketing strategy, and for a more detailed list on what to do, visit 10 positive actions to take when business gets quiet – it’s well worth a visit! 

If you join us, you’ll benefit from a marketing strategy which has already been tried, tested and works time and time again. You’ll also get a website ready made, with your name on it. So, you don’t have to worry.

Your travel business will also be future proofed by having our marketing team at head office behind you. Especially as this is an ever moving target, with a fierce competition. The marketing strategy you create today will be out of date and behind the rest in 3-6 months time.

7) Become an expert in what you do

To become successful over the long-term, like in any business sector, you’ll need to become an expert in what you do. This isn’t just about being an expert in a certain type of travel or destination, even though that is really beneficial. 

You’ll need to become an expert at running a business. This means customer service, selling, communicating with customers, marketing, handling calls and much more. You’ll be running a business after all and that requires continuous upskilling and refining. 

This might seem overwhelming, but everyone starts from 0. The guys at Google and Apple started in their garage after all. Know that it’s possible to enjoy the journey and not just the destination. 

Many travel business owners find things can be quiet to begin with. But, as they gain momentum and learn their craft over time, their success begins to compound. Once you get one customer who loves what you do, they’ll tell their friends. You’ll learn about their interests, likes and dislikes and it will grow from there.

One of the things The Travel Franchise offers is an ongoing commitment to mentorship.

The Travel Franchise franchisees don’t just benefit from their initial five-day training course or their Business Development Manager. There are also weekly webinars that develop business acumen and build skills.

But it’s at the brand’s ongoing training events and luxury mentorship retreats where franchisees take their business to a new level.

As a franchisee, you could attend the Millionaires Retreat or be a part of an Elite Experience for learning-packed weeks in exotic destinations.

You’ll also get access to all of The Travel Franchise’s holiday suppliers training to become knowledgeable about all kinds of destinations and resorts. All this support is designed to help you become an expert in what you do.

Franchisees benefit from ongoing mentorship, training events, webinars and retreats to sharpen both their travel knowledge and business skills. 

8) Start to build great customer relationships

Some of our franchisees admit that when they first started, they thought they would set-up a travel company and the business would just flood in. If only it was that easy… 

Rather than waiting, you’ll need to put yourself out there. Don’t wait for customers to turn up at your door, because in all honest truth this won’t happen and you’ll feel like a failure, when really your business didn’t have the chance to get off the ground.

Before anyone starts their travel business with us, we help them to create a contact list. This list is to help you figure out everyone you know, (your “life’s address book” basically) and use this as a starting point. 

The goal should be to meet as many people as possible that you can talk about travel with.

Rachel, one of our franchisees, set-up a raffle at the school fair to get herself out there and brought in a £70k booking.

Building great customer relationships is your best route to more sales. Happy customers will talk to their friends about their experience with your business and write glowing reviews about you. Outstanding customer service is what will create referrals. 

Nicola Pugh talks about this very thing in her video below. Building a 1 million pound business whilst working part-time is down to the relationships she built with her customers, that see her more as a friend than a travel consultant.

9) Create helpful, inspiring travel content

In today’s market, you need to adopt the mindset of a media company. Don’t think of yourself just as a travel business, but as a media company too. 

That means creating awesome content so that you stay at the front of someone’s mind without having to constantly pester them for their business. 

If you can create useful, entertaining, inspirational and FREE content regularly, you’ll position yourself as an authority in the space. You’ll start to see enquiries come in from organic searches, and people will stumble across your travel business online, just from your awesome content. This is when it gets really exciting, as you won’t have to rely on paid advertising to generate new business. 

“Content” can mean, writing blogs, creating videos, recording podcasts and uploading them on YouTube, Facebook, producing case studies, eGuides. The list goes on. 

For a travel company that could be creating things with titles like:

• 10 ultimate honeymoon destinations
• 7 things I wish I knew before going to the Maldives. 
• Why do customers use me to book holidays every year? 
• Places that are a must-visit if you’re a real foodie like me

The list is endless. 

Alternatively, you could get it done for you.

The Travel Franchise’s marketing team gives you more than any other travel franchise company out there, helping produce content to attract your audiences for you. That includes blog posts, social media graphics, a magazine and even a podcast.

The Travel Franchise supports its travel agents with ready-made blogs, social media graphics and even a podcast to help attract customers.

10) Advertise online 

In the early days of your business as a Personal Travel Consultant, you really don’t need to spend much on marketing or advertising.

When and if you decide to give your business a paid-advertising boost, these days there are many opportunities to promote your business, especially online.

It’s not like the old days when you may pay a hefty fee to advertise your business in a magazine or a newspaper. It might look good but often you’d have no idea who saw it, whether anyone took action, or what business you got in return for your investment. 

Below are a few options to advertise your business online: 

• Launch Facebook Ads
  • This is not a social post, but a campaign 
• Boost Facebook posts
  • You can start with as little as £10 per day 
• Create Google Ads
  • This is so you’ll be found when people search 

A word of caution here. Facebook boosted posts are relatively safe, anyone can do it. 

But spending money on Google Ads, if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be like throwing money at the wall and expecting it to stick. Seek professional help here. 

11) Set goals 

Setting goals for yourself and your travel business is key. Not just in the beginning, but reviewing these goals regularly and your progress towards them. 

A trap some people fall into is creating unrealistic goals and then feeling disappointed when they didn’t reach them. It’s important to push yourself and create goals which will require work to reach them, but you don’t want to be too ambitious. Especially when starting out.  

Setting goals in your travel business is important for many reasons: 

• They will provide focus and direction 
• It’ll help you to measure progress 
• They help you to keep motivated 
• It’s a great exercise to figure out what you want

Our initial training covers setting goals, and their importance, our franchisees are also supported and guided towards creating their own business plans, based on their personal goals, lifestyle and why they started in the first place. 

Challenges of starting a travel business (and how to overcome them)

Starting a travel business isn’t without its challenges, which may include:

• Competition: It’s a crowded market, so you need a clear USP (unique selling point).
• Economic uncertainty: Events like recessions or pandemics can disrupt demand.
• Cash flow issues: Independent agencies may wait months for commissions.
• Technology costs: DIY booking platforms and websites can be expensive.

The good news is that the franchise model with The Travel Franchise reduces many of these risks with existing supplier agreements and financial backing. However, resilience and adaptability remain essential.

12) Form strategic partnerships 

Connecting with new customers one by one can be time consuming. Growing your business by forming strategic partnerships can take things to a new level. 

Creating strategic partnerships is not a new concept. Companies have built empires through it for decades. A great example of strategic partnerships is Starbucks and Spotify. Starbucks employees received a premium Spotify subscription. They used it to curate playlists featured on Spotify. Users then earned My Starbucks Reward points through the Spotify music app. 

As a small business, one thing you can do to rapidly grow your brand is to seek out strategic partnerships with like-minded larger businesses. Particularly those that share commonalities and target markets, but which are not direct competitors.

Strategic partnerships can be a game changer for a small business. It’s all about creating a win-win. Ask yourself what’s in it for us? What’s in it for them? How can we add value to their customers and proposition? 

With Partners In Travel, at The Travel Franchise, this is already proving to be a game changer for our franchisees. Find out more about it here.

Nicola Pugh formed a partnership with the best wedding planner in Cyprus. All the brides the wedding planner looks after then come over to Nicola. They book their wedding trip, all their friends’ flights and hotels and often the honeymoon too.

Technology and tools for running a travel business

A modern travel business relies on the right technology:

• Booking systems: Many independents use Global Distribution Systems (GDS) such as Amadeus or Sabre.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and email tools: For managing clients and campaigns.
• Websites: DIY agents may use platforms like Wix or WordPress, but this can be time-consuming and costly.
• Franchise systems: The Travel Franchise provides its own ready-made booking platform, customer portals and marketing tools, plus T-Profile for creating professional quotes and more, which saves you money and time and improves conversion rates.

Having the right tech in place ensures a smooth booking experience and helps scale your business quickly.

Ready to start your travel business the smart way?

These 12 steps are a proven way to start a successful travel business. The question to ask yourself is: “Do I go it alone or do I partner with an established consortium or franchise company?” Both choices have pros and cons and only you can decide which path is the right one for you to take. 

The popularity of franchising has grown exponentially in the UK in the last 20 years, according to the British Franchise Association (BFA).  But why? This fact summarises it well. 

Half of all independent new businesses fail within their first two years whilst 90% of franchise businesses become profitable in that same period of time. 

BFA

Considering a mid-career move into travel? Read our career-change guide to travel franchising at 30, 40 or 50+ for what to expect and how to get started.

Here are some of the top reasons why some people decide to join The Travel Franchise, rather than go it alone:

1. A proven, ready-made business model with everything you need to start quickly
2. The ability to join with no prior experience, and work flexible hours, often alongside another job to begin with
3. Access to a complete travel product range with 450+ suppliers and pre-negotiated higher commissions
4. ABTA membership plus partnership with ATOL-protected suppliers, so you can trade legally from day one
5. A trusted national brand with authority in the market that customers already recognise
6. A strong financial backbone, giving you stability and confidence as you grow
7. Essential travel agent training, mentorship and ongoing support, from your first booking to long-term growth
8. Marketing systems, content and tools designed to help you attract customers faster

If you’d love to know more about how you could open a travel business with us, visit our Discovery Centre to learn all about how it works.

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