How To Run Your Own Discount Air Ticket Agency

THE POTENTIAL

The number of people travelling overseas has risen virtually

every year since the early 1950's and, although that figure

is now starting to round off, that's still many millions of

people who travel overseas.

In fact, about twenty million British people travel overseas

each year, and that includes many who make several journeys

per year, whether for business or pleasure.

Very few of these journeys are arranged direct with

operators, they virtually go through travel agents.  Hence

tons of potential to start a travel agency business.

Yes, there are lots of travel agents in existence already,

but it's generally a growth area and accepted that there is

room for more.

A LUCRATIVE OPENING

Despite the fact that more and more people are travelling,

it's very much a changing market.  That is, very budget

conscious!  People are looking to travel overseas at ever

lower cost.  Cheaper and cheaper than the year before!

This has changed the market in that people expect cheap

flights and holidays.  They don't expect to pay full price. 

As a result, a whole market has been set up to handle cheap

flights and holiday bargains.  Often, these are last minute

offers at 'silly', cheap prices.

If you know where to get these offers, you can promote them

locally and sell them to local customers, then link them up

with the suppliers.  You don't buy anything yourself (so you

don't need any cash), but you will get a good commission from

the suppliers and satisfied customers who, hopefully, return

year after year, time and time again.

HOW TO SET UP

This is a business that will thrive if you have a small

office or kiosk in a town centre where you can advertise the

service and accept bookings.  However, that can be in the

future.

In the early days, this is a business that you can operate

from home, but you will certainly need a telephone to take

enquiries and make bookings on.

Some neat headed business notepaper will also be invaluable.

This is a business which you can operate full time during

normal office hours, hence ideal for someone who has to stay

at home.  But it can be worked part time, in the evenings and

at weekends, if you like.  This is when most customers will

be making their travel plans anyway.

No significant capital is required because you don't actually

buy the tickets yourself.  What capital is available will be

spent on advertising.  This should be as high as you can

easily afford.  It could be as little as œ10, but a higher

figure would produce more profitable results.

Arrange an efficient office filing system, as an efficient

prompt service is a must in this business.

MAKING CONTRACTS

Before you can start selling the cheap tickets and holidays,

etc, you must find where to get them from.  In the trade,

there are several cheap discount houses who get details of

cheap tickets from airlines, holiday companies, etc, and

resell them to the trade.

These companies will be pleased to deal with you, but make

yourself look a reputable company.  They will only deal with

bona fida traders and not with private individuals.

The best way of getting in touch with one of these companies

is to take a course.  A couple are advertised in Exchange and

Mart, and the national newspapers.  A leading postal course

is operated by a company in North London.

These courses will tell you exactly how to operate the

business but, more importantly, they will reveal the special

procedure to be followed to get the cheap tickets.

Make contact with a selection of suppliers so that you can

get relevant information.  Some send out regular bulletins,

others have a telephone hotline for details of the latest

cheap tickets.

ADVERTISING YOUR NEW SERVICE

With contacts made, you can set out to advertise your

service.  Initially, remember that you aren't setting out to

compete with travel agents.  There are various services that

they can offer that you can't.

The accent of your service should be the cheapest possible

prices.  In most cases, your local travel agent can't compete

with these because of his overheads, even though he can buy

from the same place as you.  That said, you are offering a no

frills service for bargain hunters, whereas the agent serves

those with more to spend.

It depends on what you want to offer.  You might just offer

cheap scheduled flight tickets to any country in the world. 

Or you might offer package tours.  Or both.  The commissions

vary accordingly to circumstances.  They can be up to 30%

sometimes, whereas most tour brochures will give you a 10%

commission.

In addition, you can sell hotel rooms, car hire and travel

insurance etc.  The commissions on these can be very high

indeed.

The best way of selling is to take out advertisements in your

local paper.  Classified lineage advertisements will do, but

just small blocks are best.  The cost will be very low.  Just

note that you offer cheap tickets, or, perhaps give some

examples, e.g. 'New York by scheduled flight, œ199'.

The important thing to note is that you can't just place one

advertisement and wait to be deluged with response.  That

won't work.  You really need to place an advertisement in

your local newspapers, if possible, every day, or every other

day.  You can work nationally, but it's better to stay local

to begin with.

Remember that you will be building up regular custom.  So,

although advertising costs may be high in the beginning, they

have to reduce in the future as people come back to you as

regular customers.

OPERATING THE SERVICE

Give your advertisements a couple of weeks to start bringing

in a good response.  Then you should get people ringing you

with enquiries for the full details of your service.  When

you get a customer, get details of where they want to go,

when they would like to travel, and how many people a booking

is required for.

The next step is to ring round your contacts and match things

up to provide the service.  With luck, you'll find something

that fits their exact requirements.  However, it should be

noted that some cheap tickets are restricted to certain times

- often the unpopular ones.  So, if the exact date is not

available, take some alternatives.

Then go back to your customer and make agreements.  If they

have to alter their plans, you can usually convince them that

it's worth it, as the savings are large.

When you agree on a booking, collect payment from the

customer, then order from the agent.  The tickets will be

sent on to you for passing on to the customer.

One good thing is that the agents probably won't expect to be

paid by you for at least a month, so you can keep the

client's money in your bank account until you have to pay the

agent.  This adds extra profit!

EXPANSION

Basically, the service is as simple as that, but you do need

a flair for organisation.  If you make mistakes, it can be

costly and you'll lose customers.

To expand, go back to your customers and get regular trade. 

Most travel agents don't do this.  But if, for example, you

had a family of four booking a package holiday once every

year, that's a good regular income at a total cost of œ1,500.

When you are established, you could probably set up as a

travel agent, although there are a lot of small details in

this work that don't produce large profits.  So, it is best

to handle only cheap flights using low overhead premises. 

This allows you to be the cheapest in town, no matter who

else sets up in competition.

A good method of expansion is to set up premises.  This

allows you to be the cheapest in town no matter who else sets

up in competition.

Another good method of expansion is to set up in other areas. 

Perhaps get agents to work for you from their home.  They'll

expect a cut in your commission, but good profits are still

possible.

All in all, you should not expect a massive commission

money-wise on a single booking, because travel prices are

incredibly cheap these days.  But you can make up for it in

volume.  With twenty million travelers each year, what if

you just scooped 1,000 in your region, spending only $500

each!