The travel industry is absolutely one of the world’s largest. Travel is responsible for multiple trillions of dollars on an annual basis, and maybe it’s time you found your place in this booming industry.
Unfortunately, becoming a successful member of the travel industry isn’t as simple as putting out your shingle and throwing your doors open to willing customers. You have to learn the ropes as well as establish exactly where in the hugely disjointed industry you want to specialize.
• Find Your Motivation
Your first step in finding success in the travel industry is to recognize exactly why you want to be there. Are you interested in earning some of the trillions changing hands? Are you looking to utilize your skills in the great outdoors? Perhaps you just like the idea of traveling yourself, perhaps with a discount or with others. Only when your motivation is clear can you move on to actually beginning steps toward your career.
• Establish a Focus
One you know why you want a career in the travel industry, you can begin to think about your area of specialization. If you love being outdoors and are looking for a way to be paid for rugged adventures, a bushwalking and adventure service might be right up your alley. If you’re simply in love with travel for yourself and want to help others find that same joy, consider opening your own travel agency for individuals or groups. You might also enjoy working as a tour guide.
The list of possibilities is truly endless. You can open a bed and breakfast, offer historic home tours, arrange snorkeling trips, organize entertainment on cruise ships, make gift baskets for prominent visitors, arrange group travel from home, and the list goes on. Spend some time thinking about your current skill set and where your interest lies. If your focus in on earning money, you need to take a step back from that to find an area where your passion and drive can sustain you through the initial period of a new business where profits may be sketchy at best.
• Learn about the Industry
Once you’ve settled on a tightly focused niche of the travel industry, you can start to learn more about that segment. If you want to be an excursion director on a cruise ship, you’d better learn all about the corner of the world where that ship travels including destinations, customs, hotels, airports, currency, commerce and more.
If you want to build a travel website, research your competition and consider alternatives to the mainstream. If you’re interested in arranging travel for others, use the resources available through websites such as the American Society of Travel Agents.
• Begin Your Education
Your new career begins first by learning not just about the industry and your sector, but specifically about your chosen profession. Take a class or two. Even reading a few books about the legalities, ideas and other success stories can give you knowledge you need to make the right decisions for your own business.
Rather than just jumping into business and quite possibly failing, ease your way in through an apprenticeship or employment with others in your desired field. Even the receptionist and custodian at a travel agency knows an astonishing amount about how to succeed in the field. Take a menial job at a hotel, travel agency, or in your desired field of the travel industry to sample what the career is really about and learn as much as you can.
It should be said that even when you know you’re ready to branch out on your own, the educational aspect of any career is never complete. Continue to learn and grow to remain successful in your field.
• Get Authority
Once you’re ready to really start your very own travel business, only a nice set of credentials will give you the authority you need. The travel industry is huge and unfortunately full of unsavory types, so earning your Certified Travel Counselor certificate and joining an organization such as Association of Retail Travel Agents or National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents can give you the qualification you need to give clients a reason to trust you and your advice.
• Establish Yourself Correctly
Finally, don’t become so overwhelmed with your new business you forget to actually set it up correctly as a business. Protect yourself and your personal property by establishing your new travel business as a separate entity. Speak with a small business advisor and accountant to ensure all of your paperwork is order, and then enjoy your new found success.
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To say starting a travel business "is not easy" is an understatement. The largest growth in this sector is home-based, or independently employed, travel consultants who try to build a personal base of clients from their network of connections, usually among high-end travelers.
While it is easy to get into such a business, it is difficult to thrive. In such circumstances, nothing is more valuable than constant access to serious insider knowledge until one can become discerning enough, and well traveled enough, to have one's own deep expertise. Want to succeed in the travel industry? Then first, acquire access to expert knowledge you can use, and second, make it a priority to acquire significant expertise of your own, particularly if you intend to build your business with upscale clientele.
To say starting a travel business "is not easy" is an understatement. The largest growth in this sector is home-based, or independently employed, travel consultants who try to build a personal base of clients from their network of connections, usually among high-end travelers.
While it is easy to get into such a business, it is difficult to thrive. In such circumstances, nothing is more valuable than constant access to serious insider knowledge until one can become discerning enough, and well traveled enough, to have one's own deep expertise. Want to succeed in the travel industry? Then first, acquire access to expert knowledge you can use, and second, make it a priority to acquire significant expertise of your own, particularly if you intend to build your business with upscale clientele.
Hey......I'm new to the world of online business start up's and blogging but am trying to learn as much as I can. I've been self employed my whole life but doing the more traditional things like running a 9 -5 company.
I have just come to learn that I value my time with family more than I value owning a large company.
Any help or ideas would be great, I hope to get to know a few people and learn some tricks.
Hey......I'm new to the world of online business start up's and blogging but am trying to learn as much as I can. I've been self employed my whole life but doing the more traditional things like running a 9 -5 company.
I have just come to learn that I value my time with family more than I value owning a large company.
Any help or ideas would be great, I hope to get to know a few people and learn some tricks.
A very important questions one should ask oneself before starting is: is the travel industry the right industry for me? The travel industry is all about people. A service-oriented attitude, and the willingness to give just that little extra that make people feel at home are very important. Why? Because -unlike in many other businesses- it is not so much the price that keeps customers coming, but the quality of the service. Recommendations from happy customers are what makes the future of your travel business.
A very important questions one should ask oneself before starting is: is the travel industry the right industry for me? The travel industry is all about people. A service-oriented attitude, and the willingness to give just that little extra that make people feel at home are very important. Why? Because -unlike in many other businesses- it is not so much the price that keeps customers coming, but the quality of the service. Recommendations from happy customers are what makes the future of your travel business.
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Business Travel Web
I think Setting up and running a successful – and profitable – travel agency is more challenging these days than it has been in the past. Many travel agencies have been forced to downsize or close altogether, because of competition from on-line booking sites, as well as a slump in the economy, and constant fears of terrorism. Most major airlines have heavily reduced, or eliminated altogether their commission to agencies, which at one time was a huge source of agency revenue. Companies too have felt the economic pinch and cut back on expense account travel for their employees.
Do you want to gain an edge on your competition? Are you looking for something that will boost your performance? Are you looking to destroy the competition?