Travel gear

In India, travel agency business is growing tremendously well over the past few years, and is witnessing unbelievable growth driven by rising middle class, increasing number of foreign tourists and brilliantly tailored campaigns by the Government to promote ‘Incredible India’. Entrepreneurs who aspire to open their own travel agency do not have a better option than delving into franchising. Today, a number of well established travel agencies offer franchises and also consider helping the franchisees with all the necessary requisites. Nishant Pitty, Sales Director, Ease My Trip says,  “The franchisees are encouraged to establish their own business identity with the a help of already established brand name.”

Prominent key players

A few well known travel agencies that are into franchising are: PrimeTravels.com, Ease My Trip, Raj Travel world, MakeMyTrip.com, Travel Tours, Go World Holidays, Arzoo.com, and many more. These companies provide their franchisees with a number of facilities that include:

• Complete operational support
• Management skills to manage the travel business effectively
• Access to the inventory and technological facility

Terms and conditions of franchising

A travel agency provides its customers with almost all the necessary things that one would require on a trip. This includes holidays, business trips, hotel bookings, foreign exchange and medical facility. Apart from this, there are few agencies that help their clients in insurance or visas access. Networking is the key to succeed in travel agency business as everything is done through contacts, be it hotel booking, reservation of airways or train or bus tickets and so on.

Apart from this, the basic requirements to take the franchise of a travel agency are the financial status, right location with a minimum area of 250 sq. ft to 400 sq. ft. As Arun Varma, CEO, PrimeTravels.com says, “We look for the specific features before selecting the franchisee. For example, potential of the travel business in that market, integrity and inclination of the potential franchisee, business background and financial status of the franchisee.”

Franchising in travel agencies is a cost-effective way of establishing your business. As Pitty says, “According to our contract, our franchisees are locked for a period of three years with the company and on each transaction they get 5-10 per cent commission depending upon the airlines and travel fares.”

Benefits of franchise travel agency

Taking the franchise of a well established travel agency guarantees a number of benefits:

• A well recognised brand name is one of the notable benefits of franchising. As it is already accepted by the customers, therefore, you can easily earn a share in the market rather than investing years in establishing it.
• Another advantage of taking up franchising business model is that the franchisees get the help and support of a franchisor. The franchisor usually provides all his franchisees with full support by providing them with railway and airway links, interior designing of the office, accounting packages, and setting up a complete travel business.
• The franchisor also trains his franchisees in terms of technological proficiency as these days travel agencies offer the transaction through credit cards and online services. This helps them do the online booking and ticket cancelling in fraction of seconds.
• The other benefit that a franchisee enjoys is the marketing support from the franchisor. These days, online marketing is the latest trend, so the franchisors help their franchisees in promoting the business not just locally but online as well. 

Conclusion

Most of the franchised travel agencies generate profits. All you need to do is to offer your clients with a reasonable and affordable fare along with a world class service to gain loyalty of your clients. So, grab this highly beneficial opportunity that gives you enough margins to make profits.