How to Start a Tourism Business

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

How to Start a Tourism Business

Tourists are people who travel outside of their home-base environments in order to spend time visiting a different environment in either a business or leisure capacity. Both vacationers and those on business trips are considered tourists, and they may be touring either domestically (within their home country) or internationally. A tourism business is any business that centers on catering to tourists' needs. Follow these steps for how to develop a tourism business.

Instructions

1.Decide which sector of tourism you would like to focus your business on. You have several options to choose from when it comes to developing a business in tourism:

Transportation services. This sector involves transporting tourists to, from and around the tourist destination.

Travel agencies. Travel agencies are the 1 stop shop for everything involved with visiting a place, including transportation, accommodations and attractions.

Accommodations. These include hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, rental houses, condos and any other place tourists may stay while traveling.

Guided tours and tour guides. A guided tour service or professional tour guide is a tourism business that specializes in providing informative and entertaining tours through an area's local attractions.

Hospitality. A hospitality business pertains to any food or beverage establishment that tourists may frequent.

2.Take your geographical location into account. Your local tourist attractions are good indicators of what would and would not make a successful tourism business venture. For example, if your area is secluded from the populace and dense with wineries, then guided winery tours, local bed and breakfasts, and airport transportation services are all viable business options.

3.Size up the competition. Thoroughly research the tourism businesses in your area before you decide which business in tourism is right for you. You will want to choose a tourism sector that is not overly congested, and one that you can contribute something unique to.

4.Write a business plan. Your business plan is the blueprint for your tourism business, and should include the following sections:

Executive summary. Describe your business's purpose, name, location, personnel needs, tourism business management staff, market sector, competition, marketing plan and financial projections.
Tourism business summary. This should detail how the business's ownership will be distributed and the start up requirements (funding, assets and location).
Products and/or services. You need to outline the products and/or services your business will be providing for tourists.
Analysis of the market. Provide information about your target market and your competition.
Tourism business strategy. Describe how you plan on running your business, marketing your business and pricing your product or service.
Financial summary. State your projections for your business's expenses and income.

5.Procure the necessary funds. Present your business plan to potential lenders and/or business partners in order to obtain the start up and operating capital you will need to run your business in tourism.

6.Select a business location.

7.Obtain all applicable business licenses. Get the necessary business licensing through your local government's business regulatory agency.

8.Market your tourism business.

Use social networking sites. Set up accounts/pages on free social networking sites.
Create a website for your tourism business. Be sure to hire a specialist for search engine optimization (SEO) in order to maximize your site's online presence.
List your business on all applicable online directories and review websites.
Advertise in print mediums. Take out ad space in newspapers, magazines and trade/lifestyle publications.

Tips & Warnings

If you live in a very touristy area, you may benefit from joining the local Chamber of Commerce and providing local tours and excursions. If there is a historical group or society in town, you can also partner with it as a way to make the most of what your area has to offer.
Consult with an expert if you are writing a business plan to be presented to a bank or financial institution, as this requires a more in-depth evaluation of your business and needs.
While you don't need a business or tourism degree to start a business, having one (or associating with somebody who does) may make the process of obtaining funding easier.

Reference:click here

2 comments:

albina N muroApril 22, 2013 at 9:24 PM
Tourism is arguably the world's largest industry and to start a tourism business, one needs to have a clear understanding of who does what. Business NLP
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Tourism BusinessDecember 19, 2013 at 11:32 AM
How to Start a Tourism Business, Tourism, Tourism Business
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Easy Tips and Ideas to Start Business

Although anyone can start a business, many people fail because of a bad product or improper research. If you want to start your own business, you can improve your chances for success before you even begin. In order to make your business successful, start strong and make sure that your idea will hold out for the long haul.

Have a Good Product

Ensure that you plan to sell something useful. Although you may think that your product is important or special, that doesn't mean the general public will agree. Ask friends, family and strangers what they think of your product. If they don't seem that interested, ask them why. With their suggestions, you can either improve the product or scrap the idea completely. According to Brad Sugars of Entrepreneur magazine, most small businesses fail because they sold a product that didn't have an adequate market. This also applies to small businesses that provide a service. A lawn-care business might be useful for part of the year in a northern state, but it is in-demand year-round in the south. Consider whether people will actually want to use your service and get constructive advice from those not afraid to give their opinion.

Research Local Businesses

Research local companies before starting up your own business. This will not only give you an idea of the amount of competition you will have, but it will also help you price your product or service. If you're looking to start a wedding photography business, you may find during your research that the market is over-saturated in your area. If not over-saturated, you should contact each business and ask them for a price list. Alter your prices so you can stay competitive with the competition in town. Researching similar local businesses will also help you decide where to locate your business location. Try not to start up a store or office close to another business of your type. If your small business is located away from similar business types, this will cause locals to choose you over businesses that are farther away from where they live.

Get Professional Advice

You may know someone who has started their own successful business. Ask him for advice and listen to his stories of how he started his company. You may gain useful advice on the good and bad ways to start a business. Local entrepreneurs can also introduce you to local product providers or advertisers that you may not have met without their help. Accept any advice with open arms, especially if the advice is coming from someone successful in the area.

How to Calculate Business Start Up Costs

Starting a business in no easy endeavor. It takes a great deal of research, perseverance and hard work. While sweat equity will make your small business more successful, you will most likely need real capital to get the business started. Before you start raising capital and/or investing your own funds, the first thing you need to do is determine the total start-up costs.

Step 1

Determine your costs of sales. For most small businesses this means inventory, the cost of raw materials, manufacturing equipment, shipping, packaging, and warehousing. However, not all businesses sell products. In this case, the cost of sales is primarily the direct labor involved in making the sale. For example, to open a small shoe business entails purchasing enough inventory ($10,000) to stock the store.

Step 2

Determine professional fees. Planning your business structure, i.e., limited liability corporation or general partnership, means hiring an attorney. There may also be the need to pay an attorney for help with establishing trademarks, copyrights, and patents. In this scenario, that puts total professional fees at an estimated $20,000.

Step 3

Determine technology costs. Technology can greatly reduce the cost of labor for small business if used effectively. Most small businesses require computers, printers, cell phones, website development, Internet access, software applications, information security, data storage, and outsourced information technology (IT) consulting. If the cost of technology is $10,000 to start, add an additional $5,000 a year for maintenance (hint: maintenance is not included in start-up costs).

Step 4

Determine administrative costs. This varies with business types and may include items such as business insurance, office supplies, product packaging, parking, rent, express shipping, desks, chairs, fax machines, phones, or anything else necessary to operate the business daily. A good estimate for start-up administrative costs would be $5,000 for the first six months.

Step 5

Determine initial sales and marketing costs. Now that you have your product, you need to let folks know about it. Sales and marketing costs generally include marketing materials for presentations, printing stationery, business cards, advertising, trade show events, and public relations. These initial sales and marketing costs can add up to $3,000.

Step 6

Determine the wages and benefits needed to secure a staff. This includes employee salaries, benefits, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Let's put the cost of wages and benefits estimated at $20,000 for the first three months of business.

Step 7

Add all costs associated with starting the business for a total. Be sure to only include business start-up costs that will be incurred in the first three to six months of operations. For this example, the calculation is: $10,000 + $20,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + $3,000 + $20,000 = $68,000.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013