How To Start A Tours And Travel Agency In Kenya
How To Start A Tours And Travel Agency In Kenya – Kenya has been ranked one of the top tourist destinations in the world. According to North American destination experts Goway Travel, Kenya has become a sought-after destination by avid globetrotters because of its favorable weather, vast wildlife scenery and warm sandy beaches. There are thousands of new and repeat tourists visiting the country, and a host of locals discovering the motherland, thanks to the #TembeaKenya movement.
Many tours and travel agencies have emerged, milking the cow, that is tourism. A lot of them have become lucrative empires, such as Bonfire Adventures and Scenery Adventures, which was started by no more than Ksh. 5,000 in initial investment by the CEO, Monica Musungu. If you have an eye for tourism and travel, then why not invest in this fast emerging cash cow?
Before you start a tours and travel agency in Kenya, you need to take the following factors into consideration:
Know your clients
You cannot Start A Tours And Travel Agency In Kenya without knowing the type of clientele you should attract. Whether tourists or locals, it is best to know what destinations are popular for travel enthusiasts (your clientele), and new or rather untapped destinations that your clientele might like. This will lead you to determining other factors such as costs and transportation.
Pre-visit travel destinations
You need to be well versed with your travel destinations and well connected with hotels and places of interest around it. This way, you will know exactly what you are selling to your client and what they should expect. Pre-visits help with knowing the distance from major cities to the destinations, travel costs, duration of travel, etc., to help you be well equipped when you are preparing your clients for travel. These visits also help you familiarize yourself with hotels, resorts, restaurants and other areas of interest, such as historical and archaeological sites so that you can build a rapport with the managers and build partnerships with them.
Build your connections
Have a portfolio of your connections. From hoteliers to air travel providers, you should always have your connections close to you and build a good lasting business to business relationship. Here, you can negotiate on travel and holiday packages, where you will incorporate the services you will provide, such as transport and the services they will provide, such as accommodation, tour guides, game drives, and standardize the entire cost of your travel package. Remember, when pricing, try not go too high and stick to the average market price compared to your competitors; that means try not to overprice so that you can pocket too much, especially if you are just starting out.
Know your transportation.
As a tours and travel agency you will have to have a means of transportation for your client trips. This could be with a bus, a van or a small car, depending on the size of your group. Nonetheless, it is important to take this into consideration and know whether you will hire transportation or have your own company transportation means.
Find an office location
For purposes of consultation, if you do not want a virtual office, you can consider having a physical office. It does not have to be big, just big enough to hold an administrator or consultant, and also for legitimacy purposes, to settle legal matters if need be.
International Air Transport Association (IATA) Certification.
If you plan on selling air tickets through your tours and travel agency, then you will be required to undertake an IATA diploma. it will offer you credibility when you are dealing with travel partners and suppliers in the industry, such as airlines. It is also advisable to get membership with relevant travel and tours associations to inspire confidence and integrity in your tours and travel agency business. A relevant IATA diploma will also equip you with the skills to advise clients, make reservations and travel arrangements, calculate airfares as well as complete standard international travel documents in compliance with IATA procedures and rules. It would be advisable to work on getting the relevant qualification to operate in the tours and travel industry for credibility over competitors.
Capture all these factors in a well written business plan to help you out with budgeting and direction. If you’re not sure on how to go about it, we will gladly do it for you through our Business Planning Service.
Once you have your business plan in check, you can proceed to register your business through the following process, which we do for you from start to end.
- Come up with three preferred names for your company. Make sure these names are exciting to entice clients to want to take part in your expeditions.
- Register a Company in Kenya.
- Once approved, we proceed to send you registration documents to sign.
- Once signed, you will receive certificate of incorporation and CR12 document.
- We then get you KRA pin, NHIF, NSSF, and open a bank account.
- We send you all the documents.
After securing these documents, you then proceed to the Tourism Regulation Authority to be issued with a Tourism License. This process takes up to 10 days and you are good to go!
One secret to success in the tours and travel business, market, market, market! Your marketing strategy will determine whether you succeed in your business or not. Make use of social media to reach masses of travel enthusiasts. We know running the business will be hectic and to make things easy, we will be happy to increase your business awareness through our branding and marketing services.
What are you waiting for. Contact us today for more details on How To Start A Tours And Travel Agency In Kenya and get your tourism show on the road!
