Hello folks. I assume that you have already tried looking for the best ways to generate a passive income from home and found that the travel industry is the best possible market to get into. After all, it is an $8.3 trillion industry and growing. With all the competition going on in the industry along with the lack of time, the question that does arise is “How to become a travel agent from home?” This model usually allows individuals to make the most of what they have. Shall we take a look at what the key benefits of running a travel agency from home are?
Benefits Of Becoming A Travel Agent From Home
- Low Setup Costs: There is a drastic reduction in the costs of setting up an online travel agency from your own home.
- Space-Saver: Not only do you save space in terms of geographical areas, but also get the freedom to work in your own comfort zone.
- No Need To Commute: Forget traveling to work every day in heavy traffic. Your workspace would only be a few steps away.
- Be Your Own Boss: Running an online travel agency from home provides you with the possibility of working on your own schedule and deciding the number of hours you would like to put in.
- Work At Your Own Timings: Allocating time to your business is a crucial factor to achieve success. However, giving time to your loved ones also tops the list and with this kind of a business you are able to manage both to maintain a proper work-life balance.
- Free To Pick Your Holiday: Gone are the days when you must make sure you keep your boss happy if you are looking for a vacation off from work. You won’t have a boss for starters.
Simple Ways To Start A Travel Agency From Home
Here we have mentioned a step by step guide on how to start an online travel agency from home, to make it simple for you.
White Label Solution
The most basic manner in which you would be able to operate a working travel agency from home would be to use a white-label solution. Here is what you need to do.
- Look for the best companies providing an end to end white-label model (Makes it easier). Pick the one you want to work with.
- Understand the documentation or any charges for the booking widget that you would be putting up.
- Sign up with the travel supplier.
- Use a web designing site to create a website according to the requirements. It is always suitable to take the suggested themes by the travel supplier and make color changes to the theme so that it stands out.
- Submit the URL to the travel supplier for a review. Once all has settled the travel supplier will provide a widget that you need to place in the cell that was left empty
- Follow the instructions provided by the travel supplier to add the live widget on your website. You are finally ready to start selling itineraries to excited travelers.
- Now your only job is to market the website and the widget would take care of the rest.
If your marketing is done correctly you should be able to start generating a passive income immediately.
Travel Portal Solution
The module of a Travel Portal Solution is much simpler to use and provides a reliable system to the travel agent. The most important factor to consider with a travel portal is that whilst investing in your online travel agency you will be reaping the benefits of personalized branding and have control over your website. Here is how you can make that happen.
- You will need to start off with researching the available travel suppliers that will provide you with a flight booking API. At this stage you will need to check what the supplier is offering and if there is any attached cost to your agency for the same.
- Decide the facilities and services that you would like to offer on your website and pen down a plan. Decide your consumer acquisition and fulfillment strategy.
- Look for the suppliers that provide you with an API that completely abides by your requirements. Find out what kind of an income model they have and what is the scope of your earnings for completing the said bookings. Once all is set apply for an affiliate account.
- Hire a set of developers and get the system integrated along with the website design. This will take up most of the time as you may not necessarily find developers who have experience in the travel industry. However, you would have complete control over the changes that you would like to make on your system.
- Run multiple tests on your website to make sure your customers do not face any issues on your website and revisit, this will allow you to generate a repeated income.
- Submit your completed website and system to the travel supplier for approval. They will either approve it if everything is done as directed and all your documentation is in place. Otherwise, you will be informed about the changes you need to make and once done you will be permitted to start selling your travel services.
- The next step will be to start marketing this website over the internet. The most preferable modes of marketing your website will be email and social media marketing as you are to receive a better conversion rate.
Personalized Travel Management System
A traditional travel agent may not be able to function as they used to before the age of competition in the industry, but with technology as an included factor raises the bar on the number of bookings you can generate from your couch. The process is simple.
- Connect with a tour supplier who will offer you quotes for packages specific to different locations. It is always better to have a connection with multiple travel suppliers as you get a variety of rates to offer. While selecting your suppliers you will need to consider:
- Budgeting
- Modus Operandi
- Working Hours
- Niche Market
- Suppliers
- Consumer Acquisition Techniques
- Once you have the packages from your suppliers it will be the ideal time to start building your website with the pre-set packages, itineraries, and approximate pricing included.
- Get your website reviewed with different friends to see what needs to be improved and how you can tweak a few bolts that generate increased inquiries.
- As soon as you have tested your website, you can launch your website and put up posts on multiple social mediums to promote it.
- You will now start generating lead over email and would need to keep constant communication between the consumer and supplier to confirm the booking. When you confirm the booking with a mark-up you will earn the marked-up commission for performing the booking.
What I feel is that all these solutions will provide you with an income model but building any of these solutions requires extensive technical knowledge. When you are starting off it would be a good idea to go through a travel technology company. This gives you an upper hand as you get the system built at a lower cost, with rapid delivery, and a good amount of experience to give you a perfect solution.
“Make your home the canvas that will encompass the journey around this world.” – Saifan Savani
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