If you always wanted to get into the travel space in Dubai, here’s a detailed guide on how to start a travel agency in Dubai along with a few tips.
In the post-pandemic world, the travel industry has bounced back and expanded to reach uncharted horizons.
The tourism industry has established itself as one of the most important industries and major sources of revenue. In fact Dubai is one of the world’s leading tourism destinations. According to Statista forecasts, the total economic contribution of tourism and travel to the GDP of the UAE in 2028 will be 280.6 billion United Arab Emirates dirhams. It is also projected that the tourism sector GDP will contribute 12% by 2025.
If you want to start a travel agency in Dubai, here are detailed steps and steps to begin with.
9 Tips To Start A Travel Agency In Dubai
1. Find Your Niche
If you are thinking of starting a travel agency in Dubai, then it might not be a bad idea to think about a niche that you can serve better than others. But do remember, there’s a fair amount of money that can still be made from being a lot of things to a lot of people. So a niche helps with word-of-mouth growth, but having a wide service helps in getting more repeat business from the same customer.
So, you must focus on your strengths as well as weaknesses and find out what works for your agency. And above all: you must know the nitty-gritty of your niche to gain the trust of your customers. For instance, a couple from Uttarakhand who loved to travel to offbeat locations renovated an old home and opened the much-loved Doi Homestay. Similarly, a young traveler started sharing his travel stories online and now takes people on treks.
2. Determine Your Travel Services
Before you do anything, you must figure out the travel services you’d like to provide to your customers. If you are daring, you can start off with holiday packages – a segment where you book hotels, flights, transfers, activities, and more!
In case that’s too much, you can offer basic services such as airport, railway and bus station transfers as well as car rental services. Other essential services offered by a travel agency include bureau de change, travel insurance as well as consistent medical assistance.
When you’re learning more about how to start a travel agency in Dubai, this is a step that is of prime importance. While you can expand your services in the future, getting it right the first time is imminent.
3. Complete The Legal Formalities
When it comes to the legalities, you have to take care of a few things to ensure you not fined and your business gets approved smoothly. Consider talking to a company formation expert if things get confusing.
Here are the formalities that you need to do:
- Firstly, you need to decide on a name for your business. Go through the naming rules before you finalize on one as having words ‘global’, ‘international’, ‘East’ or ‘West’ are acceptable but can incur extra fees, and several restrictions apply.
- Apply for a business license: To start a new business in UAE, you have to apply for a business license based on the type of business that is going to be started. For running a travel agency, you even need to apply for a tourism license that will be issued by the DED
- Obtain Employee visas: If your employees are not from Dubai, you need to obtain employee visas within 30 days of an employee’s entry into the country. You have to apply for staff permits on the ministry of interior’s e-channels portal.
- Open a corporate bank account: Once all the above-mentioned formalities are met, you have to open a corporate bank account. Make sure to select your bank wisely.
4. Create a Website
An optimized website is necessary for any contemporary travel agency that wishes to reach its target audience organically. Your website is your portfolio that displays all the trips you have arranged till now, the packages you are offering as well as what your customers think about you.
Having a business website is also an astute way to let your customers know what you stand for. In the age of immersive travel experiences, your customers want to know if your travel agency is just covering those tourist attractions that are swarmed with tourists all year long or if you believe in allowing the travelers to get a complete insight into the culture and traditions of a destination and unraveling its soul.
If you want to start a travel agency and are wondering where to begin, you’re in the right place! Pathfndr is an AI-powered travel operating system. What this means is that with the help of Pathfndr, you can not only create a well-designed travel website, but also sell packages, hotels, and tours. Since it’s affordable and provides great customer service, you can get started in no time at all.
5. Find Partners
If you are wondering about the next step of starting a travel agency in Dubai, then we are here to guide you. As a young agency, it can be difficult to establish your presence in the industry and attract customers.
In this case, finding partners or organizations to collaborate with can be a good idea. There are several travel companies in Dubai that invite travel agencies to collaborate and list their packages on their platform at nominal rates and gain organic leads from their websites.
6. Build an Online Social Media Presence
When starting a travel and tourism business, it is important to build a strong online presence. Your social media presence is as important as your offline activities. By maintaining a social media account, you can give modern-day travelers a glimpse of the picture-perfect trips you arrange for your customers.
Not only is social media a wonderful way to invite travelers on a trip virtually, but it also allows tech-savvy travel agencies to keep a track of what is creating the most buzz in the community.
Wondering where you should take your customers next? Perhaps, the clue lies in your most-liked Instagram photos.
7. Choose Your Base to Expand Your Travel Agency
Another important step in the process of ‘how to start a travel agency in Dubai’ is to choose the base from where you would expand your travel agency. Considering today’s day and age, you can always keep your entire business online and run a travel agency from your home.
If not that, you can set up shop right in the heart of a popular tourist destination or metropolitan. You can also travel far and choose to run things from the outskirts. Regardless of the location you choose for your base, if you want to make a travel business happen, it will happen!
8. Create Attractive Travel Packages
The next step regarding how to start a travel agency in Dubai is to create travel packages that are not only profitable but can also offer an unparalleled experience to your customers.
From basic packages that include excursions to breathtaking destinations to adventurous packages that include outdoor activities and experiences, you can plan a variety of packages that may cover a broad range of customers or a narrow target audience.
9. Make Customers Happy
For most travelers, the journey matters as much as the destination. So, you have to make sure that your customers are getting the best value for money. Make sure that you are consistently in touch with your customer from the origin point itself and listen to what they actually need. A travel agency must develop its empathy levels if they wish to deal with various kinds of travelers.
Moreover, do not forget to ask for their feedback. It not only shows that you care about what your customers think, but it would also help you to develop a more personalized travel experience that is the demand of the 21st century.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How Do Travel Agents Get Paid?
- The Best Travel Management Software For Your Travel Business
- 9 Best Ways To Sell Travel Packages and Earn More Commission
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