Start A Travel Consulting Business - Business Ideas

Updated: September 15th, 2022
Start A Travel Consulting Business

Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.

Many people dream of traveling the world. Starting a travel consulting business is an excellent way to make a passive income, explore different parts of the world, and help others do the same.

As a travel consultant, you will provide advice to clients on various aspects of travel, including destinations, airfare, accommodations, and activities.

The objective is to assist tourists and travelers in planning personalized vacations, offer travel advice, and provide end-to-end travel arrangements for a fee.

By making use of industry knowledge and relationships with hotels, airlines, and destination experts, travel consultants can save their clients time and effort in designing their dream trips.

Starting a travel consulting business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell travel consulting, or selling travel consulting online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start a travel consulting business ➜

Key Stats

starting costs
$21.2K
gross margin
10%
avg product price
$65
time to build
180 days

Startup Costs

Min Startup Costs Max Startup Costs

Office Space Expenses

$0

$7,000

Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$352

Website Costs

$223

$7,215

Business Formation Fees

$5,600

$20,400

Software Expenses

$162

$3,094

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$0

$2,800

Training & Education Expenses

$0

$1,000

Specific Industry Expenses

$0

$300

Total Startup Costs

$6,136

$42,161

Successful Businesses

Business URL Rank

Yanolja

yanolja.com

29,607

TravelPerk

travelperk.com

51,909

Rayna Tours

raynatours.com

115,993

Flight Expert Bangladesh

flightexpert.com

167,424

KHM Travel Group

khmtravel.com

298,058

The Travel Institute

thetravelinstitute.com

485,035

Packs Light

packslight.com

520,726

TravelAssist

travelassist.us.com

557,699

KesselRun Corporate Travel Solutions

kesselrunconsulting.com

609,224

I Want That Flight

iwantthatflight.com.au

778,487

ClaimCompass

claimcompass.eu

1,128,076

Pros & Cons

Pros Description

Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

Ability to start your business from home

It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning!

Meaningful business connections

You never know who you will meet as a travel consulting business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!

High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

Pick & choose the clients you work with

Travel Consulting Businesses have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients!

Control of workload

With starting a travel consulting business, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you.

Cons Description

Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

Longer Sales Process

A travel consulting business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

Security Issues

With any Saas business, data loss and security issues may arise throughout your process of building your product. It's critical that you understand exactly what you're responsible for and how to avoid potential issues down the road.

Low margins

The gross margins for your travel consulting business are typically around 10%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability.

Taxes

As a travel consulting business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

Niche Market

A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.

Marketing Ideas

  • 1

    Affiliate Program

    Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.

    Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.

    The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.

    Learn more about affiliate program ➜

  • 2

    Direct Sales

    Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.

    For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

    Learn more about direct sales ➜

  • 3

    Word of mouth

    Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.

    Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.

    According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.

    Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.

    Learn more about word of mouth ➜