As long as there are OFWs, travel industry will thrive

NATURE’S decision to make the Philippines an archipelago is a boon to the travel industry. Many people have no choice but to ride a plane or a boat to get to another part of the country.

Add to this the considerable number of executives and businessmen, balikbayans and the overseas Filipino workers who travel to and from the Philippines.

The Negoskwela Livelihood and Technology Training Center says the big travel market makes it lucrative for budding entrepreneurs to consider putting up a travel agency business to earn extra income.

Marie Therese M. Zamora, Negoskwela’s resource speaker for the travel agency business, says entrepreneurs need to raise P500,000 in paid-up capital to start the business.

Other costs include fees for government registrations, office forms as well as office rental, communication, advertising and promotions, utilities and sales and administrative staff.

Zamora explains that the returns can be significant depending on the location, focus and marketing expertise of the travel agency.

Travel agencies earn money through sales commissions and services. Sales come in through airlines, hotels, resorts, domestic shipping lines, luxury cruise lines, car rental and even the National Tourism Board.

Services, on the other hand, include documentation for passport, visa and immigrations, travel reservations, ticketing and hotel or resort accommodations.

Travel agencies can likewise earn from land arrangements such as city tours, bookings in restaurants and special cultural shows. An alternative market includes selling of package tours, transportation arrangement, tour guiding, airport assistance and cruise selling.

Cruise packages are among the biggest sources of revenues for a travel agency. Each transaction approximately costs P12,000. International tickets, on the other hand, bring in between P400 and P2,000 per transaction while local tour packages cost as much as P1,800.

Basic documentation and visa assistance, on the other hand, cost about P400 while revenue from sale of domestic tickets run up to about P250.

Zamora says there are different markets that travel agencies can focus on to develop a niche in the competitive travel industry.

The leisure/tourist market is one of the primary markets for the travel agency followed by corporate clients and business travelers.

Because of the big number of OFWs, these have become one of the biggest sources of revenue for travel agency. A far second are the immigrant market, religious travels, inbound tourist and the student markets.

Negoskwela suggests that the budding entrepreneur can get a head start in the business by organizing group travels, developing inbound tourist, participate in travel marts and set up sub agents to bring in more business to the agency.