Thinking of starting a retail travel agency?

Recently I have received a couple of emails from people that are interested in starting up their own retail travel agency and they have asked me ‘where do I start?”

This may sound like a relatively easy question to answer, but as with any other business nothing is ever as simple as it sounds.

My suggestion would be to do a course in retail travel and a small business course. You might like to get experience in the industry and also read some books like :

• Start Your Own Travel Agency by Adam Starchild
• Manual of Travel Agency Practice by Gwenda Syratt

Don’t forget to research everything, from the products you think you might sell, to how you are going to sell them, what licences will you need etc.

From there, decide whether this is something that you think you could do for the rest of your life. Would you be happy or would it be too stressful?

These are just my suggestions and as I have never started my own travel industry business I find it hard to give advice…maybe there are people out there that have started their own travel business that want to leave some comments?

Fancy studying travel on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia?

It is rumoured that the retail giant, Harvey World Travel will be opening a training academy on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.

The training academy will prepare new consultants for the industry and retrain old consultants so that they are always on top of the new trends and products available.

Harvey World Travel will also be creating their own curriculum based on what is needed in the ‘real world’. As far as cost goes, nothing has been release as yet but if I hear anything about I’ll definately post it here!

Also, if you have done a travel course at a college or university, I would love to hear your opinions and get your help to write a review on it. Simply email me on nire79@hotmail.com