1. Decide what you sell, and to whom
"All travel, to everyone" is hard to sell. Agencies that grow early usually pick a lane: domestic packages from their own city, one or two international destinations they know well, pilgrimages, school and corporate groups, or honeymoons. A lane decides your suppliers, your prices and where your customers come from.
2. Choose a business structure
| Structure | Suits |
|---|---|
| Sole proprietorship | One owner starting small. Simplest to set up; the owner is personally liable. |
| Partnership | Two or more owners, with a partnership deed. |
| LLP | Partners who want limited liability, registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. |
| Private limited company | Owners planning to raise money or grow a team. The most formal, with the most compliance. |
Talk to a CA before you choose: the structure decides how you are taxed and what you file each year.
3. Register what the law asks for
| Registration | When you need it |
|---|---|
| PAN and a current account | In the name of the business. Keep business money apart from personal money from the first booking. |
| Shops and Establishments registration | Under your state's Shops and Establishments Act, if you run from an office or shop. Rules differ by state. |
| GST registration | Required once your turnover crosses the threshold, ₹20 lakh a year for services in most states, and possible voluntarily before that. Corporate customers often want a GST invoice. |
| TAN | Needed if you collect TCS, which you must on every overseas tour package you sell. |
| Udyam registration | Free, online, and it records you as a micro or small enterprise. Optional, and useful for some bank and government schemes. |
| Ministry of Tourism approval | A voluntary scheme for travel agents and tour operators. Not needed to trade; some associations and government business look for it. |
Two guides cover the tax you will meet first: GST on tour packages, 5% or 18%, and TCS on foreign tour packages.
4. Decide on accreditations
- IATA accreditation lets you issue airline tickets directly. It asks for financial guarantees and staff qualifications, so most new agencies book flights through a consolidator or a B2B portal instead.
- Rail: booking train tickets for customers as a business needs authorisation as an IRCTC agent.
- Associations such as TAAI, TAFI, IATO, ADTOI and OTOAI offer networking, training and a voice with government. Each has its own membership rules.
5. Build your supplier rates
Your prices are only as good as your rates. Start with the hotels, car operators and activity providers for the destinations you sell. Ask for their rates in writing, by room type and meal plan, and note the season and the date each rate was given. Destination management companies can cover places where you have no direct contacts yet.
6. Set your pricing and your documents
Decide how you will price: line by line, with your own markup on each cost. The pricing guide works through an example. Then prepare the documents every customer will see: a quotation, an itinerary, receipts and a GST invoice. Write your cancellation terms and payment schedule in plain words.
7. Get leads, and reply first
Most early customers come from people you know, repeat customers and referrals, then Instagram, a Google Business Profile and WhatsApp status. The habit that matters most is speed: a customer who asks three agencies for a Dubai price is waiting on all three, and the first clear, good-looking quote is the one the others get compared against.
8. Pick your tools
A new agency needs little: a phone, a laptop, a way to keep rates, and a way to turn an enquiry into a quote, then an invoice, without retyping. Spreadsheets and Word templates work for the first trips. When quoting starts to take longer than the customer will wait, that is the time for software; the software guide lists what to ask. Triplli is built for exactly this size of agency: see Triplli as a travel CRM and the plans.
