Today, as in every other field, services in tourism are provided online. In this blog post, we have compiled what needs to be done for someone who wants to establish an online tourism/travel agency. You can also check out the Q&A video we had with Demir Arkman on topics such as competition between agencies, ticket sales, data storage, and security standards.
What Type of Travel Agency Will You Have?
There are three types of travel agencies.
- Type A Travel Agencies: They are the most comprehensive travel agencies, capable of providing all services under tourism.
- Type B Travel Agencies: They sell tickets for existing services such as tours and trips. They can sell domestic and international tickets.
- Type C Travel Agencies: They can only organize tours for Turkish citizens within the Republic of Turkey.
As you need to determine the type of your agency during the application, the amount of the deposit also varies between types.
Legal Process
The agency must first be approved by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. You can access the application letter and required documents to be submitted in person or by mail to the general documents department of the ministry on the ministry's page.
Agencies that receive approval from the Ministry must apply to TÜRSAB without wasting time. You can find the application letter and documents required for this application from this link.
The deposits indicated on TÜRSAB's page are as follows.
- For Group A: 7,000.00 TL (Seven thousand Turkish Lira)
- For Group B: 6,000.00 TL (Six thousand Turkish Lira)
- For Group C: 5,000.00 TL (Five thousand Turkish Lira)
and for each branch, this amount must be 25% of these amounts.
The person applying to TÜRSAB must be someone authorized by the legal entity. During the application, this person is required to present a document proving their authority.
Applications approved by TÜRSAB are also forwarded to the ministry by TÜRSAB. Applications that are found to be complete receive official approval.
During the application process, applications may be returned to TÜRSAB due to reasons such as missing or insufficient documents. In this case, the missing documents must be completed and resubmitted within one month. Late submissions will result in the application being canceled. If the missing documents are not completed, members will receive refunds for the fees they have paid.
Throughout the process, you can check the status of your application by querying from this address. TÜRSAB and the Ministry also communicate in writing for updates such as necessary documents.
Once this process is completed, the agency will have obtained its operating license and can officially start its activities.
You've Established Your Agency, What's Next?
Depending on your agency type, the services you will likely provide include; hotel reservations, plane and bus tickets, travel and vacation packages, car rentals, etc. To effectively market these services, you should define your digital marketing strategy. For this, you need to set up an easy-to-use website and leverage social media posts, advertisements, and SEO-aware blogs to drive traffic to this site.
You can make certain investments in these actions according to your marketing budget and target audience. Google Ads and Meta ads are the most preferred digital advertising platforms. You can particularly target Instagram for tourism services. Additionally, reaching out to tourism influencers to make a sponsorship agreement can help gain the trust of your target audience directly.
You can promote your brand name by making social media and blog posts. We recommend following current SEO strategies or seeking help from an expert to ensure your blogs rank high in search engines and drive traffic.
For this site and domain you will use for marketing and service sales, you can contact us. For an organic marketing strategy, you can check out our articles on the PlusClouds Partner Ecosystem.
