How to Start a Travel Agency?

The speed of access to information has increased and almost every sector has gone on a great globalization path with the rapid increase in digitalization in the world. The tourism industry has made a huge leap forward with this globalization. Thanks to globalization, it has become easier than before to travel, take a trip, and explore places. This increased the importance of travel agencies and starting a travel agency has turned into a profitable business model. Travel agencies provide many tourism, economic and cultural benefits to their destinations. We have prepared a guide for those who want to take part in the tourism industry or operate in flight ticket and bus picket parts. Let’s look for an answer to how to start a travel agency question together.

What Is a Travel Agency?

First, let’s learn the definition of a travel agency. A travel agency is a for-profit intermediary institution that provides tourism-related information to tourists for package tours, tours, accommodation, transportation, leisure, sports, and entertainment purposes.

How to Start a Travel Agency?

You need to fulfill several official procedures to start a travel agency. If you follow these procedures, you can open one, but the application evaluation process takes a bit. To put it briefly, an application is first made to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with a petition to open a travel agency. After the approval of your application, you apply to the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) and thus, you can start your Travel Agency by having a Travel agency business license. Let’s check the details of these procedures together.

You must first decide what kind of services you will provide in your travel agency to start one. It is because travel agencies are divided into various groups according to the services they offer. Let’s provide you with brief information about these travel agency groups.

Group A Travel Agencies: They perform all travel agency services.

Group B Travel Agencies: They sell tickets for international land, sea, and air transportation and tours organized by (A) group travel agencies.

Group C Travel Agencies: They organize domestic tours only for Turkish citizens.

(B) and (C) group travel agencies cannot implement other travel agency services other than their own services. However, they can perform the services provided by the (A) group travel agencies.

After deciding on the agency group, legal entities who want to request an agency title that will be the basis for the travel agency business document request applies personally to the General Documentation Unit of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism by mail or to the ministry to obtain the name registration document and the title of the travel agency with a petition prepared by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism or a petition prepared by the applicant following the requested information. After that, he or she will wait for the application evaluation (We have shared the petition for you below.)

Please click here to access the travel agency application form.

What Are Travel Agency Establishment Documents?

Legal entities wishing to obtain a travel agency operating license from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in line with the Travel Agencies and Travel Agencies Union Law No. 1618 and the Travel Agencies Regulation must apply to the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) with a mail notification document with the documents listed within 30 days of notification that the agency title is approved by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

1. Application petition (name-surname, signature, full address, phone, and fax number of the company official who applied for the document and the application date are written by clearly stating what the request is in the petition).
2. Statement stating the date and number of the Trade Registry Gazette, in which the company’s articles of association, including the tourism or travel agency activity of the applicant’s legal entity, were published.
3. Trade Registry Certification regarding the latest situation in which the person or persons authorized to represent are also stated.
4. Commitment document for Agency Title.
5. Identification number and criminal record statement of members of the board of directors and the person or people authorized to represent the company in the applicant joint-stock companies, or all the partners and the person or people authorized to represent the company in other companies.
6. The original or a copy of the circular of signature of the person or people authorized to represent the legal entity.
7. A statement containing the document belonging to the travel agency personnel, the Social Security Institution workplace code, and the Turkish identification number of the working personnel.

Documents valid for travel agency personnel:

• Certification that he/she has completed vocational high school, associate degree, or undergraduate education on hotel management and tourism.
• Certification that he/she has an information officer foreign language achievement certificate.
• Certification that he/she has a guidance certificate issued by the Ministry.

If the agency owners have one of the above-mentioned documents in case they actually work in the agency, they are considered agency personnel.

The original of the information officer foreign language document, the original or certified copy of other documents.

• The information officer certificate is sufficient, and foreign language knowledge is not required in the C Group Travel Agencies.

8. Over the provisions specified in Article 34 of the Law No. 4734:

a. Submitting the definite letter of guarantee with the agency and company title and the original document to TURSAB, showing that the balance has been deposited to the account number 350 154 021-9 (IBAN NO: TR 890 000 100 100 000 350 154 021) of the Central Accounting Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the Ankara Branch of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.

b. Cash guarantee must be deposited from the company account.

c. Cash guarantees deposited from a personal account are not accepted.

d. The company title must be written correctly in the guarantee.

Guarantee Deposits:

7,000 Turkish Lira for Group A Travel Agencies,

6,000 Turkish Lira for Group A Travel Agencies,

5,000 Turkish Lira for Group A Travel Agencies.

(These guarantees are 25% of the above-mentioned amounts for each branch to be established.)

The conditions and establishment principles sought for travel agency centers are also valid for each branch to be established.

In case the original of the document whose certified copy is requested for the application, the conformity of the copy of the document to the original is checked and approved by TURSAB personnel by specifying the name, title, and date.

If those who have made false documents or statements are detected, a criminal complaint is filed with the Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor, to apply the relevant provisions of the Turkish Penal Code.

How to Track a Travel Agency Application?

After submitting your application, you can visit the Ministry of Culture application address, select Document search type by Petition Information to type the petition date and at least five letters of the trade (company) name, or select Document search type by Document Information to type the date and number of the document given by the General Documentation Unit to get more information about your application.