Thomas Cook started his business in 1841 as a way to transport Christians that did not drink alcohol. It was the first British tour company to market flights for pleasure and was later declared a public company in the 1940s. By the year 1965, Thomas Cook had grown into the biggest leisure tour company gaining a profit of 1,000,000 pounds. Ten years later, Thomas Cook was privatized as Midland bank became its sole owner and sold it in 1992 to charter airlines and a German bank. In March of 2003, Thomas Cook Airlines was founded after C&N Touristic AG in 2001. Fast forward to 2019, Thomas Cook was one of the biggest travel tour firms with over 19,000,000 customers grossing up to 7.8 billion pounds.
Despite all its accomplishments, Thomas Cook declared bankruptcy in September 2019. The main reason that was attributed to the great company's failure was a lack of fluidity. A study showed that most travelers prefer traveling to more urban destinations as opposed to the remote beach destinations which were Thomas Cook's specialty. Not adjusting to these needs let to a decline in customers. The emergence of online travel firms that make it easy to book a trip to one's home is another cause. The company also owned a lot of property like hotels, 105 aircraft and agency shops which lose their relevance with everything moving online.
How You Can Start Your Own Travel Business From Home with $100
You can take the case of Thomas Cook as a learning curve and avoid the same mistakes. Let's look at how to start your own business at home and keep it afloat, unlike Thomas Cook.
The first thing is to consider the niche to specialize in. You can achieve this by conducting intensive research on different groups. A big mistake a lot of startup travel firms make is not specializing and expecting to be millionaires overnight. If Thomas Cook shows us anything is that you need to know who you are targeting.
After establishing the niche, come up with the business name and brand. The name should be based on your clients' demographic. Again check to see rival travel firms for inspiration on what customers are likely to trust.
Next, you need a plan for your business. Based on your market, how will you advertise? What trips will you offer? Since it is a business that you are starting with as little as $100, you need to be smart. Use online platforms like Facebook and Instagram to set up your business. As you are a start-up, you may need to offer short trips like hiking for a day, where you will just arrange for a trip on behalf of the customers.
To grow, you need to offer a personalized experience for all travelers. When researching for hotels and destinations for your customers, take into consideration what every customer wants and make sure that the trip you offer caters for it. For every satisfied customer, you rest assured of business growth by referrals and also making them regular customers.
Making a millionaire out of $100
After setting up the business, it is now time to make sure it stays afloat to make you attain your goal of being a millionaire. The first thing you need to do is get a business license. So many companies collapse because of not following such small government regulations.
Another step is setting up an official website. Using social media platforms is good, but a firm is more trustworthy if it has an established website.
You may also consider joining an already existing travel firm as partners. This way, you have exposure to more clients since you are an affiliate of the larger travel firm. To keep the business successful even in the future, you should always be updated on the changes that occur every day in the environment.
Actually, it is fairly easy to start your own travel firm from the comfort of your home. Keeping it afloat however is a challenge but as long as you keep track of the market trends and changes your business will grow to make millions. Taking into consideration of one the greatest travel firms Thomas Cook is a good way to learn. The collapse of Thomas Cook is further proof of how the world is becoming more digital each day. Therefore, start your business from as low as $100 today and you might be a millionaire tomorrow.
