JibilTravels
Your Route to Real Travel
Sharmineh Ahmad-Khani
ACG6315
Prof. Jian Cao
Florida Atlantic University
April 2024
Table of contents
Executive Summary
Introduction
Business Description
Mission Statement
Strategic Positioning Goal
Long-Range Goals
Goals for the Coming Year
Major Costs of Operating the Business
Activity Measures Driving Costs
Marketing Strategy
Operational Plan
Financial Plan
Conclusion
References
Executive Summary
JibilTravels aims to become a revolution in the travel planning industry by providing exclusive and personalized services to travelers of all budgets and tastes. Our mission is to employ technology and create smooth and unique travel experiences for our clients. We aim to be the first choice for travelers seeking adventure, convenience, and affordability. We empower them to explore the world with passion and confidence.
Introduction
Nowadays, travel arrangements are complex, and the desire for unique and personalized experiences is a growing demand for travel planning services. JibilTravels addresses this need by offering customized solutions to individuals and groups, regardless of budget limitations.
I, Sharmineh Ahmad-Khani, am starting JibilTravels to create an exciting new travel planning company.
Business Description
JibilTravels will operate as a full-service travel planning company. We offer various services, including personalized travel consulting, itinerary planning, accommodation, transportation, and activity bookings. Our team of experienced and passionate travel advisors will utilize their expertise and industry connections to create unforgettable travel experiences for our clients.
Mission Statement
At JibilTravels, our mission is to empower our clients to explore the world with ease and confidence. We are committed to providing personalized, customized, and seamless travel experiences that go beyond their expectations. We pay close attention to every detail, come up with new ideas, and give exceptional customer service. We strive to be the top choice for travelers who want stress-free adventures.
Strategic Positioning Goal
To stand out from our competitors and capture a large market share, JibilTravels will focus on offering tailored recommendations and customized itineraries based on a deep understanding of each traveler’s preferences and tastes. To achieve this goal, we plan to implement a robust customer profiling system to gather valuable insights into travelers’ preferences and behaviors. As highlighted in ‘The Power of Data-Driven Personalization in Travel and Hospitality’ (Skift), personalized experiences are increasingly important in the travel industry, with 72% of travelers expecting companies to tailor their experiences. By leveraging data from various sources, such as website interactions, booking history, and social media engagement, we will segment our customer base and tailor our recommendations and itineraries to meet their specific interests and preferences. We will implement a system that asks multiple questions to understand the preferences and tastes of travelers. We will partner with experts in human behavior to refine our recommendations. This process will include the places they have visited before, their opinions and ratings of those destinations, as well as their likes and dislikes about those specific areas.
By gathering this valuable information, we will be able to develop a comprehensive profile of each traveler and gain insights into their preferences, interests, spending habits, and travel styles.
This exceptional customer service will establish us as the preferred choice for travelers.
Long-Range Goals
Expand our collaborations with airlines, hotels, catering, personal chefs, and tour operators to offer special deals and discounts to our clients.
Position JibilTravels as a trusted and famous expert in the travel industry through knowledge, community involvement, and delivering outstanding customer service.
Goals for the Coming Year
Enhance our online platform to streamline the booking process, improve user experience, and provide additional value-added services.
We’ll simplify the steps to book flights, hotels, and activities so travelers can do it quickly and easily. Our website and app will be easy to use on any device, and we’ll help users find what they need faster with improved search options. We’ll also add helpful travel tips, weather updates, destination guides, and recommendations to help them plan their trips better. Additionally, we’ll offer extra features like virtual tours and live chat support to give travelers more help and information. Overall, our goal is to make booking a trip with JibilTravels a smooth and enjoyable experience, so travelers keep coming back to us.
Major Costs of Operating the Business
Running our business includes several main expenses.
Personnel Costs: Salaries, benefits, and training for our team of travel advisors.
Administrative Expenses: Office rent, utilities, insurance, registration, licenses, and other overhead costs associated with running the business. (How To Start a Profitable Travel Agency in 8 Steps, The Upwork Team, Jan 2023)
Digital tools and systems: Development and maintenance of our computers, online platform, website, app, booking systems, and communication tools.
Marketing and Advertising: Promotional activities, advertising, and branding initiatives to attract and keep customers.
Activity Cost Driver
Number of Travel Advisors: This affects how much we spend on staff and how many customers we can serve. By monitoring the number of travel advisors, we can determine staffing needs and plan our budget accordingly.
Marketing ROI: We need to know if our marketing efforts bring in enough customers to justify the money we spend on advertising.
According to Faster Capital (2024), understanding and analyzing marketing return on investment is essential for ensuring the effectiveness of our advertising strategies.
Marketing Strategy
JibilTravels will use a multi-channel marketing strategy to reach our target audience. This will include a mix of online advertising, social media marketing, website ads such as banners and pop-ups, email campaigns, sending personalized messages and promotions, and partnerships with other businesses. Additionally, we will utilize search engine optimization (SEO) by using relevant keywords and creating high-quality content and pay-per-click (PPC) ads to boost our online visibility and attract more traffic to our website.
We’ll ensure our clients know that the upfront cost of hiring a travel advisor leads to cost savings over time. We often highlight the message that ‘Although hiring a travel advisor might seem expensive, it could potentially save you money’ (Seychelle Thomas, 2024). This point fits our goal and commitment to providing extra services and ensuring our clients’ financial well-being.
Operational Plan
Our operational plan will focus on the following key aspects:
Staffing: Initially, we will serve as the primary travel advisors, using our expertise and knowledge to provide personalized services to our clients. As we grow, we’ll gradually expand our team and hire more advisors who love traveling and care about customers.
We’ll look for people with diverse backgrounds and skills to enhance the overall capabilities of our team and better serve our clients.
Technology Integration: We will invest in user-friendly technology platforms to support our operations and improve the efficiency of our services. This means using systems for booking, communicating, and managing customer relationships to make everything smoother for our clients.
Financial Plan
According to our operational plan, this will involve investing in training and development for our team members and continuously refining our processes based on customer feedback and what works best in the industry. Additionally, we will focus on using technology such as automating tasks and smooth communication methods to make things easier for everyone and enhance the overall customer experience.
We’ll make money by charging service fees, getting commissions from bookings, and possibly partnering with suppliers.
We will carefully manage our expenses, including salaries, office expenses, technology investments, and marketing, to ensure profitability.
We will plan detailed budgets for each operational part of our business, including personnel costs, technology, marketing, and overhead costs.
We’ll make financial projections over the next three years based on real-world info and market analysis to forecast how much money we’ll make and expenses in the short and long term.
This line graph visually illustrates the projected revenue, expenses, and net profit over three years. Each line represents one of these financial aspects, so you can have a clear understanding of how they change and go up and down over time.
This table presents a detailed overview of the monthly major expenses in operating the business.
Expense Category
Description
Amount
Personnel Costs
Salaries, benefits, training for travel advisors
$18,000
Administrative Expenses
Office rent, utilities, insurance, permits, licenses
$10500
Technology Investments
Development and maintenance of online platform, booking systems
$8500
Marketing
Advertising, branding, promotional activities
$6500
This chart allows a quick and easy understanding of where the money is being allocated within the business.
We will effectively manage our cash flow by implementing strategies, including monitoring account receivables, and account payables, and keeping enough money in reserve for emergencies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, JibilTravels is ready to change the way people plan their trips by providing exclusive and personalized services to travelers of all budgets and tastes. With a mission-driven approach, our goal of offering customized recommendations and itineraries based on a deep understanding of each traveler’s taste, and a clear roadmap for success, we will differentiate our company from competitors and establish us as the top choice for travelers who are seeking unique adventures. With a focus on continuous improvement, strong supplier relationships, and managing finance well, we are confident in our ability to achieve long-term success and deliver exceptional value to our clients.
References
Rob Noirjean, (2016) Book: True Travel: Self Discovery: Hiking, Backpacking and Fly Fishing
S. Small Business Administration (SBA), (2024) Write your business plan
The Upwork Team, (2023), How To Start a Profitable Travel Agency in 8 Steps
Brandon Strauss, (2024), Kessel Run, What We Learned About Corporate Travel in 2023
Seychelle Thomas, (2024), Bankrate, Do I still need a travel agent?
Stephen Vanderpool and Elina Geller, (2024) Nerdwallet, Do Travel Agents Save You Money?
Distillery, (2024) The Power of Data-Driven Personalization in Travel and Hospitality
Faster Capital, (2024) Return on marketing investment: Analyzing the Effectiveness of Your Marketing Strategies with ROI
Pro Business Plans, (2023) Travel Agency — Upscale Business Plan: the Ultimate Guide for 2024
Statista, (2023) Market size of the tourism sector worldwide
