What do I need to do for this startup?

[Sarah Amin]

Hi everyone.

I am hoping for some sound guidance on the steps to take. I am in contact with a number of private tour operators based in Asia and S.E Asia and I would like to team up with them and market their tours to groups of customers based in the UK. I would be simply advertising their itinerary under my name and collecting payments from customers. Customers will be responsible for booking their flights. I am currently based in the UK and would want to keep my business registered here for tax reasons, but I will be based in Thailand. I will meet my customers on the ground in Thailand with the local rep to accompany them on said tours.
I'm not sure what I need to do on this end as I have read some people who organise such tours do not need any licences. I am not convinced since I will be handling customer payments. I need to be certain I am operating legally and responsibly and need those with more knowledge to kindly advise me.

Thank you

 

[fisicx]

Getting registered with abta (https://www.abta.com/) would be a good start. Then set up a limited company and business bank account. You will also need a customer support telephone number and all the necessary insurances.

Do you have a marketing plan? There is a lot of competition for this type of holiday.

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

Are you ONLY taking money from one activity (a tour)?

Have a look at the The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...ying-with-regulations-guidance-for-businesses

The moment you sell 1 additional service - eg. transport from the airport to the tour, you will be subject to these regulations!

 

[Socio South West]

You are effectively becoming a sales agent for the Operators.

You will have to be more flexible in what you are and are not going to be doing - the Operators will have a very strong hand in negotiating the terms and how the tours will be expedited.
Based on personal experience of working with SE Asian travel companies please be warned that some have very different ways of working than might be expected in Europe.

What licences you need will vary from country to country, especially in respect of accompanying your customers. As others have said, to operate in the UK an ABTA registration is a no brainer in terms of your credibility and customer confidence

 

[Nudge]

Hi everyone.

I am hoping for some sound guidance on the steps to take. I am in contact with a number of private tour operators based in Asia and S.E Asia and I would like to team up with them and market their tours to groups of customers based in the UK. I would be simply advertising their itinerary under my name and collecting payments from customers. Customers will be responsible for booking their flights. I am currently based in the UK and would want to keep my business registered here for tax reasons, but I will be based in Thailand. I will meet my customers on the ground in Thailand with the local rep to accompany them on said tours.
I'm not sure what I need to do on this end as I have read some people who organise such tours do not need any licences. I am not convinced since I will be handling customer payments. I need to be certain I am operating legally and responsibly and need those with more knowledge to kindly advise me.

Thank you

There's a good chance you’ll need to comply with UK Package Travel Regulations—even though you're not booking flights. If your offer is seen as a package, you might need financial protection, like ABTA or some other bonding. It’s a bit of a grey area because some operators do this without any licences, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right way to go. Public liability insurance is definitely worth looking into as well, just to cover yourself if anything happens on the ground. It might be worth chatting with a travel law specialist or even HMRC to make sure everything’s set up properly.