I'm a 22 year old Student currently taking Small Business. I'm doing a Business Plan on Starting a tour company. My plan was to start up a adventure based getaways for all ages. I wanted to know any information on what I would have to go through to take the right steps .Coming from Canada I would like to know any information on the problems that I would occur along the way and also any info about start up costs. Right now it's all just paper and In reality this is the first step im taking to hopefully one day pursuing my dream. I'm going to be traveling when I'm done school, backpacking around Central America to get first hand experience. Any info about starting a tour company would be great and greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kyle.
All I can contribute is a "good luck". There is lots of competition for the tourist dollars and lots of red tape for anything remotely connected with any branch of government here. And you should have deep pockets as you somehow have to reach your customers. You also have to assume, and I can promise this is true, that the people already doing this are at least as smart as you are.
TJ is right, Mexico invented "cinta roja" red tape. And it seems that here it's harder for foreigners to be granted the right permits than it is for Mexicans. The culture here has a lot of "it's who you know" stuff in it, so the very easiest way to start a company here is to first live here for a couple of years and throw lots of lavish parties and get to know the players here, and THEN start your business. You think I'm joking, but after living her for 4 years that's how I would write a business plan that involves starting a business in Mexico. Know everyone first, otherwise you can pour money after hope here and not get granted the permits you need. The other way to do it would be to figure out how to bribe all the proper people in the proper order, at the correct moments, with the right amounts of money. But that would be hard to figure out, it's easier and less frustrating to just know the right people.
Just to clarify a bit, I sort of got the immpression you wanted to start a tour company rather than a tour, thus you will be using local providers throughout Latin America for transportation, tours etc. and you will just be compiling the tour pakages yourself. This means you can register your company in Canada or wherever you are and pay your suppliers from there. There is already a fair bit of competition in the "Adventure Market" but don't let this put you off, I think there is room for more. Good luck, and keep trying. The best advice I can give you (and I'm no expert) is look at what your competition is doing, how they do it and the mistakes they make, and then figure out how to do it better!
If you've got a unique idea and concept that no one else is doing then go for it, you'll probably get some interest from the bigger tour providers if the concept is good enough. If it's selling the same tours that already exist and are currently sold by others then I would say forget it. Based on almost 5 years of stats the number of people selling tours is rising exponentially and the number of people buying them is going down or, at best, staying level. Increasing competition with decreasing customers is not the best recipe for success.
My advice is simple, don't focus on Cancun. As some ppl said before there are too many companies and too many offers... Doesn't matter how many new towers and hotels they build, Cancun is slowly going down (in the tourist way). Anyway good luck to you...
Perhaps explore the areas miles south and way southwest of Tulum. There are a number of Mayan cities being uncovered that way...miles and miles west of Chetumal. There's much less competition out there as it's too far to tap into the Cancun and RM tourist markets.
Three years ago there were 2 million international tourists a year coming through the airport in Cancun. Now it's closer 3 million a year. But a larger percentage than ever before are not coming to Cancun, they are staying the Riviera Maya. There is a perception here that even though tourism to the area is increasing, tourism to Cancun is actually decreasing.
I agree, and I dont think it's just a perception. Although the overall numbers arriving at Cancun airport continue to increase year on year, with the rapid development "down south", that increase is not reflected in Cancun itself proportionately. There's a reason they're talking of another International Airport further south. You only have to look at Google trends: http://www.google.com/trends?q=cancun Look at it geotargeted (searches from the US only) and it's more noticeable: http://www.google.com/trends?q=cancun&geo=usa&sa=N Based on millions of search entries the decline is small but, I feel, significant. Looking at it from my point of view, with the huge increase in Cancun and travel themed websites over the last 3 years there's less people to be shared among more sites. Which is why my own internet ventures have largely moved away from Cancun tourism post Wilma. Add the increasingly weak dollar, increasing (oil) gas prices, increased foreclosures in the US and I really wonder about Cancun over the next 5 years... will it become another Acapulco?
