Why being legal is so important !
Tourism is an industry with lots of informal agencies, drivers or guides. In many ways this is arranging employers and workers, but as a responsible travel agency, this is not what we want to support.
Informality doesn’t give any social or health security to your employees. Remember that the mission of Phima Voyages is to improve the local people’s living conditions. Therefore it is important to be formal and give them a real work-contract security.
Another good argument is that if you are formal and treat your staff right, you will keep it ! We believe it is important to hire people that want to stay with your agency for a few years, that you can train up to the agency’s and Phima Voyages’ standards and that will apply these standards rigourously.
If you don’t treat your staff right, they will leave you at the first occasion for something / somebody else and you will never be able to create a reliable team around you. (At the beginning, this might not be a team of employed people yet, but always keep in mind to treat the people right, you might need them later on !)
What do you have to do to be legal ?
This depends on each country, however several steps are always the same.
1. Create your company
- You have to create your company legally in front of a lawyer. Very often as your own funds you can use your work equipment, such as your computer and a camera. There is no big investment needed.
- If you take any associate, make sure that you can trust them.
- At the beginning, you don’t need any staff members, it will be a small agency with you as a “gerente”, but without any salary.
2. Get a licence as travel agency
- Once you are properly created, you have to ask the national tourism board (or it might be in your region) to get the certificat as a travel agency, licencia de funcionamiento.
- If you want later on work with any international tour operator or reservation platform, they will ask you for your paperwork, which is legal company and travel agency licence. It is also a proof of your professionalism and responsibility.
3. Get a minimum insurance
- European partners will always ask you for your insurance. It might be that there is no real corresponding insurance in your country, but you should try to get at least a minimum insurance. Obviously this does involve an additional cost, but it is simply an obligation.
4. Choose your partners
- What applies for you, also applies for your local partners.
- Work with drivers that have a car insurance, that really get their car maintained on a regular basis and where you know that the driver will take good care of your clients.
- Work with professional guides, that had training and a certification for being a guide, and not with anybody that thinks he is a good guide.
- Train the homestays you work with in meals and attention to the client.
- If necessary, pay a little more, but make clear which your expectations are.