As fun and educational as it is to travel, it can be frustrating for someone who doesn’t understand the native language in the area that they’re traveling to. Whether the traveler plans to live there or just visit for an extended period of time, being able to comfortably move around and interact with the locals is important. Starting a language travel agency is a useful idea to bring both businesses and travelers together.
Researching language classes
While it is easy to look online for nearby language courses in the area, it may be a better idea to either physically go or hire a trusted local to visit each location before recommending it to travelers. Don’t just pay attention to the educational material. Observe how the language teachers interact with students, the sanitation of the facilities and what the neighborhood is like. Just as a main travel agency would, rank education courses by stars. For the more high-end courses in better areas, the prices should reflect that. For average courses in less high-end areas, the prices should mirror this as well. It is never a good idea for a customer to travel around and find out they’re paying the same price for their language school as someone who is getting far better service at another one of your suggested locations.
Diversify the language class options
Maybe learning Russian won’t bring in the same amount of clients as someone looking to learn Italian or Spanish, but try to avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket. Reach out to companies of various languages. It’s a financial perk for you and may expand your customer base.
Consider host families or a buddy system
For a solo traveler, having a host family that can greet him or her at the airport is a warm welcome to the new location. Even if the host family has nothing to do with the language courses — even better if the family does — this may be helpful to travelers who don’t know how to get from Point A to Point B. For solo travelers who want to buddy up with other travelers in your company, creating a buddy system may also help their travels. For the buddy system, specify what language both the customer and the host family or buddy want to work with. If an English-speaking traveler wants to live with an English-speaking family but a Spanish-speaking family shows up to the airport, this can lead to unnecessary frustration.
Reach out to college students, nonprofit educational facilities
There are tourism, travel and language majors at almost every college or university. Maybe they can make use of a language travel agency to fulfill credit hours. Send out press releases to schools to see if scholarship funds or tuition funds can be used for your business. Everyone wins with this arrangement — the student fulfills a graduation requirement, the university is paid by the student and your language travel agency is paid by both. And word-of-mouth on a college campus, especially in dorm rooms, goes further than any marketing material that can be televised or sent by e-blast.
As with any business, monitor what works and what doesn’t and improve as necessary. Maybe that entails a survey at the end of the student’s trip or an in-person call. But since a travel agency owner can’t be at every place at every moment, it is a good idea to listen to how travelers feel about each location. Tweak as necessary.
