Ann -

A couple of years ago Ann owned a Korean restaurant in a mid-sized city. The restaurant served authentic food and maintained a regular clientele from Korea. Ann is very outgoing, friendly and likes to work with people. She found that while many of her customers like to travel, had the money and desire to return and visit Korea very few did. Further questioning revealed the there was not an agency in town that first, spoke Korean and second, understood the culture and desires of these specific travelers. Ann quickly decided that this was a niche she could fill.

After doing some research Ann enrolled in Education Systems Independent Travel Agent Package. The courses provided by TravelCampus prepared Ann to become an Independent Travel Agent. She learned the computer reservation system, Sabre. She gained product knowledge of air travel, hotels, cruise lines and tours as well as the way fares and taxes are determined. In addition she learned about putting tours together and marketing to specific niches. Upon her successful graduation Ann connected with a host agency and began a travel service in her restaurant.

Understanding the needs of her clientele Ann quickly began putting together group tours of 35 to 50 people every other month to Korea. She arranged for the airfare, transportation and where necessary accommodations for all the individuals and she was able to go free. In addition to the commission Ann received from the service providers she charged a small service fee for her services. Ann's travel clients became repeat customers and started to bring their friends and relatives along with them. Her travel business grew. With in a year the income from her travel business equaled that of her restaurant.

If anything, Ann recognizes opportunity. While tending to her restaurant responsibilities and talking with her customers Ann realized that many of her regular customers were not of Korean decent. After speaking with many of them (this may be what Ann does best) she found they enjoyed authentic food and culture from many different countries. These people were typically well traveled and upper-middle class. This gave Ann an idea. After doing some research Ann realized there is an entire niche of cuisine travelers (people who travel with the specific desire to eat good food). With the experience from the Korean trips Ann started to put together her own cuisine tours twice a year. The first tour was to a domestic location (think San Francisco, New Orleans, New England) and the second tour each year is to a foreign country (Italy, France, Korea, etc). These have grown in popularity and also increased the sales in her restaurant business.

Ann successfully identified, created a product for and sold to two separate niche travel groups.

Michelle is very active. She enjoys traveling, snow skiing and the outdoors. As a paraplegic she is familiar with the unique challenges and needs of someone in a wheelchair. She is very active in the paraplegic community and has friends all over the country she met through various events. Michelle was able to travel with her family when she was younger and realized that specific cruise lines, tour operators, resorts, etc. were better equipped to accommodate her needs than others. When speaking with her friends Michelle would frequently offer travel advice to ensure they had an enjoyable vacation.

As Michelle grew older and considered her career options she chose to become an Independent Travel Agent. After successfully completing the training and choosing a host agency as part of the Education Systems program Michelle opened her own agency. She focuses on paraplegic travel, booking cruise and tour vacation all year and ski vacations in the winter. Her unique expertise and travel experience have made her successful.

Like many people Ms. Debry loves her pets. Like a growing number of Americans she pampers her two dogs with grooming, massages and specialty products but found it difficult to take her pets with her when she traveled.

After participating in the Independent Agent Package Ms. Debry opened an independent agency focusing on pet travel. She now makes travel arrangements for clients wanting to take their pets with them. This includes finding hotels (now including some Marriott, Weston and W), transportation and when needed veterinary and grooming services.

To get an idea of how big this industry is do an internet search for 'pet travel' and count the possibilities.

Lori Ann wanted to be a travel agent. After completing travel school she went to work in a traditional travel agency. Her husband, an avid big game hunter, asked her to put together a trip for he several friends to hunt wild geese in Canada. She prepared the airfare, lodging, guides and learned more regarding permits and seasonal hunting opportunities.

Before Lori Ann could arrange her husbands next trip six months later she had requests from the friends and family members of the original group for their own trips. This quickly grew as she prepared trips to Africa, Asia, South America and Europe as well as domestic trips. Less than one year after starting with the travel agency Lori Ann moved into an office out of her home and worked exclusively on her own clients and their big game hunting trips.

The Barret sisters own a customer billing service for doctors. Working closely with these individuals they realized another niche in which they could service their existing clientele. Opening a travel agency, in conjunction with their billing service, they began to put together for trip for the doctors and nurses in their offices.

These trips began as a fun way to meet their clients continuing education credits (CLE) and included motorcycle trips down the Oregon coast, cruises and golf trips. Recognizing their popularity the sisters expanded to included educational vacations for attorneys, real estate agents and dentists.