Specialty Travel Business

2 Specialty Travel Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 8th, 2024

A specialty travel business specializes in providing a specific type of travel experience. Examples of specialty travel businesses include adventure tours, eco-tourism, and luxury cruises.

These agencies are often called “niche” or “boutique” and have more experience and knowledge about their niche than larger companies. The first step to starting your own specialty travel business is to identify what niche you want to specialize in. It can be anything from destination-specific (e.g., Paris) to specific types of trips (e.g., cruises).

In this list, you'll find real-world specialty travel business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a specialty travel business that makes money.

1. Augustine Tours ($648K/year)

Augustin Ndikuriyo, the founder of Augustine Tours, came up with the idea for his business when a client at the hotel where he worked asked for recommendations on travel companies in Burundi. Unable to find any options, Augustin saw the opportunity to fill the gap in the market and launched Augustine Tours in 2010. Since then, the company has grown to generate an impressive monthly average of €50K, offering unique safari experiences in East Africa that go beyond traditional tourism.

How much money it makes: $648K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1.5K
How many people on the team: 3

How I Bootstrapped My Cultural Tour And Travels Business To $54K/Month

Augustin Ndikuriyo founded Augustine Tours, a travel company that offers wildlife safari and cultural tour experiences around East Africa, which makes a monthly average of €50K/Month and focuses on transformative tourism that benefits visitors and the local communities.

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2. Planit ($600/year)

Billy, a 20-year-old math student from Brisbane, Australia, came up with the idea for PlanIt after struggling to plan adventures in the physical world. Drawing on his experiences in designing cutting-edge recommender systems at venture-funded startup Atmos, he applied his knowledge to create a seamless travel search and planning experience. PlanIt has since expanded its database coverage and user growth, positioning itself as a platform for travel and lifestyle businesses to list their details and generate revenue.

How much money it makes: $600/year
How much did it cost to start: $1.5K
How many people on the team: 0

On Building A Travel Recommendations Platform

PlanIt is a travel recommendation and planning platform that has seen compelling growth in database coverage and user growth, covering every country in the world with several thousand users and a large SEO focus as well as a growing interest from travel and lifestyle businesses to list their details.

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Read by 4,732 founders