travel agency accounts excel format

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Travel Agency Invoice Templates (Word, Excel, PDF)

Easy to download and edit travel agency invoice templates., available in word, excel, pdf, google docs and sheets..

Travel Agency Invoice Templates in Word

Travel Agency Invoice Templates in Excel

Travel Agency Invoice Templates in PDF

Free Word, Excel and PDF invoice templates by Refrens

Frequently asked questions (faq).

Yes, you can add a logo to the invoice and can also change the color of your invoice template, matching your logo.

Yes, Refrens invoice templates are customizable. You can add additional fields or columns like shipping details, discounts, additional charges, custom fields for both client and product or service line item.

Yes. You can easily download it in PDF format or can click on the print option and can save as PDF.

• There is a limit to the number of transactions you can make on Refrens. You can create 20 free documents in a year. All absolutely free. Once the threshold of 20 documents is reached, you can buy our premium plans to keep continue creating the documents.

Yes. Refrens account is necessary to use a free invoice template. While creating an account, you can access all the invoices in one place and also makes the invoice creation procedure easy.

Free Travel Agency Invoice Templates

The surge in the travel and tourism industry has undoubtedly led to a parallel growth in related businesses, creating an increased demand for streamlined invoicing processes. However, finding suitable invoice templates tailored for travel agencies can be a challenge. The good news is that as the industry expands, specialized invoicing software solutions are emerging to address this specific need.

In response to the booming travel and tour industry, there is a growing recognition of the importance of efficient invoicing systems. This acknowledgement has led to the development of invoicing software specifically designed to cater to the unique requirements of travel and tourism businesses.

One of the key challenges faced by travel agencies is the need for invoices that capture the essence of their services. Travel invoices often involve a combination of services such as accommodation, transportation, tours, and more. Therefore, having invoice templates that reflect the diverse nature of these services is crucial.

Specialized invoicing software and a tool like invoice generator for the travel and tourism industry not only provide a variety of customizable invoice templates but also offer features that streamline the entire invoicing cycle. These solutions understand the complexities of the industry, allowing businesses to create invoices that accurately represent the array of services provided to clients.

Additionally, these invoicing solutions often come equipped with features that are specifically beneficial for travel agencies. For example, they may include options to itemize different services, incorporate travel itineraries, and provide space for detailed descriptions. This ensures that the invoice not only serves as a billing document but also as a comprehensive record of the services rendered.

As businesses in the travel and tourism sector face an increasing number of transactions, having a reliable and industry-specific invoicing solution becomes imperative. This not only saves time but also reduces the likelihood of errors, providing a more professional and efficient invoicing process.

Refrens takes a step ahead in addressing the specific needs of the travel and tourism industry by offering dedicated travel agency invoice templates . Whether you're a freelance travel agent crafting detailed itineraries or a travel agency orchestrating comprehensive domestic or international tour plans, Refrens provides a range of templates tailored to suit the intricacies of your travel business.

Recognizing the diverse nature of services within the travel sector, Refrens ensures that its templates are not one-size-fits-all but rather adaptable to the unique requirements of each travel-related transaction. This flexibility allows travel agents and agencies to generate invoices that accurately reflect the breadth of services provided to clients, from accommodations and transportation to guided tours and more.

Refrens' travel agency invoice templates are designed with a keen understanding of the industry's complexities. They go beyond mere billing documents and serve as comprehensive records of the entire travel experience. This includes features such as itemization of different services, incorporation of detailed itineraries, and ample space for specific service descriptions. Such elements contribute to creating professional, detailed, and client-friendly invoices that resonate with the dynamic nature of travel and tourism.

Whether you are dealing with a single transaction or managing an array of services for a group tour, Refrens' travel agency invoice templates cater to the diverse needs of travel professionals. The user-friendly interface ensures that even freelance travel agents without extensive administrative support can easily navigate the platform and create polished invoices that enhance the professionalism of their services.

In essence, Refrens stands as a reliable partner for travel agents and agencies, offering a dedicated solution for invoicing in the travel and tourism industry. With a variety of templates at your disposal, tailored to different aspects of the travel business, Refrens simplifies the invoicing process, allowing travel professionals to focus on what they do best – providing exceptional travel experiences for their clients.

Refrens goes the extra mile in supporting travel agencies with a suite of professionally designed invoice templates that cater specifically to the needs of the travel industry. These templates are meticulously crafted, ensuring that they include all the essential columns required for seamless operations in travel agency businesses and itinerary planning.

What sets Refrens apart is its commitment to offering flexibility in template formats. Travel agents and agencies can avail themselves of these carefully designed invoice templates in various formats, including Excel, Word, PDF, Google Docs, and Google Sheets. For those who prefer online invoice templates, Refrens extends its offerings in PDF format as well. This adaptability ensures that regardless of the preferred platform or document type, travel professionals have access to a template that aligns perfectly with their workflow.

Beyond just providing diverse formats, Refrens takes the hassle out of invoice management. With Refrens, travel agencies can store and manage all their travel invoices in one centralized location. This centralized hub simplifies the tracking of invoices, offering insights into whether an invoice has been opened by the client. This level of transparency is invaluable for businesses, allowing them to stay on top of their invoicing processes and providing clarity on client interactions.

One of the significant advantages of using Refrens is the elimination of manual record-keeping challenges. The platform allows businesses to record payments directly within the invoice templates, eliminating the need for separate Excel sheets to track payments. This streamlined approach not only saves time but also reduces the risk of errors associated with manual data entry.

By leveraging Refrens' invoice software, travel professionals can break free from the time-consuming cycle of invoicing and billing. This allows them to redirect their focus and energy towards core business activities, fostering growth and client satisfaction.

In essence, Refrens' travel agency invoice templates not only adhere to professional standards but also offer a level of convenience and efficiency that is tailored to the unique demands of the travel industry. With a user-friendly interface and a suite of features designed to simplify invoicing and payment tracking, Refrens becomes an invaluable tool for travel professionals, empowering them to manage their invoicing processes with ease.

What type of services can be added to travel agency invoice templates?

Travel agency invoice templates are highly customizable to accommodate a variety of services offered by travel professionals. Here are some examples of services that can be added to travel agency invoice templates:

Tour and Travel Agency Invoice:

• Tour packages
• Guided tours
• Adventure tours
• Group travel services

Travel Transportation Invoice:

• Train tickets
• Bus transportation
• Cruise services
• Transfers and transportation services

Board and Lodging Invoice:

• Hotel accommodations
• Resort stays
• Bed and breakfast services
• Vacation rentals

Tour and Tickets Invoice:

• Entrance tickets to attractions
• Event tickets
• Theme park tickets
• Museum tickets

Car Hire and Rental Invoice:

• Car rental services
• Chauffeur services
• Limousine services

Itinerary Invoice:

• Customized itinerary planning
• Travel planning services
• Detailed trip planning

Leisure Travel Invoice:

• Relaxation and leisure packages
• Spa and wellness services
• Golf vacations

Travel Consultation Invoice:

• Travel advisory services
• Consultation fees for trip planning
• Expert travel advice

Flight Reservation Invoice:

• Flight booking services
• Seat reservation fees
• Airline services

Hotel Reservation Invoice:

• Hotel booking services
• Reservation fees
• Accommodation services

These examples demonstrate the diverse range of services that can be included in travel agency invoices. The templates can be tailored to match the specific offerings of each travel agency, providing a detailed and accurate representation of the services provided to clients. Customizing the invoice templates ensures that they align with the unique nature of the travel industry, accommodating various aspects of travel and tour services.

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Travel Agency Accounting: COA Template & Account Hierarchy

Travel agencies play a vital role in the tourism industry, offering services such as flight bookings, hotel reservations, and tour packages. Effective financial management is essential for the success of any travel agency, and a critical component of this process is the Chart of Accounts (COA). In this article, we will discuss the importance of a COA for travel agencies, provide an example template, and outline the account hierarchy.

What is a Chart of Accounts (COA)?

A Chart of Accounts (COA) is an organized list of all financial accounts used by a business to record and report its financial transactions. The COA serves as the foundation for the company's accounting system, enabling accurate tracking and reporting of financial activities. For travel agencies, a well-structured COA can provide insights into profitability, cost management, and areas for improvement.

Example COA Template for Travel Agencies

The following is an example COA template designed specifically for travel agencies. Keep in mind that every business is unique, and your COA should be tailored to your specific needs and requirements.

1. Assets  

1.1. Current Assets

1.1.1. Cash

1.1.2. Accounts Receivable

1.1.3. Prepaid Expenses  

1.2. Non-Current Assets

1.2.1. Property, Plant, and Equipment

1.2.2. Intangible Assets

2. Liabilities  

2.1. Current Liabilities

2.1.1. Accounts Payable

2.1.2. Accrued Expenses

2.1.3. Deferred Revenue  

2.2. Non-Current Liabilities

2.2.1. Long-term Debt

2.2.2. Deferred Tax Liabilities

3.1. Owner's Capital

3.2. Retained Earnings

4.1. Commission Income

4.2. Service Fees

4.3. Tour Package Sales

4.4. Other Income

5. Expenses

5.1. Cost of Services

5.1.1. Supplier Payments

5.1.2. Tour Package Costs

5.2. Operating Expenses

5.2.1. Salaries and Wages

5.2.2. Rent and Utilities

5.2.3. Marketing and Advertising

5.2.4. Travel and Entertainment

5.2.5. Insurance

5.2.6. Depreciation and Amortization

5.3. Interest Expense

5.4. Income Tax Expense

Account Hierarchy in Travel Agency Accounting

Account hierarchy is essential for maintaining consistency and accuracy in financial reporting. A typical account hierarchy for travel agencies consists of the following levels:  

Category: The highest level in the hierarchy, representing the main divisions of the financial statement (assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses).  

Subcategory: A more detailed level within the main categories, further segregating accounts based on their nature or function (e.g., current assets, non-current assets, operating expenses).  

Account: The most detailed level, representing individual financial accounts used to record specific transactions (e.g., cash, accounts payable, commission income).

A well-organized Chart of Accounts is crucial for effective financial management in travel agencies. By creating a customized COA tailored to the specific needs of your travel agency and establishing a clear account hierarchy, you will ensure accurate financial record-keeping , facilitate reporting, and provide valuable insights for decision-making.Travel agencies have unique accounting needs, such as tracking commissions, managing supplier payments, and handling deferred revenue. It is essential to consider these specific requirements when developing your COA. You may also want to include accounts for refunds, cancellations, and loyalty program expenses, as these are common financial events in the travel industry.As your travel agency grows and evolves, it is essential to review and update your COA periodically to accommodate changes in your financial structure, new service offerings, or shifts in business strategy. This will help maintain a robust and effective accounting system that supports the ongoing success of your travel agency.By implementing a well-designed COA and maintaining an organized account hierarchy, you can improve your travel agency's financial transparency, ensure compliance with accounting standards, and make informed decisions based on accurate financial data. As a result, you'll be better equipped to manage your business's finances, allocate resources efficiently, and identify opportunities for growth and improvement in the competitive travel industry.

Travel Agency Template

Download this Travel Agency Template Design in Excel, Google Sheets Format. Easily Editable, Printable, Downloadable.

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Travel Agency Business Plan Template

Trusted by 700+ Downloaders

What You Get

• A compelling & detailed pre-written Travel Agency business plan template in WORD
• A full and automatic Travel Agency financial plan model in EXCEL you can easily customize
• Customized text tailored to the travel agency business
• The ability to paste advanced charts and tables within a click
• No accounting or specialized financial knowledge needed
• A truly cost-effective solution saving you time and money

Travel Agency Business Plan Template Description

Our ready-made Travel Agency business plan package includes all you need to help you plan, execute, fund and launch a successful travel agency. It includes a pre-written business plan template in Word and automatic financial plan in Excel tailored to the travel agency business and which you can customize in just a few hours to make it perfectly suit your own project. Save tons of time and money and take advantage of our ready-made Travel Agency business plan template. Check below the full content description.

Travel Agency Business Plan Document in Word

Our ready-made Travel Agency business plan template is in Word format and includes 24 pages. The document is divided into multiple sections. Each section contains the essential points that are necessary to effectively present your Travel Agency project. Each section and sub-section offers you a sample text that you can easily customize to make your business plan unique. Below is a small extract of your Travel Agency business plan template in Word.

Automatic Travel Agency Financial Plan in Excel

Our pre-populated financial model is in Excel format and includes multiples worksheets. You can easily edit the model’s inputs including changing costs and revenue assumptions to generate pro-forma financial forecasts including P&L, Cash flows and Balance Sheets. Below is a small excerpt of your Travel Agency financial plan in Excel.

This Ready-Made Travel Agency Business Plan is For

• Entrepreneurs wishing to start a Travel Agency business
• Aspiring Travel Agency owners who want to create a business plan fast and easy
• Travel industry entrepreneurs who wish to pitch their project to investors
• Travel professionals who wish to better understand the potential of the opportunity

Immediate Delivery by Email

• Once you complete the order, you will receive an email with links to download your documents
• Your order will contain the full pre-written business plan in Word
• Your order will contain the full customizable financial model in Excel

Your Travel Agency Business Plan Content

Executive Summary:  Our Travel Agency business plan template starts with a compelling Executive Summary. This key section is very important as it summarizes in 1 page your Travel Agency concept. It will introduce your business model, the key people behind the project as well as the unique selling proposition offered by your Travel Agency concept. This section will also mention how market conditions and consumer trends are favorable for launching your project.

The Problem Opportunity: Next, your ready-made Travel Agency business plan will list a number of problems experienced by your prospects in your target market and will show how this presents a unique opportunity for your Travel Agency business. These can include issues such as lack of a particular type of travel agencies in a certain location, low or average quality of service offered by existing players, undifferentiated offering by current actors in the market…etc.

The Solution:  This section explains how your Travel Agency will take advantage of the current problems in the market and will detail your innovative solutions.

Mission & Vision:  Your mission will explain in a couple of sentences your Travel Agency’s business ethos. In other words, it will summarize your unique value proposition and will explain how you are different than the competition. Your vision will explain the long-term plans for your Travel Agency concept. Are you planning to start with one branch today and expand to a multi-branch business model? Are you looking to transform your Travel Agency business into a franchise model?…etc.

Business Model:  This section details your Travel Agency concept using the business model canvas method. In a visually appealing table, we will detail your Travel Agency’s key partners, activities, resources, value proposition, customer segments, customer relationship plan, marketing channels, cost structure and revenue streams.

Products & Services:  Next, we will talk in details about your various travel products and services. We will describe your various tours and package offers, your travel consulting services…etc. We will also provide information about your pricing, commissions and fees by type of products and services.

Market Analysis: This important section describes the various market statistics and consumer trends in the Travel industry and explains how they support your own Travel Agency concept. The purpose of this section is to show that the market conditions are favorable for launching your new Travel Agency.

General Market Trends: In this sub-section of the market analysis, we will discuss the latest general market trends in the Travel industry. We will look at the global industry size, growth rate, growth diving factors and consumer trends.

Local Market Trends: This sub-section explains the local market trends that are relevant to your specific Travel Agency in its specific area of operation.

Target Customers:  In this section, we will describe your various customer profiles by providing information about their demographics, behavior and purchasing habits.

Competitive Analysis:  We will analyze key competitors active in your target market and provide insights about their strengths and weaknesses.

Competitive Advantages: After looking at the competitive landscape, we will then show how your Travel Agency is differentiating itself from the competition through a number of key advantages.

SWOT Analysis:  This section features a 4-quadrant table with explanations about how your Travel Agency intends to leverage its key strengths, mitigate weaknesses, capture opportunities and thwart any future threats.

Marketing Plan : This chapter provides detailed information about your go-to-market strategy. It includes a detailed action plan to help you build brand awareness and generate sales.

Branding & Awareness:  We will describe in this sub-section your choice of key marketing channels to build branding and awareness.

Customer Acquisition:  We will describe in this sub-section your choice of key marketing channels to acquire customers and increase sales.

Operating Plan:  This chapter provides information about your Travel Agency’s opening hours, internal processes and describes the interactions between various key departments and teams.

Management Team:  It is very important to present the key people behind your Travel Agency project and thus we have dedicated a section for this very purpose. It is also important to talk here about the founder’s vision, his past education and professional experience.

Hiring Plan:  No business can succeed without having on board the right team. This section lists all the key positions you plan to hire with information about their salaries and expected start dates.

Key Milestones:  To be able to launch and execute your Travel Agency project, you need to follow a set of actionable tasks with target deadlines. This section serves this purpose.

Financial Plan:  Without a robust financial plan, your Travel Agency business plan would be an incomplete document. This important section provides crucial information about your pro-forma financial projections and shows that you have really done your homework. The data mentioned in this and the following sections will be provided by the dynamic Excel financial model accompanying your Travel Agency business plan.

Projected Revenue:  This module shows your Travel Agency’s revenue projections over the next three years.

Projected Profit and Loss:  This module shows your Travel Agency’s income statement (also called profit and loss statement) over the next three years. Your income statement includes detailed projections about your sales and expenses and shows how your Travel Agency’s revenue is converted into a net profit.

Projected Cash Flows:  This module shows your Travel Agency’s cash flow projections over the next three years. The first year of operation is even detailed on a monthly basis. Your cash flow statement will detail the various cash inflows your Travel Agency will generate from its day to day operations and from funding sources, as well as the various cash outflows required to pay for operating expenses and business investments.

Projected Balance Sheet : This module shows your Travel Agency’s balance sheet projections over the next three years. The balance sheet will provide a summary of your Travel Agency’s short term and long term assets in addition to your short term and long term liabilities and capital.

Profitability Analysis:  In this section, we will provide information about your gross margin, net margin and discuss the profitability of your Travel Agency business.

Funding Requirement:  This module states the amount of funding your need to be able to comfortably launch your Travel Agency business. It also describes the planned allocation of the funds between Opex and Capex.

Conclusion : Finally, we will conclude your business plan by recapitulating the key points that make your Travel Agency project compelling and reiterate the rationale behind your business opportunity.

Why Use our Ready-Made Travel Agency Business Plan?

• Speed & Convenience:  Once you complete your order, you will receive the Travel Agency business plan directly in your mailbox. Since it is already pre-written with fully customizable financials, you will only need to spend a couple of hours to edit it and adapt it to your own project.
• High Quality:  Your Travel Agency business plan has been written by our professional team of business plan writers and experts from the Travel industry. You will receive a professional Travel Agency business plan template ideal for presenting to potential investors or banks.
• Low-Cost:  Our pre-written Travel Agency business plan template is the most cost-effective solution in case you need to build a solid and professional Travel Agency business plan. We are confident you will save hundreds if not thousands of dollars by ordering our premium business plan compared to hiring a consultant or subscribing to complicated and expensive software.

If you have any question regarding our ready-made Travel Agency business plan package,  do not hesitate to contact us , we are here to help.

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Home » Invoice Templates » 7+ Free Travel Agency Invoice Templates & Samples (Excel / Word / PDF)

Invoice Templates

7+ free travel agency invoice templates & samples (excel / word / pdf).

If you’re running a travel agency, you must use a travel agency invoice template to create professionally-looking invoices for your clients. This tool streamlines the invoicing process and makes timely payments from clients.

Once you have downloaded the template, you just need to customize it with your travel agency’s branding and logo. For accurate invoices, it calculates totals, taxes, and discounts automatically.

Furthermore, travel agencies are now giving up the old manual ways to enter data and save the records. The travel agency invoice template helps tourist travelers and travel agencies uphold records and automatically generate receipts for the travelers. Travel agencies efficiently invoice their customers individually and maintain their records. These have included all the relevant details for the travel like the name of the traveler and travel agencies, the details of the endpoints, expenses, hoteling, food expenses, hostel expenses, etc. The General sales tax GST is also a part of the invoice that makes it easier for customers and agencies to do calculations.

Table of Contents

The benefits of a travel agency invoice template:

The travel agency invoice template provides various benefits to travel agencies;

• It provides a pre-designed template that contains all pertinent information like booking fees, transportation costs, and more. Thus, it streamlines the invoicing process and saves you time.
• The template enables you to create well-structured and visually appealing invoices that enhance professionalism and credibility.
• This document contains a detailed breakdown of charges for easy reference which makes sure accuracy and transparency.
• The travel agency invoice template specifies payment terms and methods which facilitates timely payments.
• It provides clear and organized documentation of travel expenses which help to improve customer satisfaction.

Sample of Travel Agency Form Template PDF

Travel Agency GST Invoice Format in Excel

Travel Agency Bill Format

Tours and Travels Bill Format in MS excel

Travel Service Invoice Template

Travel Agent Commission Invoice Template

Time and Material Invoice Form

Air Travel Agency Invoice Template

How to fill out a travel agency invoice template?

Let us discuss step-by-step how to fill out a travel agency invoice;

Input your travel agency information

First, you need to enter the name, address, contact information, and logo of your travel agency into the invoice template. This will give your travel agency invoice a professional look.

Enter client details

In the next step, enter the name, address, and contact details of the client. You should always ensure that your invoice is addressed to the right client so that they can easily identify their invoice.

Mention the services provided

Specify the services you provided to the client including a description, quantity, and price for each service. The type of services may include flight bookings, hotel reservations , tour packages, etc.

Calculate the total amount due

Add up the prices of all the services provided to calculate the total amount due. This way, your clients clearly understand the total cost of their travel arrangements.

Include payment terms

To ensure a smooth payment process, mention the payment terms as well as the due date and accepted payment methods.

Review and send the invoice

Review the invoice and double-check all the details to ensure accuracy and professionalism. This may include the client’s details, services provided, and the total amount due. Send the invoice to the client after your satisfaction.

Track payment and follow up

For each invoice, keep track of the payment status and follow up with clients as required. This will help the travel agency maintain a healthy cash flow . In addition, it also ensures that you will receive payments in a specified time.

A travel agency invoice is a document that serves as proof of financial transactions between a travel agent and their clients. It contains all the details about the travel services provided.

The important elements to include in a travel agency invoice are; 1- The travel agency details 2- Client’s information 3- Travel itinerary 4- Booking dates 5- Costs and payment terms

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I am Ryan Duffy and legal writer. I received a bachelor of business administration (BBA) degree from London Business School. I have 8+ years of writing experience in the different template fields and working with ExcelTMP.com for 7 years. I work with a team of writers and business and legal professionals to provide you with the best templates.

Setting Up Your Travel Agency’s Financials

Most of us aren’t in the travel business because we love numbers and bookkeeping. Yet, as a small business owner, you’re most likely going to have to be doing the bookkeeping (as well as the sales, marketing, and customer service). So let me give you a heads up on how to start your agency with a strong financial infrastructure. 

This is one of those “learn from my mistakes” and “I wish someone had told me this when I started” articles. 😊

Setting Up a Business Bank Account

For those of you taking our 7-day Setup Challenge , you just chose your business structure ! Yay! (For those of you not taking our challenge, you really should!)

Keeping [business and personal finances] separate from the get-go will save you a lot of time in the future!

Why is business structure important when it comes to setting up a business bank account? Well, if you’re a Sole Proprietor you can use your personal bank account, so you don’t technically need to have a separate business bank account. That said—and please, take it from me—it’s a hassle to mix your finances. Keeping them separate from the get-go will save you a lot of time in the future! If you listen to one thing in this article, this should be it.

For those of you that chose an LLC or S Corp route for your travel agency business structure, I didn’t forget about you! Except for Sole Proprietor, any other business structure is required to set up a business bank account whether you want to or not. (IRS’s rules, not mine.)

Let's discuss.

How do Business Bank Accounts Differ From Personal Ones?

Business bank accounts are going to differ from your personal bank account in a few ways:

• You vs. Your Agency: Your clients make checks out to your travel agency, not your personal name. It’s thrilling seeing your first check with your agency's name on it!
• Interest (or lack thereof): Not all business accounts earn interest, either on the savings or checking. Boo. 🙁
• Cash Deposit Limits: Most biz bank accounts will have a limit on the amount of cash you can deposit each month. After that, plan for a fee. Note: Most agencies aren’t going to reach the monthly limits and if you do, don’t worry, the fees aren’t going to require that you sell your firstborn. (They vary quite a bit, but $5,000+/month for a cash deposit limit is a safe bet).
• Monthly Transaction Limits:  You’d think banks would want you to be making loads-o-business deposits since that means they’d be sitting on heaps of your cash (seeing how they’re not paying out interest and all) … but no. Since business accounts usually involve more transactions than personal accounts, they’re deemed to be more work. As such, the banks will need some compensation.

Business and personal bank accounts do have some similarities—you can also count on minimums to open your account and monthly fees! That is . . . unless you look at a CREDIT UNION (enter cue music)!!

Credit Unions, A Steph Favorite

Here’s my little plug. A community credit union is a great option and typically less expensive than the Big Banks. Credit union business accounts typically have fewer fees and they usually do away with the cash deposit limits —deposit away! You can search for a local credit union here .

Still not sold? Alright, I see I need to pull at your lil’ heartstrings and not just your financial sensibilities.

Here’s my story: I personally switched over all my bank accounts from Wells Fargo to my local credit union once I started Host Agency Reviews. Yes, it was a bit of a hassle, but as a small business owner, I liked the idea of supporting a local, non-profit small business that was owned by its members. Bonus : My credit union business account was free to open and had fewer (and lower) fees than Wells Fargo’s business account option!

And if that doesn’t sway you, maybe the quote on my local bus stop bench will, Big Banks, No Thanks! (Or, the memory of the 2008 Financial Meltdown might do the trick?). End of plug.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Bank

When you’re choosing your banking partner, here’s a few things you may want to consider:

1. Location:

The closer, the better. When it’s 4:30 pm and you have a check you need to be cashed before the end of the day, the miles are gonna matter.

2. Branches:

Does your bank have other branches? Of course, one of the advantages of the Big Banks is that they have a zillion branches, which is admittedly quite handy.

Are there hidden (or not so hidden) fees? Here are fees to look out for so you can see what aligns with your budget:

• Monthly service fees
• Cash handling fees
• Excess Transaction fees
• Overdraft/stop check/cashier’s check/wire transfer fees

In addition to fees, here are two other factors that might influence your choice:

• Minimum to Open
• Average Monthly Balance: Do you need to maintain a certain average balance?

It’s up to you what you prioritize! Every bank’s website will have its business account fees listed. Just make sure you’re reading the fine print!

Business Documents Needed by Banks

Imagine if I went into my bank and told them I had started up a new agency and would like to open a business checking account. They’re going to want some proof showing my agency is a legal business and that I’m the owner of said agency.

For those of you doing the 7-day Setup , you’ve already taken care of registering your name with your state and getting your Federal Employment Identification Number (FEIN) in yesterday’s action items. (If that last sentence was gibberish to you, make sure to sign up for our free 7-Day Setup challenge !)

It’s always good to give the bank a call before going in to set up your new business account to ensure you’re bringing everything you need. But, I know you’re chomping at the bit so mentally prepare to bring this stuff in (listed by business type):

Sole Proprietorship:

Here's what you need for sole proprietorship:

• SS# or FEIN (and I really, really recommend getting an FEIN)
• Business license showing both business and owner’s name, or
• Business name filing document , such as a Fictitious Name Certificate or Certificate of Trade Name, showing both business and owner’s name
• Your First Born (HA! Gotcha! Just making sure you were paying attention.)

Partnership

Here's what you need for a partnership:

• Partnership Agreement showing business name and name of partners, and
• Business name filing document , such as Fictitious Name Certificate or Certificate of Trade Name, showing business name and name of partners

Is an LLC more your style? Here's what documents you need:

• FEIN (notice a pattern here?)
• Articles of Organization or Certificate of Formation
• Corporate Resolution identifying authorized signers if officer names are not listed on Articles of Organization or Certificate of Formation

Opening a Business Credit Card 

Your business is going to have expenses and a business credit card will be pretty hard to live without. You’ve already got a credit card, you say? Just like a business bank account, a separate business credit card isn’t required for a Sole Proprietor (although I do recommend it), but it is required for those of you going the LLC or any other route.

Opening your credit card right away—even if you don’t need it yet—ensures that your card will be ready when the rubber hits the road. Which is soon, by the way! Eeeeekkkk!

We have a few tips on how to walk through the process of finding the right credit card for your agency below:

• 5 Best Business Credit Cards
• Top Travel Brand Credit Cards
• Find the Best Credit Card Rewards for Your Agency

As for which one is best . . . well, I can’t really answer that as some people love the airline points, some love cashback rewards. I love the ones that allow me to put a picture of my dog Rigel on the front of it. (I have my priorities!) 😊

Looking for something a little more methodical perhaps? Download our credit card tracker spreadsheet to decide what is best for you! Here's a video tutorial on how it works:

Want to give it a go? Just download it below

If you have a favorite, please feel to comment below!

Choosing Bookkeeping Software

Goodness me oh my … are we done yet?! *sigh* No. And before I launch into bookkeeping, I want to share a resource that's going to help put your immaculate bookkeeping to good use . . . HAR's tax organizer! You can download it below (and take a breather!)

Okay. Back to the task at hand. Now we’ve got to keep track of all the money coming in and out of that darn bank account we set up and the credit card we applied for! Doh, what were we thinking about setting those up? 🙂

The government is going to want to know how much commission you brought in from your travel sales so you need to keep track of that.

I’m going to launch in to bookkeeping software options, I promise, but I think it’d be smart to first explain what it is and why it’s so important . Bookkeeping helps keep track of your day-to-day expenses/income so that when tax time comes, everything is all organized in its proper category!

The government is going to want to know how much commission you brought in from your travel sales so you need to keep track of that, among tons of other things. The Balance Small Business has a recent article explaining the differences between an accountant, CPA, and bookkeeper if you’ve got 3 minutes.

Here’s the truth, most new travel agents I spoke with started with Excel as their bookkeeping software and do it themselves . It’s not pretty but it gets the job done . . . and for free!  You can check out the original thread here  (and please, feel free to share your experiences in the comments!)

Now, if you have extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, you can always purchase some bookkeeping software to make life a little easier (and prettier). Some of these are affiliate links, which means I make a little bit of moola when you buy something. Your purchase not only helps your business but helps supports Rigel's marrowbone obsession. 🙂

Without further ado, here are the main players most travel agents use for bookkeeping software:

1. Excel (Windows) , Numbers (Mac), or Google Sheets (Windows/Mac) : Tried and true. Yet at the same time tedious and not

• Excel Price: $139.99
• Numbers Price: Free for Mac users
• Google Sheets Price: Free with Gmail account

2. QuickBooks : Available in either the desktop (QuickBooks Pro) or online version (QBO). I use QBO and have been happy with the features, functionality. The support can take forever, though!

• Price: 30-day free trial. Their pricing changes with sales, but plan for $199 for the desktop version, $10/mo for QB online.

3. Shoeboxed : Send your receipts in one big envelope and the magic bookkeeping elf organizes it all! Integrates with Quickbooks.

• Price:  30-day free trial. Starts at $15/mo

4. Quicken : Also by Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks. Travel agents that use Quicken for their personal bookkeeping (which is what it’s intended for) often end up using it for business.

• Note : If your company structure is an LLC, go with Quickbooks . Having your personal and business financials mixed is a no-no for corporations.

5. TRAMS : This is the go-to, legacy, travel-agency-specific accounting system. In April 2021, it was sold from Sabre back to the original owner (Tres Technologies), which we're all pretty excited about since Sabre did a whole lotta nothing for the past 15 years with TRAMS. If you're a hosted agent with only your sales to keep track of, TRAMS, as it is now, is probably overkill. However, it's a great fit for larger agencies with more complex bookkeeping. The other thing to note is that Tres Technologies sounds like they're cooking up a new product to bring travel agency accounting into the 21st century! So keep an eye out for word on that.

• Price: As of now, June 2021, there is no pricing up on Tres Technologies website for TRAMS. Hopefully soon!

Once you’ve chosen your bookkeeping software, you’ll need to decide if you want to teach yourself the software, or you can look into hiring a professional bookkeeper (which I eventually ended up doing once my biz got off the ground because I am so terribly bad with accounting!).

Not sure where to start? Just so happens I have a few suggestions to help you find a bookkeeper for your travel agency:

1. Local Bookkeeper: Word of mouth can’t be beaten! Plus you’ll be giving this person access to your bank accounts and other sensitive information, it’s nice to meet them in person. Try putting up a post on Facebook, asking other entrepreneurs, or asking your tax person for a referral.

• Price : ~ $30-50/hr

2. Bench : I like to keep it local but sometimes, working with someone online is just plain easier. Bench gets great reviews but at around $125/mo, it’s probably spendier than a local bookkeeper.

• Price : Starts at $125/month for annual pre-paid plans

Payroll Software

When it comes to payroll, I'm just going to recommend one company to you. Gusto .

For those of use that are S Corps or another business structure that has to run payroll, we need to dish out a bit extra each month for payroll software.

You're not going to need payroll if you're a sole proprietor or single-member LLC that is being taxed as a sole proprietor. That's because you're lucky and don't have to mess with payroll! But, for those of us that are S Corps or another business structure that has to run payroll, we need to dish out a bit extra each month for payroll software.

I started with Intuit's payroll software since it integrated so nicely with Quickbooks, but their prices kept increasing—my monthly fee nearly doubled over the course of a few years!

There are other payroll companies out there, but they are more legacy companies. And what legacy means is opaque pricing (call for more details), bloated programs, and high-pressure sales. The legacy companies target medium and large-size companies. They have way more bells and whistles than most small businesses need for their payroll.

• Gusto : It's easy to set up and navigate, affordable, and does the job. Their customer support is also superb—take this from a woman who has spent days on the phone trying to set up payroll at another place.
• Pricing : Currently $19/mo with the COVID Small Business Relief Pricing , regularly $39/mo.

Note: Yes, you can do payroll manually but that requires A LOT of work. You have to submit the taxes to the federal and state governments, submit unemployment insurance reports and money, calculate any other withholdings. It's brutal.

A Video on Leveraging Your Financial Routine with Tech

Before I launch in, I wanted to share financial whiz, Stephanie Cannon's, Host Week 2024 EduSpot, From Manual to "Magic" - Leveraging Tech As Part of Your Financial Routine. She is what we officially refer to as "a numbers whisperer."

Breaking it Down, A Recap

That was A LOT of info. Cheers for getting to the end! Your brain is probably brimming over with info so I want to recap things one more time. Here are your key takeaways:

• Open a business bank account (*cough* with a credit union)
• Open a business credit card
• Decide how you want to do your bookkeeping (yourself or hire it out)
• Give this article a FB like/tweet/share or comment!

I know what you’re thinking, “Man, she’s long-winded. She babbled on for ages and then summed it up in four tiny bullet points.” As a reward, you'll get a bonus worksheet to help you choose a bank if you sign up for our  7-day Setup Challenge  🙂 Thanks for sticking with me!

Need More More Support Getting Your Agency Set Up? We Have Just the Thing

Are you in earlier stages of getting your agency set up? Kudos to you for thinking about your financial infrastructure from the get-go. That said, it's complicated, and making the best decisions right now about financial structure can save you money in the long run. If you want more personalized support in regard to finances and all things starting an agency, check out HAR's new course, The Complete Guide to Starting a Travel Agency .

The course is written and taught by yours truly and Bridget Lee professional educator with deep roots in the travel industry. Maybe you notice a last name similarity? We're sisters and we both came up in a family that is deeply rooted in the industry. Check it out !

Happy business building!

[Editorial Note:] Opinions expressed here are mine alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. Because we all know credit cards and banks wouldn't be talking about and endorsing local credit unions or even mentioning the 2008 Financial Crisis. :) That's just straight-up Steph talk! More editorial fun: This was originally posted in Jan. 2017, and was updated on publish date listed! Ciao!

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August 16, 2023

Travel Agency Accounting: What Agency Owner Needs to Know

Travel agencies provide countless people with the opportunity for amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Owners and tour operators are experts in organizing incredible vacations, but may be less familiar with the financial side of the business, including the accounting process. As it is a crucial part of running a business, let’s dive deeper into how you can manage your financial reports more efficiently and strengthen your decision-making due to accurate numbers.

What is travel agency accounting, and why does it matter?

Accounting is the system of recording, organizing, and overseeing a business’s economic transactions. In tourism, accounting and bookkeeping allow travel agencies to oversee various financial operations, including selling travel packages, booking hotels, and managing travel expenses. To illustrate the importance of accounting for travel agencies, we’ll consider the example of an agency owner named Katherine.

Katherine’s tourism agency brought in many clients because she enjoyed meeting people, planning couples’ vacations, and making money. She loved coordinating trips for her clients, but she disliked having to record economic transactions. What was the result?

Because Katherine lacked the financial data and reports, she ended up missing out on tax deductions and paid more in taxes than she should have. She also had no idea how much capital the company actually had, and would occasionally overspend. Moreover, when Kate wanted to grow her business, she didn’t have accounting data to help her understand if she could afford to hire additional employees. Because Kate took a lax approach to collecting financial data, she was unable to make effective decisions and her business was left in a more uncertain situation.

If you own a travel agency, you can avoid these complications. A precise and effective accounting system will guarantee that you have reliable financial data at hand, helping you to optimize operations, strategize for the future, and prevent problems at tax time.

How to manage travel agency accounting

Travel agency accounting involves recording every transaction in which money flows into or out of the business. A travel agency brings in revenue when it sells tickets, hotel reservations, tour packages, and other services that ensure a comfortable journey. An agency’s expenditures, on the other hand, often include staff wages, advertising campaigns, travel spending, and maintenance of vehicles and equipment. Because there are so many transactions to oversee, it is important to establish an effective approach to bookkeeping for travel agencies.

Determine your accounting system

Before you can record transactions, you need to decide whether to use cash or accrual accounting. These methods are very different. Cash basis accounting only records transactions when funds enter or leave your account. This method, while intuitive, gives you only a limited understanding of your financial situation.

Accrual accounting considers transactions as they actually occur, regardless of when money changes hands. Suppose your customers book a $1,500 tour one month but plan to pay the next month. You should record this transaction at the time of booking, rather than when the customers have paid. This approach to accounting gives you a more comprehensive understanding of your financial position. It is also the only GAAP compliant method, which means it must be used for any official purposes.

Bookkeeping setup and bank account opening

Next, you need to select a method for recording operations. Consider the following criteria:

• Do you plan to do bookkeeping offline or online? An online, cloud-based system is the most popular and convenient solution.
• Will you do the accounting yourself or work with a financial specialist?
• What software are you planning to implement?

Before answering these questions, take into account the estimated size of your business. For smaller travel agencies, you may be able to handle your own bookkeeping to a certain extent. For larger businesses, you will need to recruit professional assistance and use the appropriate software.

Define payment methods

Consider how you want customers to pay bills – via cash, bank cards, or transfers. These options must be specified before the accounting process can begin, as your financial specialist will need to register and check all systems that you use to settle with counterparties. By sticking to this predefined list of payment methods, you can massively simplify your financial reporting workload.

Keep financial records

To effectively manage your books, you need to record every single transaction. Most travel agencies encounter daily transactions with customers, so you will need to consistently track the movement of funds. This financial data will help you to create the following reports:

• The income and expense statement. This document shows your profit and loss for a specific period. It allows you to identify how the agency is using its capital, as well as determine the current ratio of its assets to its liabilities.
• The cash flow report. This document demonstrates a firm’s liquidity, and warns of possible problems with cash that may prevent investment or the payment of bills.
• The balance sheet shows the company’s economic position in a certain period. It shows your assets, liabilities, and personal capital, which helps you to assess the state of your business and make decisions for its future development.

Careful monitoring and record-keeping is required to keep track of all revenue, expenditures, and other operations. You should check your books every few weeks to ensure that your information is accurate and up to date.

Financial statements for travel agencies

Financial statements reflect your travel agency’s current economic situation, including its strengths and weaknesses. They also inform stakeholders, external and internal, in the following ways:

• Owners: you should use your financial statements to make informed decisions about the company’s prospects for long-term growth, such as attracting investors. You can also control the flow of funds for specific purposes. Entrepreneurs often focus on the profit and loss statement.
• Lenders: these are individuals and financial institutions that lend money to businesses, including travel agencies. In order to assess whether an investment is worthwhile, investors will consult financial statements to see if the agency can pay off its debts in the short and long term.
• Suppliers: in tourism, this category includes carriers, tour operators, hotels, and other partners. In order to work with you, these counterparties will want to verify that your agency is solvent.

Prominent investors often consult with financial advisors for advice about how to maximize their investment. In order to recommend investment in your travel agency, these advisors need financial statements to back up their recommendation.

Tips to organize travel agency accounting

It is crucial to properly organize your finances. After all, it’s nearly impossible to grow your business if you don’t know what is going on financially. Consider a few recommendations from experts on effective financial management:

• Create separate accounts: your agency’s finances must be completely separate from any personal finances, including accounts and credit cards. Otherwise, you significantly complicate the accounting process.
• Classify expenses correctly: discuss with a tax professional how to reduce your tax base with deductions. For example, maybe you can earn a deduction for the food you offer to tourists during the tour or the cost of traveling from to the tour’s starting point. Knowing the laws allows you to classify each operation, which can help lower your tax burden.

Some entrepreneurs try to conduct their own travel agency accounting, but they don’t always have the time to consider every transaction. Instead of this risky approach, you should consult with financial professionals who can provide all the necessary accounting services, including business integration with bookkeeping platforms, account receivable and payable control, and more.

The best bookkeeping software for travel agencies

If you are in the travel business, you should find the best bookkeeping platform to suit your needs. You will need a program that provides a full range of features tailored to the needs of travel agencies. Some reputable platforms include:

• QuickBooks Online: this program is like the Swiss Army knife of financial software. It offers a suite of functions, from invoicing processing, budgetary control, and tax calculation, giving you everything you need for effective financial management in one platform.
• Xero: this is another cloud-based software that offers the same tools as QuickBooks, but with a more user-friendly interface. For added convenience, this system syncs with other digital products, such as travel booking apps and payment platforms.

When choosing software for your agency, you need to consider your budget. The market offers a range of free, inexpensive, and more costly software options. If you operate a smaller travel agency, you may not need the most intensive software.

Get support of professionals

Proper bookkeeping is critical to success as a travel agent. Accurate records of transactions facilitate financial reporting, improve cash flow management, and ensure compliance with tax laws.

BooksTime provides the precise and up-to-date financial data that tourism agencies need to operate effectively. Our seasoned accounting experts can take care of the entire process, or provide custom solutions for specific tasks, such as the preparing financial statements or setting up accounting software. Let our team optimize your finances so you can focus on organizing unforgettable vacations. Just let us know what bookkeeping services you need!

This article is not intended to provide tax, legal, or investment advice, and BooksTime does not provide any services in these areas. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon for tax, legal, or investment purposes. These topics are complex and constantly changing. The information presented here may be incomplete or out of date. Be sure to consult a relevant professional. BooksTime is not responsible for your compliance or noncompliance with any laws or regulations.

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Author: Charles Lutwidge

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Travel Agency Accounting: What Agency Owners Need to Know

As a travel agency owner, keeping track of your financials is crucial to the success of your business. There are several key accounting reports that you should pay close attention to stay on top of your finances and make informed business decisions.

These reports include the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet, the cash flow statement, and the booking and cancellation report. Utilizing these four reports can help your travel agency achieve steady growth and profitability.

Understanding the Four Main Reports for Travel Agencies

There are other reports that can aid on your path to success; however, these are the four reports that travel agencies can’t forego utilizing.

Profit and Loss Statement (P&L)

This report, also known as an income statement, shows your revenue, expenses, and profits over a certain period of time. It helps your travel business understand financial performance, identify areas where you may be overspending, and make adjustments to improve your bottom line.

Balance Sheet

This report provides a snapshot of your business’s financial position at a specific point in time. It shows your assets, liabilities, and equity, and can help you assess your business’s overall health and make strategic decisions about financing or expansion.

Cash Flow Statement

This report tracks the net cash flow of your business over a certain period of time. It helps you understand your business’s liquidity and can alert you to potential cash flow problems, such as a lack of cash to pay bills or invest in growth.

Booking and Cancellation Report

This report will show you the details of all the bookings and cancellations that have been made in your travel agency. This will help you identify patterns and trends in your bookings and cancellations and make adjustments accordingly.

Why are Financial Statements Important for Travel Agencies?

Financial statements are important for travel agencies for a variety of reasons. One of the top reasons these reports are vital is for cash flow management. Poor cash flow management can be one of the top struggles for travel agents as an agency’s cash flow dictates how well they can meet upcoming obligations and earn a profit.

If you notice that you are low on cash, you can utilize a business credit card to conserve cash in your bank accounts, ensuring you have enough money to pay your employees and contractors. In addition, the travel and tourism industry can face seasonality cash flow concerns, making it important to understand how your business performs in different months to establish a budget.

Moreover, businesses in the travel industry benefit from financial statements when it comes to compliance with regulatory agencies. The FASB recently introduced new revenue recognition guidelines, requiring businesses to only report revenue on the income statement when the performance obligation is satisfied. This means that if a client pays you upfront for a trip in two months, you cannot report that revenue until they have taken their trip, leading to a deferred revenue account on the balance sheet.

The specific benefits your travel agency will see is dependent on your financial situation and operational goals. Nevertheless, all travel agencies can find various benefits from regular financial statement creation.

How Can You Start Creating Financial Statements?

Bookkeeping software has eliminated the need to create manual financial statements, which are both time intensive and error prone. One of the best accounting software programs that your travel business might benefit from is QuickBooks.

QuickBooks is an online accounting software that provides its users with a friendly interface and various different report creation abilities. There are countless accounting software programs that your travel agency business might benefit from, but this is a fan favorite.

If using an accounting software program on your own seems daunting, you can research different travel agency bookkeeping services to get expert help. Taking advantage of different accounting services can help you develop accurate revenue recognition and produce timely financial data to base your decisions on.

Financial statements are a crucial component of running a successful business, regardless of the size of your travel agency. Every aspect of your business will benefit from more informed decisions and insights, from customer acquisition strategies to developing and implementing clear goals.

Read related articles: The Profit and Loss Statement

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Detailed Guide To Travel Agency Accounting

• Post author By varun
• Post date December 1, 2022

As far and wide the services of a travel agency expand, so is the elaborateness of its accounting procedures. Being a business model operating with multiple parties under unique financing arrangements, these agencies need to keep the flow of funds fairly sorted. This needs to be done for a clear bookkeeping and accounting of money received or paid. And so, understanding the procedure and details of accounting becomes quite a necessity for someone planning to run or establish a travel agency. 

Even though the availability of travel management platforms like Pathfndr has simplified accounting for these agencies, it is imperative to know the thick and thin of travel agency accounting if planning to run a travel agency.

Accountancy for travel agencies is a dedicated information system designed to provide the necessary details. These details can be related to the company’s monetary stature, its transactions, financial executions, and everything else related to its management. 

The success of travel agency management is critically based on efficient recording, accuracy of such record maintenance and the financial statement preparation. For suitable formulation of strategic business decisions and plans, travel agency accounting can be the concrete support needed. 

Travel agency accounting is also needed to assess the fair status of the company. It can be simply said to be a process that enables profitability assessment of the agency as well as its financial status in both short and long run. Platforms like Pathfndr only assist with the elaborate accounting system that a travel agency may need to follow. 

Below given is a detailed guide on the types of books maintained for travel agency accounting along with the financial statement preparation requirements and other pertinent details related to the procedure. Meanwhile, it can be useful to check out the role that travel agency management platforms like Pathfndr can play in maintaining the books of travel agency accounting for these companies.

Books That Need to be Created for Travel Accounting

Travel agencies need to prepare a host of books, statements, and journals for the purpose of essential travel accounting. These companies would need to create one or more of the following records and statements to keep the travel agency accounting right in place.

Journal for cash receipt

A cash receipt journal allows you to record the receipt of all revenue generated for the travel agency. The journal is recorded for an annual period and receives entries for all transactions made in cash, cheques, and credit cards. 

Whether the business receives payments for tour package sale and any commissions received from a partner operator, which can include airlines, bus operators, hotels, and the likes. 

While you would need to make these entries manually, using an online travel management platform like Pathfndr simplifies these records as they are directly accounted for through necessary tools used on these platforms.

Sales journal

A sales journal is used to account for all transactions that a travel agency makes in credit. In case your travel agency extends credit facilities to partner operators and customers, the entries would form a part of the sales journal. 

Usually, travel agencies operating on a large scale use these journals. With access to the likes of Pathfndr, all credit sale records are updated automatically to this journal.

Accounts receivable

A journal of accounts receivables is used to record transactions that the travel agency makes in credit in lieu of products and services received from supplying partners. It sums up the amount that the business would owe to its suppliers, sellers, and producers for the period involved.

Journal for cash disbursal

The total outflow of cash from the travel agency’s entirety of finances is recorded in the cash disbursement journal. A majority of this journal’s entry is made with respect to its operating cost for the period, including the likes of rents, administrative expenses, selling and/or distribution expenses, legal expenses and salaries/wages paid. 

Also known as the cost journal, entries to this travel agency accounting record are mostly made for cheques and drafts issued. But all of these essential entries are simplified through automation processes that platforms like Pathfndr provide.

Payroll journal

A payroll journal is an altogether separate journal that is maintained as a record of salaries/wages and other financial benefits paid to its employees. It gives a detailed insight on the total employees working with the agency, the total outflow made in the form of salaries and wages, compensations, insurance protection provided, medical facilities, compensations, and other benefits that may be available to its employees.

Chief book of accounts

The chief book of accounts is primarily a ledger book and a summed point of accounting record for all the balance entries that the company may have. It is a critical bookkeeping record that can direct identification and verification towards all revenue sources, a total of cash and credit sales, commissions earned, and such other crucial travel agency accounting aspects. 

The use of Electronic Data Processing or EDP systems in almost all travel agencies operating today simplifies all these entries, their identification and verification for performance evaluation. Platforms like Pathfndr are fast changing how these EDPs are integrated into the travel agency accounting system.

Travel Accounting System

A travel accounting system follows a design that aims to record all items related to the business’s balance sheet as well as its income statement. These items spread across the likes of the agency’s assets, liabilities, incomes, revenues, gains, losses, expenses, as well as the capital invested. 

An automated travel accounting system is integrated into the operation of travel management platforms like Pathfndr to simplify the recording and identification of these accounting items of the business. It can thus be greatly useful to create your travel agency’s official website on these platforms with dedicated domains and other customized functionalities.

Below given is a list of items that are included in the accounting statements prepared as per the travel accounting system with their short descriptions.

Capital invested

The capital of a business in general, including a travel agency, comprises the contributions from the owners of the entity, company, partnership, or firm. The capital of the company comprises both paid and unpaid contribution of the owners to the company. It can be summed up as the net worth of the travel agency that it owes to the owners. Depending on the type of the company a travel agency is established as, the capital and ownership can either be considered as separate or as one and the same.

Irrespective of the ownership-entity divide, the items comprising the capital of the travel agency must be accounted for individually. In the case of a company form of travel agency, the capital can include its shares and debentures. For travel agencies formed as partnership firms, the contributions of individual partners comprises the capital of the agency. In case of individual owners, their entire investment comprises the capital of the travel business. 

A travel agency runs on definite resources that it utilizes to generate revenue. Such resources are invested into the business to generate benefits from operations in the future. These resources that contribute to benefit generation over the time are known as assets of the company. 

The identification of assets is intended to increase the business’s cash flow in the long run through cyclic usage. A travel agency’s, or any company’s for that matter, assets can be identified under two classes, namely fixed and current assets. It is crucial to identify these assets separately for the purpose of travel agency accounting .

Liabilities

A liability of a travel agency can be identified as a claim against the assets that it utilizes for revenue generation and profitability. These can also be understood as the future sacrifice of economic benefits that the business undertakes for asset generation or for providing services, ultimately leading to debt creation charged on these assets. Like assets, liabilities of a travel agency are also identified under two types, and are known as long-term and short-term (current) liabilities. 

Be it assets, liabilities, or any other item of the accounting system that the travel agency needs to maintain can be easily identified under the aegis of travel management platforms like Pathfndr. These records are summed up at the end of each accounting period and can be accessed through website accounting automation processes run through Pathfndr.

Revenue/gains/income

The total value of services/products that a travel agency provides, the interest received from clients, commissions from partner operators and such other contributions that form a part of the total incoming monetary value can be identified under this accounting head. Revenue of the company is the total value of sales made, out of which the gains are identified as revenue minus the expenditure incurred.

The total cost that a travel agency incurs, including the cost in the long as well as short term, for running the business can be accounted for under the expenses head of the travel agency accounting system. Expenditures are also identified as the sum of cash outflow made by the agency in return of services or products received towards the entity’s operation in short as well as long run.

While maintaining the travel agency accounting system can be quite extensive for an agency, the use of travel management systems like Pathfndr can make the entire process of handling the business’s accounts simple and convenient, requiring minimal manual efforts and time. 

Financial Statements That Need to be Prepared

For any accounting system, including that of travel agency accounting , the output of the records need to be formally created based on the identified and accepted statements. These statements are popularly known as the financial statements of the travel agency and are categorized under income statements and position statements.

Income statement: An income statement of a travel agency is also maintained as a profit and loss account for the company. It is created to assess the overall profitability of the company for an identified period based on the income and expenditure made for the said duration. It is an important part of travel agency accounting.

Position statement: A position statement of a travel agency is created to assess its overall financial health. It is a periodic statement, and is often created at the end of the definite term identified for the accounting cycle. It usually comprises the assets and liabilities of the travel agency on a said date and helps identify the resources used and their financing.

In the overall consideration of travel agency accounting system maintenance for the travel agency, creating a dedicated department and hiring the skilled personnel for the purpose can be an extensive process. It also involves resource allocation and can be a tedious process overall. 

As an alternative, a travel agency can seek to automate the entire travel agency accounting system through necessary tools in place. One of the best ways to implement this automation is to create the business website through Pathfndr, a travel management platform that comes preset with all the tools necessary for accounting and bookkeeping of the agency. 

The automated processing tools are well-designed to automatically record and compute the accounting results as and when desired. So, the travel agency does not have to go through an extensive travel agency accounting process periodically.

Travel agency accounting is a crucial aspect that a travel agency needs to take care of at all times, irrespective of its scale and geography of operation. The availability of travel management platforms like Pathfndr and their integration of automated accounting tools amps up the overall financial management of the company. 

Creating your agency’s travel website through these platforms can benefit in so many more ways than just adequate and timely recording and assessment of the financial aspect of the business. 

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Excel keeps us well organized in every field with its numerous features. It presents data in tabular form so that easy to understand for everyone. Excel also has numerous pre-defined functions like sum, and subtract for making basic calculations in no time. But the drawback is that it does not have any default templates. A lot of excel templates are available online.

In this article, I have explored some of the most comprehensive travel excel templates. You can download any of the travel templates and customize them for preparing your travel plan. All of the travel excel templates are available for free. Traveling needs a lot of planning such as budgeting, a list of things to do, and a suitable schedule. Following are some most frequently used travel excel templates:

1. Useful Travel Schedule Excel Template:

Looking for perfect travel scheduling? Download this blue-colored well-organized travel excel template as it allows you to plan your accommodation, transportation, budget, and many other things.

2. Travel Expense and Reimbursement Form Template:

Wants to calculate your travel expense? Edit this simple travel excel template with your data to calculate your total travel expense. Free download this life easier template. You can also customize it for your monthly travel excel template.

3. Travel Account Book Excel Template:

Make your travel fully managed with this simply beautiful travel excel template. It allows you to calculate all of the expenses you have while traveling. Grab this wonderful template for free.

4. Fresh Travel Bookkeeping Form Excel Template:

This professional travel excel template helps you to keep track of all expenses you spent on different travels. Such templates are used by the organization to accommodate their employees on their company-based travel.

5. Travel Carry-on List Excel Template:

Make simple travel excel template for your easiness. So you cannot miss anything to bring with you. Free download this professional travel excel template.

6. Travel Expense Report Excel Template:

Make your travel expenses report to find out what you have spent on your previous travel. Make sure to add up all the expenses for a more realistic travel expense report.

7. Travel Expense Report Excel Template:

Prepare your travel expense report by using this simple travel excel template. Free download this fully described expense template.

8. Business Trip Application Excel Template:

This is the minimalistic travel excel template for business trip applications. It can be used in a business organization as a request for expenses for a business trip.  This is available for free download.

9. Business Trip Application Form Excel Template:

A well-described business trip application that you can use for requesting a business trip. This professional travel excel template includes the reason for the trip, days of the trip, and expense of tip. You can download this simple travel excel template for free.

10. Business Trip Form Excel Template:

The tabular form always presents data in a more sophisticated and arranged form. You can download free this minimalistic travel excel template.

Travel excel template designed to facilitate you. Don’t miss the travel template if you are planning any travel. These can also be customized for the monthly travel excel template. WPS office software has a huge variety of travel excel templates. Visit WPS office software for exploring more templates related to different formats.

• 1. The 10 best travel itinerary template Word: how to organize your trip
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• 3. Free Download 10 Travel Planner Template Excel
• 4. Ten Best Travel Budget Template Excel Free Spreadsheet
• 5. Top 10 travel expense report template Excel download 2024
• 6. 9+ simple travel itinerary template Excel free download

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• Places - Siberia and the Russian Far East

Russian Far East

The Russian Far East is a region in eastern Russia that includes the territories that run along the Pacific coast and the Amur River, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin island and the Kuril Islands. It is a cold, inhospitable and sparsely populated area with stunning scenery, rich fisheries, virgin forest, remote towns, Siberian tigers and Aumur leopards. Sometimes the Russian Far East is regarded as part of Siberia.

Rachel Dickinson wrote in The Atlantic: Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District is huge — 2.4 million square miles, roughly twice the size of India — and takes up one-third of the country, but only 6.7 million people populate that vast space. (The district’s biggest city is Vladivostok — best known for being the last stop on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and home to the Russian Pacific fleet.) Provideniya was once a thriving military town with a population as high as 10,000; today the population is about 2,000. Most of the ethnic Russians have left, ceding the city to the region’s indigenous people. Now the government is struggling to stem the tide of people leaving the desolate Far East. [Source: Rachel Dickinson, The Atlantic, July/August 2009]

The entire Russian Pacific coastline extends for almost 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles). The formal dividing line between Siberia and the Far East are the borders of the Khabarovsk territory and Magadan region, which extends between 160 kilometers (100 miles) to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) inland from the Russia's east coast. Siberia, the Russian Far East and Kamchatka were largely covered by glaciers during the last Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. In the Soviet era, the Far East had its share of gulags and labor camps, Maksim Gorky called it " land of chains and ice." Since the break up of the Soviet Union, its people have largely been forgotten. The whole region would probably be forgotten if it weren't so rich in resources.

The Far East only has 6.7 million people and its population is falling. There used to be around 8 million people there. Eighty percent of the people live in the cities but have a strong ties to the land: hunting, fishing or picking berries and mushrooms whenever they get the chance. Some places only exist because the government subsidizes them, providing the people with shipped-in food and cheap energy for heat. In the early 2000s, the government has decided it has spent too much supporting these people and told them they have to move. In some places the people refused to move and the government cut off their water and heat and they still stayed. In recent years thing have stabilized somewhat as more money has flowed in from oil, natural gas, minerals, fishing and timber.

What the Russian Far East lacks in historical sites, old cities and museums — compared to the European parts of Russia and even Siberia — it makes up for with a wide variety of beautiful scenery and adventures. The Amur Rive boast sturgeons the size of whales. In the Primorskiy territory you can find rocky islands, steep cliffs, Siberian tigers and Amur leopards. There are isolated beaches on rivers and the see. If you like taiga, there lots of that along with wild mountains and many places to go hiking, fishing, hunting and camping. On Kamchatka there are dozens of very active 's volcanoes. Further north are some of the best places in the world to see walruses, polar bears and whales. Khabarovsk and Vladivostok are two major cities that define the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway and have plenty of urban activities.

The Far Eastern Federal District is the largest of the eight federal districts of Russia but the least populated. The 11 federal subjects are: 1) Amur Oblast: 361,900 square kilometers, 830,103 people, capital: Blagoveshchensk 2) Republic of Buryatia: 351,300 square kilometers,, 971,021 people, capital: Ulan-Ude 3) Jewish Autonomous Oblast: 36,300 square kilometers, 176,558 people, capital: Birobidzhan 4) Zabaykalsky Krai: 431,900 square kilometers, 1,107,107 people, capital: Chita 5) Kamchatka Krai: 464,300 square kilometers, 322,079 people, capital: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 6) Magadan Oblast: 462,500 square kilometers, 156,996 people, capital: Magadan 7) Primorsky Krai: 164,700 square kilometers, 1,956,497 people, capital: Vladivostok 8) Sakha Republic: 3,083,500 square kilometers, 958,528, people capital: Yakutsk 9) Sakhalin Oblast: 87,100 square kilometers, 497,973 people, capital: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 10) Khabarovsk Krai: 787,600 square kilometers, 1,343,869 people, capital: Khabarovsk 11) Chukotka Autonomous Okrug: 721,500 square kilometers, 50,526 people, capital: Anadyr

Traveling in the Far East is troublesome. There are few roads, and they are in poor conditions. Many places can’t be reached by road anyway. Rivers are frozen much of the year. Helicopters can cost as much as US$500 an hour to rent. Corruption is rampant and it seems like everyone wants a cut. Even if paperwork is in order customs officials, police an other authorities demand, sometimes, huge outrageous "fees."

Economics of the Far East

The Far East is rich in gold, diamonds, oil, natural gas, minerals, timber and fish. It accounts for more than 60 percent of Russia's total sea harvest and fishing is the region’s leading industry, providing jobs for more than 150,000 people. People in the Far East should be rich from the wealth generated from fishing, timber and minerals but that is not necessarily the case. In the case of timber, in the early 2000s, local communities were supposed to get 30 percent of the profits but in reality Moscow took 80 percent and local officials took the rest.

In the early 2000s, gas and oil companies could not pay their workers and utility companies couldn’t pay the oil and gas companies and as a result electricity was only on for a few hours a day. Workers were among the last to receive their wages, factories were cannibalized of scrap metal and parts, students studied in sub-freezing classrooms, and people died at early ages. Those that could afford it moved away.

Many foreign companies were equally frustrated. The U.S. wood product giant Weyerhaueser, Korea's Hyundai conglomerate and Australian mining companies arrived in east Russia with high hopes but after some time there either packed up and left or scaled down their staff down to a skeletal crew.

Ussuri River

The Ussuri River forms the border between Russia and China in southern Khabarovsk Krai and . Primorsky Karia. A right tributary of the Amur, it is 897 kilometers long, with a basin area of more than 193,000 square kilometers. The Ussuri River originates in the spurs of the central Sikhote-Alin. Once it descends into it the valley, the river becomes flat and gentle but has a steep rocky coast. In many area there are meandering channels.

Among the tributaries of the Ussuri are: 1) the upper river: Izvilinka, Sokolovka, Matveyevka and Pavlivka. 2) the left tributaries: Arsen'evka, Muling, Naoli River and Songacha River; 3) and the right tributaries: Pavlovka, Zhuravlovka, Big Ussurka, Bikin and Khor.

In Khabarovsk Krai, near the village of Kazakevichevo, Ussuri River flows into the shallow Kazakevichevo channel and after that the confluence of the Ussuri is called the Amur channel. The Amur channel empties into the Amur River in the center of the city of Khabarovsk. The Ussuri is a full-flowing river from May to August. In the summer and when the ice breaks there are frequent floods. Ice on the Ussuri breaks up in April and forms in November. The water is used for water supply. Above Lesozavodsk the river is navigable. Previously it was widely used for timber floating.

The Ussuri River is good for fishing and rich in fish. Gudgeon, crucian carp, common carp, trout, burbot, pike, catfish, flax and grayling are all caught as are Kaluga sturgeon, which can reach a huge size (eight meters recorded in the Amur River). The river is a spawning ground for salmon and chum salmon. In the waters of the Ussuri fish mountain rivers are found near the bottom fish. Mountain fish comes to the Ussuri in the spring to spawn.

Ussuri Taiga and Dersu Uzala

The Ussuri taiga is a forest different from the normal Russian taiga. Located between the Ussuri and Amur Rivers in the Far East and dominated by the Sikhot Alim Mountains, it is a monsoon forest filled with plants and animals found nowhere else in Siberia or Russia and instead are similar to those found in China, Korea and even the Himalayas. In the forest there is s lush undergrowth, with lianas and ferns. Wildlife include Siberian tigers, Asian black bears, Amur leopards and even tree frogs. The Siberian Tiger Project is located here. The 1970 Akira Kurosawa Oscar-winning film “Dersu Uzala,” and the book it was based on, about a Tungus trapper, was set here.

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: ““Dersu Uzala,” the memoir and narrative of exploration by Vladimir K. Arsenyev, begins in 1902, when Arsenyev is a young Army officer assigned the job of exploring and mapping the almost unknown regions east and northeast of Vladivostok, including Lake Khanka and the upper watershed of the Ussuri River. The name for the whole area is the Primorskii Krai—the By-the-Sea Region. It and much of the Khabarovskii Krai, just to the north of it, consist of a unique kind of Pacific forest in which tall hardwoods hung with vines grow beside conifers almost equally high, and the lushness of the foliage, especially along the watercourses, often becomes quite jungly. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 10 and 17, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010) ]

“In Arsenyev’s time, this jungle-taiga was full of wildlife, with species ranging from the flying squirrel and the wild boar to the Siberian tiger. Back then (and even recently) tigers could also be seen on the outskirts of Vladivostok, where they sometimes made forays to kill and carry off dogs. Arsenyev describes how tigers in the forest sometimes bellowed like red deer to attract the deer during mating season; the tiger’s imitation betrayed itself only at the end of the bellow, when it trailed off into a purr.

“The humans one was likely to meet in this nearly trackless forest were Chinese medicine hunters, bandits, inhabitants of little Korean settlements, and hunter-trappers of wild game. Dersu Uzala, a trapper whom Arsenyev and his men come upon early in their 1902 journey, is a Siberian native of the Nanai tribe whose wife and children have died of smallpox and who now is alone. After their meeting, Dersu becomes the party’s guide. The book is about Arsenyev’s adventures with Dersu on this journey and others, their friendship, and Dersu’s decline and end.

“In the nineteen-seventies, a Soviet film studio produced a movie of “Dersu Uzala,” directed by Akira Kurosawa. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film of 1975. The movie is long and slow-paced, like a passage through the forest, and wonderfully evokes the Primorskii country. I own a cassette of the movie and in my many viewings of it even picked up some useful fractured Russian from the distinctive way Dersu talks.

Udegeh: People Who Live with Siberian Tigers

The Udegeh live around the Sikhotealin Mountains in the Far East, also home to many Siberian tigers, and traditionally survived by hunting in the forest. Their ancestors were farmers and members of the Zhurdzhen empire, which ruled parts of what is now China, Mongolia and Russia. In the 13th century, Zhurdzhen was defeated by Genghis Khan and the Mongols and survived in scattered communities in the forest, where they became nomadic hunters to survive and formed their own language and culture, called Udegeh. There are only about 2,000 Udegeh left. The largest group lives in a village called Krasnyr, about 175 miles southeast of Khabarovsk.

The Udegeh live in wooden houses that often have painted gables with images of bears, dogs, devils and pagan goddesses. Their villages are surrounded by forests, and in the winter deep snow. They primarily live on animals they hunt such as sable, mink, squirrel, deer and boar. They often earn what little money they have by collecting wild ginseng in the forest or selling furs.

About 80 Siberian tigers live in the Udegeh hunting grounds. The Udegeh worship tigers, which are considered sinful to kill. One Udegeh hunter told the Washington Post, "The tiger and the Udegeh people are the same."

In the 1920s, the Udegeh were organized into hunting cooperatives by the Soviets. They sold furs to the Soviets and were able to keep their culture alive even though the Communists frowned upon their pagan beliefs and shaman practices. Today most young Udegeh wear Russian clothes and few of them speak the old language. Intermarriage is common and there are few pure blood Udegeh left. In the early 1990s, the Udegeh were involved in a dispute with the South Korean conglomerate Hyundai, who wanted to log the Udegeh's hunting ground.

See Separate Article PEOPLE OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST factsanddetails.com

Ussuriisk (kilometer 9177 on the Trans-Siberian, an hour and a half drive from Vladivostok) contains a "Chinese Bazaar" that is more like a separate town. The market operates all night and approximately 2,000 Chinese traders live semi-permanently in metal freight containers near their stalls.

The Museum of History and Local Lore and the famous 800-year-old stone turtle will introduce you to the history of this city. At the end of summer, tourists come to see the city's blooming lotuses. In the winter, you can enjoy a swim in an outdoor pool, surrounded by snowy fir trees. There is a historical park of everyday life and customs of the Russian people called “Emerald Valley” located five kilometers away from the city . Various events are held here, including the celebration of Kupala Night, jousting tournaments, Christmas and Maslenitsa festivities.

Ussuriisk is located near the border with China and North Korea and stands at the confluence of the Komarovka, Rakovka and Razdolnaya. The city was founded in 1866 by Russians from Voronezh and Astrakhan province in East Russia and the Capian Sea area. The town began to grow when the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began in the area.

Places Where the Siberian Tigers Live

Siberian tigers today are confined primarily to the Ussuri Taiga, a forest different from the normal Russian taiga. Located between the Ussuri and Amur Rivers in the Far East and dominated by the Sikhot Alim Mountains, it is a monsoon forest filled with plants and animals found nowhere else in Siberia or Russia and instead are similar to those found in China, Korea and even the Himalayas. In the forest there is s lush undergrowth, with lianas and ferns. Wildlife include Siberian tigers, Asian black bears, Amur leopards and even tree frogs. The Siberian Tiger Project is located here. The 1970 Akira Kurosawa film Dersu Uzala, about a Tungus trapper, was set here.

Sikhot Alin Reserve and Kedrovaya Pad Reserve within the Ussuri Taiga are the last homes of the Siberian tiger. The largest wildlife sanctuaries in the Far East, they embrace 1,350 square miles of forested mountains, coastline and clear rivers. Other animals found in Sikhot Alin reserve and Kedrovaya Pad reserve include brown bears, Amur leopard (of which only 20 to 30 remain), the Manchurian deer, roe deer, goral (a rare mountain goat), Asian black bears, salmon, lynx, wolf and squirrels with tassels on their ears, azure winged magpies and the emerald-colored papilio bianor maackii butterfly. Over 350 different species of bird have been sen here.

Dunishenko and Kulikov wrote: “In the 19th century, aside from the Sikhote-Alin and Malyi Khingan portions of Russia, tigers were found in southeastern Transcaucasia, in the Balkhash basin, in Iran, China and Korea. Now the Amur tiger is found only in Russia’s Primorskii and southern Khabarovskii Krais. This is all that remains of an enormous tiger population that formerly numbered in the thousands and that lived mostly in China. In the spring of 1998, one of the authors of this booklet took part in an international scientific study investigating the best tiger habitat remaining in the Chinese province of Jilin. We found three to five tigers there, mostly along the Russian border. Our general impression is that there are no more than twenty or thirty Amur tigers in all of China. [Source: “The Amur Tiger” by Yury Dunishenko and Alexander Kulikov, The Wildlife Foundation, 1999 ~~]

The general area where Siberian tigers lives is called the Primorskii or Primorye, a region of the southeast Russian Far East that embraces Vladivistok. John Vaillant wrote in “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival”: “Primorye, which is also known as the Maritime Territory, is about the size of Washington state. Tucked into the southeast corner of Russia by the Sea of Japan, it is a thickly forested and mountainous region that combines the backwoods claustrophobia of Appalachia with the frontier roughness of the Yukon. Industry here is of the crudest kind: logging, mining, fishing, and hunting, all of which are complicated by poor wages, corrupt officials, thriving black markets — and some of the world's largest cats.” [Source: John Vaillant. “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival” (Knopf, 2010)]

Nezhino (100 kilometers north of Vladivostok, 20 kilometers east of the Chinese border) is used as a base for people who track Siberian tigers. They are particularly easy to track in the winter, if you can initially locate some tracks, when they leave big paw prints in the snow. Tigers tracking tours began being offered in 2005.

See Separate Articles: SIBERIAN TIGERS factsanddetails.com ; PLACES WHERE THE SIBERIAN TIGERS LIVE factsanddetails.com ; HUMANS, SCIENTISTS, CENSUSES AND SIBERIAN TIGERS factsanddetails.com ; ENDANGERED SIBERIAN TIGERS factsanddetails.com ; SIBERIAN TIGERS CONSERVATION factsanddetails.com ; SIBERIAN TIGER ATTACKS factsanddetails.com .

Ussuri Nature Reserve and Lake Khanka

Ussuri Nature Reserve (100 kilometers north of Vladivostok) is specially protected natural area located in the southern Sikhote-Alina range, It is rich in virgin liana conifer-deciduous forests, which have been cut down in other parts of the Russian Far East and the neighboring countries. The reserve is named after Academician Vladimir L. Komarov, a Russian botanist who studied the flora of East Asia. He first gave a description of the area, visiting her in 1913.

The reserve was created in 1932 and since then has significantly increased its area, which now amounts to 4,040 square kilometers. The reserve embraces lowlands and mountains and foot hools formed by the the southern spurs of the Sikhote-Alin (Przewalski Mountains). The average elevation is 300-400 meters above sea level. The highest peaks are 650-700 meters high. There are also mountain rivers in canyon-like narrow valleys and small waterfalls. Summers are warm and humid. Winters are moderately severe with little snow. The coldest month is January (average temperature of -17.9 degrees C). The warmest month is August 19.7 degrees).

The flora of the reserve is composed almost entirely of forest species, mainly those found in cedar-broadleaf forests, which are are characterized by high species diversity and different from ecosystems found in Russia and elsewhere in the former U.S.S.R. A typical plot of pine forests, contains trees, shrubs and vines from 50-60 species. Among the many rare plants and ginseng, hard juniper, mountain peony and Chinese Prinsep

The fauna of the reserve is typical of coniferous and deciduous forests: wild boar, red deer, musk deer, and black bear. Among the birds are common warblers, blue nightingale, nuthatch and grouse. The reserve is home to the largest beetle fauna of Russia: It is interesting that several attempts to "diversify" the species composition of fauna — through the the introduction of sika deer and Barguzin sable — did not work as hoped. Most of the reserve is off limits to visitors. Among the places that one can visit are the rehabilitation center for the education of orphaned bear cubs. Reserve staff tell the story of each bear and describe it character and habits. There is also a nature trail and small museum.

Lake Khanka (200 kilometers from Vladivostok) has an average depth of 4.5 meters and is home to more than 300 species of bird and 75 species of fish. Trips to the lake includes stops at the villages of Kamen-Rybolov and Troitskoye on the west side of the lake and a trip to Gaivoron, near the town of Spassk-Dalniy, where there is a 10,000 square meter open air cage with a family of Siberian tigers. The cage is made of a transparent metallic net. The enclose incorporates the surrounding forest so you can see the tiger is a pretty close facsimile to how they lin nature.

Biodiversity of the Ussuriskii Taiga Forest

Siberian tigers inhabits the Ussuriskii taiga forest, a coniferous broadleaf forest that specifically favors the so-called Manchurian forest type. The Manchurian forests are located in riparian areas and are particularly high in biodiversity. John Goodrich of NPR wrote: “The most bio-diverse region in all of Russia lies on a chunk of land sandwiched between China and the Pacific Ocean. There, in Russia's Far East, subarctic animals — such as caribou and wolves — mingle with tigers and other species of the subtropics. It was very nearly a perfect habitat for the tigers — until humans showed up. The tigers that populate this region are commonly referred to as Siberian tigers, but they are more accurately known as the Amur tiger. "Imagine a creature that has the agility and appetite of the cat and the mass of an industrial refrigerator," Vaillant tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "The Amur tiger can weigh over 500 pounds and can be more than 10 feet long nose to tail." [Source: John Goodrich, NPR, September 14, 2010]

Dunishenko and Kulikov wrote: "The range of biodiversity experienced by the early explorers in the Ussuriskii taiga forest is hard to imagine. Read Vladimir Arsenev and Nikolai Przhevalskii and you’ll realize that the region’s present-day richness is but a sad remnant of what was once found here. The fact is, that not all that long ago there was a lot more to be found in our taiga. Old-timers can still vividly recall the herds of deer, numbering in the hundreds, that migrated the lightly snow covered regions of China, the incessant moan in the taiga when red Manchurian deer were mating, the endless waves of birds, the rivers boiling with salmon. [Source: “The Amur Tiger” by Yury Dunishenko and Alexander Kulikov, The Wildlife Foundation, 1999 ~~]

"And my lord, how many wild boar there used to be in the taiga! All winter long, the southern exposures of oak-covered hills were dug up by droves of wild pigs. Snow under the crowns of Korean pine forests was trampled to ground level as wild boar gathered pine cones throughout the winter. A symphony of squeal and moan! Mud caked wild boar racing around the taiga, rattling around in coats of frozen icycles after taking mud baths to cool passion-heated bodies. Horrible, blood caked wounds, chattering tusks, snorting, bear-like grunting, squawky squeaking, oh the life of a piglet.~~

"This was an earlier image of the Ussuriskii taiga. Just 30 years ago a professional hunter could take 60 to 80 wild boar in a season! There was more than enough game for the tiger out there among the riotous forest “swine.” Tigers strolled lazily, baron-like and important. They avoided the thick forests: why waste energy with all the boar trails around — you could roll along them sideways! It was only later on that the tigers took to following human trails.~~

"How many tigers there used to be in the wild can only be conjectured. Southern Khabarovskii Krai is a natural edge of their habitat; at one point in history there was a substantial tiger population that spilled over into surrounding regions. The tiger’s range coincided, for the most part, with Korean pine and wild boar distribution, and the number of tigers in the Russian Far East in the last century was at least one thousand. Tigers densely settled the Malyi Khingan and the Korean pine, broad leaf deciduous forests typical of southern Amurskaya Oblast. Lone animals wandered out as far as Lake Baikal and Yakutiya."~~

Sikhote Alin Reserve

Sikhote Alin Reserve (400 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok) and Kedrovaya Pad Reserve are the last homes of the Amur (Siberian) tiger. The largest wildlife sanctuary in the Far East. It embraces 3,500square kilometers (1,350 square miles) of forested mountains, coastline and clear rivers. Other animals found in reserves include brown bears, Amur leopard (of which only 40 to 50 remain), the Manchurian deer, roe deer, goral (a rare mountain goat), Asian black bears, salmon, lynx, wolf and squirrels with tassels on their ears, azure winged magpies and the emerald-colored papilio bianor maackii butterfly. Over 350 different species of bird have been seen here.

Central Sikhote-Alin was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. According to UNESCO: “The Sikhote-Alin mountain range contains one of the richest and most unusual temperate forests of the world. In this mixed zone between taiga and subtropics, southern species such as the tiger and Himalayan bear cohabit with northern species such as the brown bear and lynx. After its extension in 2018, the property includes the Bikin River Valley, located about 100 kilometers to the north of the existing site. It encompasses the South-Okhotsk dark coniferous forests and the East-Asian coniferous broadleaf forests. The fauna includes species of the taiga alongside southern Manchurian species. It includes notable mammals such as the Amur Tiger, Siberian Musk Deer, Wolverine and Sable. [Source: UNESCO]

Founded in 1935, Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve covers an area of 3,902 square kilometers, plus and 2.9 square kilometers offshore. The reserve is located in the northern part of Primorsky Krai and includes the eastern slope of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range from its watershed to the coast (including one kilometer of shoreline), as well as a part of the western slope of the mountain range. The maximum elevation in the reserve is 1598 meters.

The reserve was originally established to protect sable populations that were on the verge of extinction. V.K. Arsenyev was one of the initiators of the reserve. K.G. Abramov and Y.A. Salmin substantiated the need to create the reserve. In our age when there are fewer and fewer untouched corners of nature on the globe, The profusion and diversity of the reserve’s ecosystems are attributable to the fact that the park includes different slopes of the Sikhote-Alin, range which differ in natural conditions and elevation. Availability of direct access to the sea is another important factor.

The reserve includes parts of three landscape areas: 1) Terney (cedar broad-leaved forests), 2) Samargino-Dalnegorsky (in the subzone of broad-leaved and coniferous forests) and 3) Mid-Sikhote-Alin (fir and spruce forests) in a boreal coniferous forest subzone. The flora and fauna in the reserve are strongly influenced by the presence of the Sea of Okhotsk: dark boreal coniferous forests are more strongly represented here than in other reserve in Primorye Krai. At the same time, conditions exist for the development of the Manchuria-like ecosystems. A distinctive feature of the flora and fauna in the reserve is the combination of heat-loving and cold-loving natural species. For its long-term research program and achievements in the conservation of the Amur tiger, the reserve was awarded with a CATS international certificate in 2015, becoming the only reserve in Russia (and the second in the world) to receive such recognition.

Traveling by Road Around Sikhote Alin Reserve

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: ““Rather than continue south, directly to Vladivostok, our ultimate destination, we had decided to turn east again, cross the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, and arrive at the Pacific (technically the Sea of Japan) in a less inhabited place on the mountains’ other side. The Sikhote-Alins, once we were among them, seemed more like hills, and not very forbidding, but the depth and silence of their forest made up for that. Arsenyev had described the taiga here as “virginal, primeval timberland.” From the altitude of the trees and the venerable length of the vines depending from them, I would guess that the taiga we saw was still original growth. That night, we camped above the small gorge of a river named for Arsenyev—the Arsenyevka. The sound of it was pleasant to sit beside; this was our first genuinely rushing stream. I stayed up for a while after Sergei and Volodya had gone to bed, listening to it and looking up at the stars and at the satellites tracking past. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 10 and 17, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010) ]

“The next day, we continued winding generally eastward through the mountains. I noted villages called Uborka (Harvest), Shumnyi (Noisy), and Rudnyi (Oreville). Now we were in Arsenyev’s very footsteps. A little beyond Rudnyi, we crossed a mountain pass that hardly looked like one. This was the divide between the waters that flow roundabout to the Pacific via the Ussuri and the Amur, and those which drain down the front of the Sikhote-Alins and into the Pacific directly. At the crest of the divide, back among the roadside weeds, stood a cement obelisk on which was inscribed: “crossed over this pass: m. i. venyukov 1858*; N. M. PREZHEVALSKII* 1887*; V. K. ARSENYEV* 1906.”

Arsenyev’s passage across this divide happened during a mapping expedition guided by Dersu and described in detail in the book. The party continued from here until they came to the Pacific and the port village of Olga, where they were resupplied. Sergei said that we would also aim for Olga and camp near there.

“Often the taiga stood so close to the road that the vines almost touched the side of the car, and on the upgrades we were looking into the canopy. At one point in the movie “Dersu Uzala,” a tiger stalks Arsenyev’s party, and the Siberian tiger used for the scene was a splendid animal, all liquid motion and snarling growls. Though near extinction, the Siberian tiger has not yet been wiped out, and the thought that this Pacific forest—reminiscent in some ways of the American and Canadian Northwest—had tigers in it gave the shadows far back among the trees a new level of authority. I had been in a few forests that held grizzly bears, but a forest with tigers in it seemed even more mysterious and honorable.”

Kedrovaya Pad Reserve

Kedrovaya Pad Reserve (400 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok) is the oldest reserve in the Far East and the southernmost reserve of Primorye. Sikhote Alin Reserve and Kedrovaya Pad Reserve are the last homes of the Amur (Siberian) tiger. The largest wildlife sanctuary in the Far East. Kedrovaya (Cedar) Pad Reserve embraces 178.97 square kilometers (69.10 square miles) of forested mountains, coastline and clear rivers. Other animals found in reserves include brown bears, Amur leopard (of which only 40 to 50 remain), the Manchurian deer, roe deer, goral (a rare mountain goat), Asian black bears, salmon, lynx, wolf and squirrels with tassels on their ears, azure winged magpies and the emerald-colored papilio bianor maackii butterfly. Over 350 different species of bird have been seen here.

Kedrovaya (Cedar) Pad Reserve was one of the first officially organized reserves in Russia. The idea for establishing was raised at the beginning of the 20th century after the Trans-Siberian railway and built nearby and intensive development of the Ussuri region was accompanied by indiscriminate logging, forest fires, uncontrolled hunting. In 1908, the region created the first forest reserves, one of which was on Cedar River. Kedrovaya Pad Reserve, founded in 1916 close to the western shore of Amur Bay. Over time that status of the reserve was improved and the reserve was enlarged. In 2004 UNESCO designated the reserve as a biosphere.

Kedrovaya (Cedar) Pad Reserve is located in the Khasan district of Primorye Territory. The villages of Seaside, Perevoznaya, Cedar, Bezverkhova and Barabash located within a few kilometers of the reserve. . The reserve was established for the preservation and study of natural systems there of liana deciduous and mixed forests with hornbeam and black fir-broad-leaved forests and their animals and plants. The reserve provides shelter for two adult Amur leopard females and their offspring and one male. Among the rare species of insects found there are the excellent marshmallow beetle and Jankowski beetle.

The territory of the reserve is occupied by by two major low mountain ranges — the Gakkelevskaya and Suhorechensky — representing the extreme northeastern foothills of the Black (Changbai) Mountains, which are mainly in China and Korea. The length of the main Cedar River within the reserve is about 15 kilometers. The largest number of tributaries originating from Suhorechenskogo ridge flows into the forest, where many wild boars live. About 73.1 percent of the entire reserve is occupied by forests. The remaining area is occupied by scrub and secondary meadows resulting from logging in the past and especially forest fires.

The forest reserve contains numerous species of trees. The underbrush is represented by various bushes, that often blossom beautifully, such as early-flowering honeysuckle and Weigel, which produces fine-leaved mock orange flowers. Vines entwine tree trunks rising to a height of 30-35 meters. The diameter of the winding vines of wild grapes and the Amur Actinidia Argut reaches 10-15 centimeters. They are like giant snakes crawling from the ground and entangling shrubs and trees.

In places the reserve resembles a rainforest and it does have parallels with the temperate rain forests in coast British Columbia, Alaska and Washington state. Among the many plant species are Manchurian walnut, dimorfanta and aralia, with and velvet, spiny trunks, and several types of ferns. In the crevices of bark and crotches of trees attract epiphyte and small fern called Ussuri centipede.

Zov Tigra (“Roar of the Tiger”) National Park

Zov Tigra National Park(Near Lazo, 150 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok is a mountainous refuge for the Amur (Siberian) Tiger. Established in 2008, the park encompasses an area of 834 square difficult (322 square miles) on the southeast coast of Primorsky Krai. The park lies on both the eastern and western slopes of the southern Sikhote-Alin mountain range.,The relatively warm waters of the Sea of Japan are to the east, the Korean peninsula to the south, and China to the West. The terrain in rugged and difficult to access, with heavily forested taiga coexisting with tropical species of animals and birds. The park is relatively isolated from human development, and functions as a conservation reserve. Tourists may visit the portions of the park marked for recreation, but entry to the protected zones is only possible in the company of park rangers. The park’s name in English means "Call of the Tiger” or "Roar of the Tiger".

Zov Tigra National Park is occupied by Ussuri taiga and is located at the junction of Lazovsky, Chuguevsky, and Olginsky districts. The park covers 1,854-meter-high Oblachnaya mountain, the upper half of the Milogradovka's river basin, and sources of the Kievka River. There are more than 50 mountains more than 1000 meters high. The forest feature giant cedars, specimen trees, slender spruces entwined with gaily-coloured actinidia's lianas, emerald-green clusters of Amur grape and Schizandra brushwood.

Zov tigra was established in part as as a "source habitat" for the recovery of the Amur Tiger and its prey base. A survey in 2012 identified four Amur tigers resident in the park, and four more that visited the protected areas frequently. The base of prey consisted of 1,200 Manchurian deer, 800 Roe deer, and 99 Sika deer and 189 wild boars. These species make up some 85% of the Amur tiger's diet. Brown bears and lynx are relatively common in area. The Far Eastern Forest Cat is found in the broad-leaf and oak valleys. The critically endangered Amur Leopard has not been resident since the 1970s.

Amur Leopards

The Amur leopard inhabits an 800-mile long stretch of evergreen forest in the eastern Siberian taiga near the North Korean border. Named after the river that forms the border between Russia and China, they live in a narrow mountain chain that extends from Hanka Lake in the Russian Far East south to the borders of China and North Korea. It ranges further north than any leopard species, even the snow leopard.

Amur leopards weighs between 40 and 60 kilograms (90 and 140 pounds). They are reclusive, solitary creatures. They eat sitka deer and wild boars. Their numbers have declined as the numbers of their main food source, roe deer, have declined. They also suffer from declining numbers of sitka deer and wild boars. Leopards eat dogs of villagers to survive. Sometimes they are forced to make a single meal last for two weeks. Other times they reduced to scavenging for carrion. It’s winter coat has large spots.

Only 38 to 46 Amur leopard are believed to remain. Twenty to twenty-four in Russia. Fifteen in China and an unknown number in North Korea. They have been hurt by loss of habitat, loss of prey and poaching. Around 30 Amur leopards live in an area which borders China and is 150 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide. At least 16 live in Nezhinkoye game reserve. This area contains many villages and is crisscrossed by roads, making survival problematic

Environmentalists have trouble securing funds to study the leopards. Most of what is known about them is based on studies conducted at Kedrovaya pad nature Reserve near Vladivostok. The Russian Academy of Science, the University of California and the International Wildlife Congress are studying the leopards using “phototraps”— motion sensitive cameras.

Land of Leopard National Park

Land of Leopard The National Park (200 kilometers west of Vladivostok) occupies 2,620 square kilometers and is located in the Khasansky, Nadezdinsky, Ussuriysky districts of Primorsky Krai as well as in the small area of Frunzenskiy district in Vladivostok. Kedrovaya Pad and Leopardovy reserves and number of other territories, with total area exceeding 2,800 square kilometers are as compounds of the National Park. The national park’s buffer zone covers about 800 square kilometers.

About 30 individual Amur leopards are thought to be living in the southwest area of Primorsky Krai. “Land of the Leopard” national park covers about 60 percent of the natural habitat occupied by the leopards and the main reason the park was set up was to preserve them. Many surviving Amur leopards live In the Nezhinkoye game reserve that is under partial protection of the Russian Pacific fleet. Hunting with dogs and hunting for fur animals is banned in the reserve. Deer and wild boars are fed. Some leopards used to follow hunters in hopes of snatching an easy meal. Work on the world’s longest pipeline — between Siberia and the Sea of Japan — was suspended in 2005 due to ecological concerns, among them the fate of the Amur leopard, whose territory would be bisected by the pipeline.

The “Land of Leopard” is divided into several zones, the smallest of which is a 230-square-kilometer conservation zone that you can’t visit without special permission. Other zones have a simplified visiting regime. Guided trips are allowed in the “specially protected” zone. The 7950-square-kilometer recreational zone allows more touristic activity. The “Leopard Trail” is the first tourist route, developed in the National Park. The 770-square-kilometer administrative zone accommodates villagers and interests of other people living in the territory of the National Park.

Leopardovy Sanctuary

Leopardovy Sanctuary (200 kilometers west of Vladivostok) embraces 1,694.29 square kilometers of the “Barsovy” and “Borisovskoe Plato” sanctuaries in the Khasansky, Ussuriysky, and Nadezhdinskiy districts. The state biological sanctuary “Barsovy” was founded in 1979 to preserve and restore not only the endangered animal species such as Siberian Tiger and Amur Leopard but also their natural habitat. The animal sanctuary “Borisovskoe Plato” was created in 1996 to conserve and increase the population number of Amur leopard; Siberian tiger and other threatened animals.

The sanctuary's natural environment is highly favorable for the forest faun's inhabitation. The low-level mountain ranges deeply dissected with the river valleys, extended rock masses, and plateau-like mountains create mosaic of forest, tree and shrubbery vegetation. Secondary broadleaved forests prevail here. Primary forests with fir trees, cedars and khingam fir remain in the west and northwest part of the sanctuary. The plateau-like mountains are covered with the leafed forest.

Amur leopard is the main protected species here.Siberian tiger, Asian black bear, leopard cat and other animals are also placed under special protection. There are six ungulates species such as Amur goral, Manchurian wapiti, wild boar, musk deer, roe deer, and deer in the sanctuary. Lot of rare vascular plants grows here, some of them such as water caltrop, stipa baicalensis, nepeta manchuriensis are not presented even in the neighboring “Kedrovaya Pad” reserve. More than 150 species of birds nest in the sanctuary and around 100 species traverse its territory or make stopover here during the migration period. It must be stressed that “Leopardovy” sanctuary is the only place of nesting for some bird species in this part of Primorsky krai. 15 of these species are threatened with extinction. Over 40 IUCN Red List insect species inhabit here, what is more some of them occur exceptionally at the sanctuary's territory.

This district has a monsoon climate. Its specific trait is the variability of the airstreams direction in the summer and winter seasons. Plenty of rivers and streams run at the sanctuary’s territory. There are no large lakes. The biggest one, Krivoe lake, covers 11 hectares. All types of hunting, commercial fishery, timber felling, resource development, ploughing the ground, and application of chemicals are prohibited here. Beyond that, public visiting, amateur fishery, and gathering wild harvest are brought under regulation. The sanctuary contains some populated places such as Barabash settlement and military firing range with total area in 3,490 squate kilometers A considerable part of the territory is the border territory separated from the rest of area by the plowed strip.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

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