Meet Hanna: She’s Making a Go of It as an Agent
by Cheryl Rosen /Hanna Belaya’s first trip was when she immigrated to America from Belarus in 2005.
But she had always wanted to travel, always dreamed of places far away, and so she immediately took a job at a travel agency in Brooklyn, N.Y. Two years later, just back from her first fam trip to Jamaica, she rented a seat at a desk in an office and struck out on her own.
“I always wanted to travel; that was really the point of becoming a travel agent,” Belaya told Travel Market Report. “And since everything in Jamaica was, ‘No problem,’ when I got back that’s what I called my agency” – No Problem Travel.
Growing pains
But of course there were some problems.
Building a clientele was not as easy as Belaya had imagined, and her client list grew more slowly than she had expected.
Then in 2009 the economy tanked and took the travel industry with it. She gave up on her career in travel and went back to college for a degree in interior design.
Fast-forward four years, and Belaya was back in the travel industry, patiently giving it another go.
New angle
This time she is being a little more careful. She is working from her home in Staten Island, N.Y., rather than spend money on overhead. And she is focusing on a specialty niche – honeymoons and destination weddings.
It’s not just because she is engaged to be married herself, she said, though she surely will be booking plenty of travel when her family and in-laws come from Belarus to Belaya’s own New York destination wedding.
She also likes the element of design and creativity that’s involved, the simple joy of being part of someone’s happy occasion, and the fact that romance travel is a growing niche.
“I love speaking with brides; they are always so excited about having a destination wedding,” she said. “And from a practical point of view, the trend of brides getting married abroad is growing.”
How’s it going?
So how is she managing? Belaya said she is busy, juggling training and fam trips, plus getting certified as an international tour director. She is just back from a fam trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, and is “learning all the time.”
While her client list is still small, “this was a magical year for me,” she said, including taking three trips to Mexico, a prime destination for the brides of New York’s Staten Island.
Her clients also like the Dominican Republic for its “gorgeous beaches and affordable prices,” and of course “everyone dreams of going to Paris or Rome or Spain or Greece.”
Belaya herself is planning to take a cruise to Alaska and “dreaming about Argentina.”
The business side
But running a travel agency is hardly all play.
Although Belaya has neither a firm business plan nor a set monetary goal, she does have a budget-conscious marketing plan: She spends an hour a day on social media, adding a daily post to her blog and writing a newsletter of half travel-industry news and half romance-travel news.
She has taken part in two local bridal shows that yielded “a lot of prospects” and has been connecting with other local businesses in the bridal industry, including a wedding gown shop and a photographer.
The hardest thing, she said, is having the patience to wait until customers find her, and staying calm under pressure.
It takes time
After two years working in someone else’s agency, two in her own agency, and four years away at college, she understands that “it doesn’t happen overnight. You need to keep pushing and give yourself time to develop your business.”
It is worth the struggle, she believes. “Travel is a very good business, a very rewarding business, a happy business,” she said.
She also likes the constant change, particularly noticeable after her four years away, as new properties come online and new destinations become popular.
During a recent trip to Cost Rica, for example, she noticed the way the destination is coming to life, with new hotels and resorts and new nonstop flights.
Also changed is the competitive landscape, with stronger online players like Expedia and Orbitz making it important for travel agents like Belaya to be “very aware of prices” and provide great service.
Belarus in her future?
Does Belaya plan to take a group to her native Belarus any time soon? While it’s “a very beautiful country with very hospitable people,” it’s a challenge to sell clients on a destination with a visa requirement and no direct flights, she said.
Still, after a recent fam trip, Belaya said that some day she just might put together a tour for more adventurous couples of the “beautiful mountains, historical sights and excellent food” of Georgia, Poland and Belarus.
In the meantime, she hopes one day soon to find the time to start planning her own wedding.