BUSINESS PLAN: “Mountain Star” Hiking and Mountaineering guide company

• Nature and objectives of the business • Personnel • Services • Target customers • Advertising • Location • Equipment • Sales forecast • Budget

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The main business activity of the company will be to provide tourists with trained guides for hiking or climbing and mountaineering in the Romanian mountains. Its purpose, besides profit, will be to create a positive attitude towards Romania from foreign and local tourists, and to develop a prosperous tourism in the Romanian mountains while preserving and respecting the natural environment. It will be a family business, with its founders as its owners. We have worked as guides for 10 years and know just about all there is to know regarding the mountains of Romania, from paths to chalets, weather, housing, food and local population. We have worked in close cooperation with the mountain rescue association, so we are aware of the importance of applying safety measures during the trip. Our company will have its headquarters in Sinaia. There will also be offices in other popular tourist locations at the mountains. In the beginning there will only be offices in Sinaia, Busteni, Predeal and Poiana Brasov. If business is successful, we will open other offices where it is profitable. Each office will have a director, and the General Director will be at the headquarters. Each local office will have a number of available guides, according to demand, a sales person and a person responsible for other logistic activities (equipment, food, weather forecast, mountain rescue contact etc). One of the guides, the most experienced or chosen by the director, will be the local manager.

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The guide will accompany the tourists the entire trip or according to an agreement done before. Payment will be done before the trip. Initially the company will need around 30 employees. The guides will need to be licensed as competent in the domain and be fluent in English (compulsory), and preferably also in French and other languages of international circulation. They will be instructed to thoroughly apply safety measures and act wisely while on a hike of climb, so that the risk of accidents and other unwanted events is reduced to minimum. The guides will provide the tourists with instructions and advice on how, where, when the journey will take place, aid them on the way, show them attractive locations and make sure the trip takes place safely. The market regarding guided trips and hiking is extremely dissipated and incoherent in Romania, most Romanians preferring to handle their own trips. Regarding foreign tourists however, our company will prove extremely useful to them because most have either limited or no knowledge about the Carpathians and their particularities.
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Our target customers will be both foreign and Romanian tourists, so we will use some advertising in English, French, German and Italian. The company will use mostly street advertising and only a limited amount of mass media advertising, firstly because foreign tourists will not likely watch or listen to much mass media, and secondly because it is a cheaper solution. Our main competitors will be mostly individuals who work on their own, as there are no major companies yet in the domain. Given this fact, our initiative might be a first in tourism if successful

Premises

We believe that Sinaia is a very suitable town for establishing our main headquarters, because the city is a popular destination for hiking and winter sports, especially downhill skiing. We have chosen this town because it is a good place for tourists to start climbing; it is a much easier point for beginning the mountain path. This town has many other attractive sights the most important being Peleş Castle, Pelişor Castle, Sinaia Monastery, Sinaia train station, and the Franz Joseph and Saint Anne Cliffs. There will also be offices in the main mountain resorts: Busteni, which is very well known for mountaineering during summer time, Predeal, where there are many ski tracks, and Poiana Brasov, where the main attraction during winter is represented by skiing. The offices are close to the mountains so the time for transportation will be reduced and the cost will be lower. For the main headquarters we decided to purchase the office in order to avoid problems which might appear with the renting contract, problems that might endanger our business. The offices in the other towns will be leased because, at the beginning we will not be able to spend so much money and there are many other things that should be taken into consideration. In time we will consider the possibility of buying them, but only when we consider that our business is successful and we have enough profit.

Equipment

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The company will provide the mountain equipment for all its employees, and here we include everything they need even for more difficult mountain paths. The guides will also be given food and the first aid kit for each “mission”. Each office will be equipped with a computer and a telephone for a better communication with our clients. We plan to use the internet for advertising.

Sales forecast

The first year we expect to encounter some problems, because a business needs time to develop and to become profitable. We believe that the number of clients will increase each year, because the conditions offered in the mountain resorts are better than the ones at the sea-side and many people who live in cities, surrounded by noise prefer the fresh air and peace offered by the mountains. We have to work hard for the advertising part because it is fundamental for the company. The main means for advertising will be the internet and the local advertising, using banners in the towns where we establish our offices. On the site people can find out more about the services we offer, the prices, the program and the availability of the guides. If the business is successful we think about expanding in other regions like Petrosani region, near Parang and Retezat or even Apuseni. This depends on the demand and how people will appreciate our services.

Budget [pic] Equipment – 4 * 1100 € = 4400 €; Rent – 3 * 300 € = 900 € / month; Main headquarters – 50 000 € Office equipment – 4 * 3000€ = 12 000 €; Salaries – The guides will keep 45% of the whole value of the order. The price will be set depending on the number of hours - 3 € / person / hour. Other expenses – 5000 € TOTAL : 73 000€

To start the business we hope to obtain a loan of 50 000 € from the bank and we come with a contribution of approximately 11 000 € each.

Bibliografie: • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaia • http://www.viaromania.eu/index.cfm/param/travel-tz-8,Statiuni_montane-index.html
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General Director
-Sinaia-

Sinaia
-Guides
-Sales man
-Logistics man

Busteni
-Guides
-Sales man
-Logistics man

Predeal
-Guides
-Sales man
-Logistics man

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Poiana Brasov
-Guides
-Sales man
-Logistics man

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