One of the largest Ukrainian tour operators Join UP! opened the first agency under the franchising program in Poland, the office will operate in Katowice and will become the hundredth in the company’s franchising network, its press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
Brand Join UP! entered the Polish market in 2022 as a tour operator and began collaborating with local travel agents. The opening of a franchise agency was the next step in strengthening the tourism brand in the market.
“The interest in cooperation with us on franchising terms in Poland testifies to the high trust of our partners, which we have received over more than a year of work in the new market. We try to support entrepreneurs in all the countries where we operate and provide them with the opportunity to build a profitable business together with Join UP!” said Marina Daineko, head of the sales development department.
In addition, she noted that the development of a franchise network abroad expands access for Ukrainians to the already familiar tourism service created by their compatriots.
The development of a franchise network is one of the strategic vectors of the brand’s activities. This is the direction of Join UP! started more than 10 years ago, as of March 2024 the network has 100 travel agencies, 33 of which opened after the start of the full-scale invasion. The office in Katowice became the second foreign office under the franchising program (since 2017 it has been operating in Moldova).
As Daineko reported, the average cost of a lump-sum contribution in Ukraine is UAH 60,000 (depending on the city and region), the highest are in Kyiv, in small cities – about UAH 40,000. Royalty ranges from $50 to $125 per month, also depending on the region.
In Poland, the lump sum is EUR 2,500, royalties are 0.5% of sales of Join UP tours! and 1% from sales of tours from other tour operators.
In addition to the full franchise support provided by the brand, new cooperation formats are also being introduced to attract new partners.
According to Daineko, with the outbreak of the full-scale war, several dozen of the network’s franchise agencies in the country closed due to occupation and destruction. In addition, the logistics of traveling around Ukraine has changed dramatically.
“To preserve the Ukrainian tourism sector in such difficult conditions, it is extremely important to support and unite the market. To do this, we have launched the “Join Ukrainian” program with simplified conditions for joining the Join UP network! for agents with experience,” she said.
Today, the brand Join UP! is represented in eight markets. In 2022, brand companies appeared in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Poland and Romania, and strengthened their position in the Moldavian market, where the tour operator has been represented for several years. Plans for this year include entering the markets of the Czech Republic and Slovakia as a tour operator.
