One of Ukraine’s largest tour operators, Join UP! has opened its first franchise agency in Poland, the office will operate in Katowice and become the hundredth in the company’s franchise network, its press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
The Join UP! brand entered the Polish market in 2022 as a tour operator and began cooperating with local travel agents. The opening of a franchise agency was the next step in strengthening the travel brand in the market.
“The interest in cooperating with us on a franchise basis in Poland demonstrates the high trust of our partners, which we have gained over more than a year of work in the new market. We try to support entrepreneurs in all the countries where we operate and give them the opportunity to build a profitable business together with Join UP!”, comments Marina Daineko, Head of Sales Development.
In addition, she noted that the development of the franchise network abroad expands access for Ukrainians to the already familiar travel service created by compatriots.
The development of the franchise network is one of the strategic vectors of the brand. Join UP! started this direction more than 10 years ago, and as of March 2024, the network includes 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 franchise program (since 2017, it has been operating in Moldova).
According to Daineko, the average cost of a lump sum (one-time start-up) fee in Ukraine is UAH 60 thousand (depending on the city and region), the highest is in Kyiv, in small towns – about 40 thousand. Royalties (monthly payment) range from $50 to $125 per month, also depending on the region.
In Poland, the cost of a lump sum payment is EUR2500, and royalties are 0.5% of the sales of Join UP! tours and 1% of the sales of tours of other tour operators.
In addition to full franchise support provided by the brand, new cooperation formats are also being introduced to attract new partners.
According to Deineko, with the outbreak of a full-scale war, several dozen franchise agencies in the country closed due to occupation and destruction. In addition, the logistics of traveling in Ukraine have changed dramatically.
“To preserve the Ukrainian tourism sector in such difficult conditions, it is extremely important to support and unite the market. To this end, we have launched the Join UP! program with simplified conditions for joining the Join UP! network for agents with experience,” she said.
Today, the Join UP! brand is represented in eight markets. In 2022, the brand’s companies appeared in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Poland and Romania, and its position in the Moldovan market, where the tour operator has been represented for several years, was strengthened. This year, the company plans to enter the Czech Republic and Slovakia as a tour operator.
Join UP! LLC was established in 2013, with an authorized capital of UAH 72 million 671 thousand. In 2023, revenue increased to UAH 16 million 639 thousand, which is 2.3 times higher than in 2022. At the same time, the company incurred a 1.8-fold higher net loss of UAH 234 million 120 thousand, compared to UAH 129 million 486 thousand a year earlier.
The strategic partner of the tour operators operating under the Join UP! brand is SkyUp, and together they are part of the UPfamily group of businesses, the ultimate beneficiaries of which are Yuriy and Alexander Alba.
