The exact steps to check an inbound operator’s TÜRSAB licence in the official register, the second lookup at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the sites that imitate the register and the seven questions worth asking before you sign.
An inbound operator is the company that runs the trip in the destination: it contracts the hotels, issues the domestic flights, provides the vehicle, the driver and the guide, and picks up the phone when something goes wrong at three in the morning. In Turkey that company has to be a travel agency licensed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and registered with the association TÜRSAB, and that fact can be checked in two minutes in a public register. What follows is the complete method, with the official addresses, the exact steps and the sites that imitate the register but are not it.
In trade vocabulary, inbound operator, ground operator, incoming agency and DMC (destination management company) all name the same thing: the company established in the destination country that buys and operates the ground services for an agency abroad. The outbound agency sells the trip to its client; the DMC executes it. A good DMC quotes net rates, operates in the group’s language with licensed guides, has a line that answers outside office hours and carries the legal responsibility for what happens on the ground.
What a DMC does not do matters too. It does not sell international flights, does not process visas (although it can explain the requirements), does not replace travel insurance and does not set the retail price: that margin belongs to the agency. When a Turkish company offers “everything included from your country”, with international flight and insurance, it is not acting as a DMC but as a wholesaler, and it is worth knowing who you are talking to.
Before sending a single passenger, an agency is entitled to ask for and check five things. None of them is confidential, and a serious company has them to hand.
Turkish licences take the form of a letter and a number, for example A-12116. The letter is the agency’s group under Law 1618 on travel agencies: group A is the one allowed to organise and sell complete packages, contract hotels and transport and operate for foreign agencies. The number is the order of registration with the Ministry: the lower it is, the older the licence. A licence may be cancelled while the company still exists, which is exactly what the register is there to reveal.
TÜRSAB (Türkiye Seyahat Acentaları Birliği) is the association of Turkish travel agencies, and membership is compulsory for every licensed agency. Its public register is at tursab.org.tr/acenta-arama, in Turkish, and it works like this:
The same form has a second option, “Web site adresi ile seyahat acentası doğrulama”, which runs the check the other way round: you type a domain and the register says which agency it belongs to. It is useful when all you have is a website and an e-mail.
If the number returns no result, that does not necessarily mean fraud: it may be a mistyped number or a recently granted licence. It means you have to ask and check again before paying.
The licence is granted by the Ministry, and the Ministry has its own public agency lookup at yatirimisletmeleruygulama.kultur.gov.tr. The form asks for the agency or company name, the licence number (“Belge Numarası”), the province (“Bulunduğu İl”; Istanbul is 34), the group (“Grubu”) and the licence status (“Belge Durumu”). The answer you want is “GEÇERLİ” (valid). A licence marked “İPTAL” is cancelled, and TÜRSAB also publishes the list of cancelled licences on its website. Two official sources saying the same thing settle the matter.
Searching for “TÜRSAB sorgulama” brings up domains such as tursabacenta.org, tursabonlinesorgu.com or tursabsorgulama.com that reproduce the look of the search form, talk about “agency register lookup” and claim to rely on public data. They are not TÜRSAB. The only official domains are tursab.org.tr and its platform online.tursab.org.tr; the Ministry’s ends in kultur.gov.tr. A lookup made on an unofficial site proves nothing, and at worst hands the name of the agency you are checking to whoever built the page.
With the licence verified, the commercial part begins. These are the seven questions whose answers separate a DMC with procedures from one that improvises. The commercial terms for agencies carry the ones we already publish — response time, net rates, deposit, balance and cancellation scale; the two that depend on each file, the invoicing currency and the treatment of the group escort, go in the offer itself. Here are the seven questions.
None of these signs proves fraud on its own. Two or three together do justify looking for another supplier.
Colorido Tours is the brand of Colorido Tours Turkey Turizm Ticaret Ltd. Şti., a travel agency with TÜRSAB licence A-12116, an office in Istanbul and in business since 2019. We operate in Turkey only, with licensed Spanish- and English-speaking guides, and we quote net rates to agencies. All of this, with the register steps described above, is gathered on the credentials page. We ask you to run the check: it is the only sales argument that does not depend on us.
To see how this translates into a concrete programme, with the full breakdown of what is included and what is not, take as examples the Istanbul and Cappadocia programme in 7 days with domestic flights, the 10-day circuit by road or a themed trip such as the Seven Churches of Revelation in 9 days. Every page carries the same two inclusion columns and the same policy on tickets, flights and guide, and all of them go through the same quoting process.
The direction of the business. An outbound agency sells trips abroad to the residents of its own country; a DMC operates in its own country the trips bought from it by agencies abroad. In Turkey both need the same travel agency licence from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and registration with TÜRSAB.
Yes. The TÜRSAB form has three fields and two buttons, and this article says what to type in each. The result is one line with the number and the legal name in capitals, which needs no translation.
That the agency may provide every travel agency service under Law 1618, including organising and selling packages and operating for foreign agencies. It is the group a DMC must be in.
No. It guarantees that the company exists, that it is authorised to operate as an agency and that it carries the legal obligations of a Turkish agency. Solvency and quality are checked with the seven questions in the article, with references from other agencies and with a small first file.
Ask the company to explain the discrepancy and check the second source, the Ministry lookup. If it still does not appear, or appears as cancelled, send no payment.
Through the quote form, stating approximate dates, number of passengers, hotel category and the group’s nationalities. Agencies receive the proposal at net rates within the published deadline; the other terms are in the trade area.
