hi guys.

i am new on this forum, so kindly excuse me if i make any silly boo-boos!
i am in the process of starting a travel company, specialising in Indian tours (ie to Delhi, etc).
but the problem for me is that where i am based (UK), one must be a member of ABTA or ATOL, whihc are bodies that offer customers a guarantee of refunds, should anything go wrong once the customer has paid for his tour.

that in itself is no problem, until i looked at how to join these bodies !! they require an upfront fee ( a "bond") of around £25 000, which I presume they hold as protection for customers!

this figure is way more than i can afford, as i have very little in the way of funds to speak of.
but what someone has advised me to do, and is fully legal, is to offer my tours as usual, but within the package that customers will pay for, offer them free insurance to cover any possible failure of their tour.

this insurance can be paid by myself for each customer and i can recoup the cost within the price i charge for the package.
this way, the customers are still covered should anything go wrong.

another method, which i dont favour at the moment, is to base the tour company in india itself, as then we would not need to be members of these bodies.

does anybody have any ideas about the whole of this pls?