How to become a Travel Agency Counter Clerk

Sells package tours and tailor-made travel at a travel agency branch or office, giving advice to suit each customer's needs.

Main tasks

• Finding out what customers want in terms of destination, transport, dates, budget and accommodation
• Calculating trip costs with calculators, computers and fare tables and giving quotes
• Booking transport and accommodation by computer or phone
• Operating booking terminals to issue transport tickets
• Taking payment from customers and issuing receipts
• Explaining to customers the steps before departure and how to use services
• Giving customers brochures and publications with travel information
• Preparing and sending itineraries
• Preparing and sending vouchers
• Explaining and arranging delivery services for things such as travel gear rental, souvenirs and foreign currency
• Arranging travel insurance
• Booking interpreters to fit the itinerary
• Handling contracts with accommodation and other providers at the destination
• Calculating and recording payments owed to suppliers and passing them to the accounts team
• Letting customers know when tickets for events at their destination have been secured
• Answering questions from customers about to travel
• Dealing with problems during or after customers' trips, for example by contacting local staff
• Handling trip cancellations
• Checking for unpaid balances and chasing them where needed
• Visiting business clients outside the office to win work
• Making flyers and point-of-sale signs
• Planning new travel products

Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

No particular qualifications or education are needed to start, but at large travel agencies many staff are graduates of senmon gakko (vocational college), tanki daigaku (junior college) or university. National qualifications such as domestic travel service supervisor and general travel service supervisor widen the range of work you can do, so gaining them is a goal for many travel agency staff. With demand for overseas travel, foreign languages (especially English) are an advantage. The job suits people who love travel, enjoy dealing with people and are sociable and proactive. Now that individuals commonly research, search and book accommodation, tickets and more online, counter clerks are expected to have deeper knowledge and information that ordinary people do not know. You also need customer service skills to handle customers' many different requests and questions, and the ability to build plans from a range of information. It is important to give customers the reassurance that only face-to-face service can offer.

Ways in

• Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Junior college (短期大学) programme. 16% of workers surveyed by job tag say junior college graduates are common in this job. In March 2025, 3,879 junior college graduates started work in clerical jobs (34% 社会, 33% 家政) (School Basic Survey 2025, table 103).; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Travel and tourism. 専修学校 courses in 旅行 (商業実務関係) had 4,204 graduates in the 2024 school year, 3,573 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
• National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 総合旅行業務取扱管理者、国内旅行業務取扱管理者. English name and classification by Peernovo.

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

• Average annual income: ¥5,251,400 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
• Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥291,300, and the middle half earn ¥244,600 to ¥370,800 a month.
• Pay measured for the wage survey group: Sales clerks
• 1.00 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
• Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Franchise Chain Supervisor
• Trade Administration Clerk
• Sales Administration Clerk
• Non-Life Insurance Clerk

Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz

Questions people ask

How do I become a Travel Agency Counter Clerk?

No particular qualifications or education are needed to start, but at large travel agencies many staff are graduates of senmon gakko (vocational college), tanki daigaku (junior college) or university. National qualifications such as domestic travel service supervisor and general travel service supervisor widen the range of work you can do, so gaining them is a goal for many travel agency staff. With demand for overseas travel, foreign languages (especially English) are an advantage. The job suits people who love travel, enjoy dealing with people and are sociable and proactive. Now that individuals commonly research, search and book accommodation, tickets and more online, counter clerks are expected to have deeper knowledge and information that ordinary people do not know. You also need customer service skills to handle customers' many different requests and questions, and the ability to build plans from a range of information. It is important to give customers the reassurance that only face-to-face service can offer.

How much does a Travel Agency Counter Clerk earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥5,251,400 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Sales clerks, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a Travel Agency Counter Clerk?

Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 49% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Junior college (短期大学) programme; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Travel and tourism.

Will AI change the work of a Travel Agency Counter Clerk?

Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026