Tourism, travel and entertainment

How to become a ticket collector and usher

Official title: Ticket collector and usher

Also called: Usher, Ticket collector, Cinema usher, Theatre usher, Ticket taker, Venue attendant

Ticket collectors and ushers greet people arriving at entertainment events, check their tickets and help people find their way around the venue.

Main tasks

Welcome customers and check tickets
Help people find their seats
Answer customer questions
Assist people with seating and disability access
Share information about events
Help solve customer problems
Make sure customers following venue rules
Handle disagreements calmly

How to become one

You usually learn on the job to become a ticket collector or usher and experience may be useful. You usually don’t need specific NCEA levels for this job. Other requirements: experience in similar work; to be over 18 years old.

See the full Tahatū profile

Pay · Past change

Median pay: $56,000 a year, a TEC estimate before tax.
Upper: $83,000 a year
TEC shows pay for this job by the hour: median $26.92 an hour.
TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Decrease (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.

Who does this work

About 730 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).

Questions people ask

How do I become a ticket collector and usher?

How much does a ticket collector and usher earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $56,000 a year, before tax.

Has the number of people working as a ticket collector and usher grown in New Zealand?

It has shrunk: TEC records a decrease in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.

Sources

Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026