The job of a travel clerk is to help customers find the right information regarding their travel itineraries or their tour packages and many other travel details. A travel clerk has more than one task, the first one is to gather information on national and international airlines, the train schedules and the travel fees and other transport related issues. Another task for the travel clerk is to assist and coordinate with the work of the agency's travel manager and travel agent. Whenever tourists come to a travel agency, he has to provide them with all the travel information they want, such as: points of interest for a touristic location, restaurants, accommodation, rates, even emergency service for a specific area. Other duties include answering inquiries and gladly offering suggestions for the customers, and providing information about excursions or sporting events, local concerts and plays at the customers' travel destination.

Tasks:

1. Have to promote and sell holiday or business travel products to all the customers a travel agency might have
2. Helps in all the activities of the travel agency, by recording, analyzing the places of touristic interest, the travel destinations and the touristic spots, by preparing routes and packages, tour plans based on the gathered travel information
3. Have to book tickets and arrange accommodations for the customers during their trip, he needs to arrange meetings between customers and the travel agency's manager, also he can suggest how to improve tour packages or even strategies in order to develop the business
4. Have to answer queries raised by clients, then should help them in selecting the appropriate package that better suits their travel needs and their financial status

Key skills for Travel Clerk:

• Communication and written skills
• A passion to gather all sorts of information related to travel
• Quite good managerial skills
• Knowledge about marketing concepts
• Great ability to work with and to coordinate other people

Average Salary (2013):

United Kingdom: £13,000 per year
United States of America: $43,391 per year
Australia: AU$48,096 per year

Qualifications and training required:

Despite the fact that hiring requirements for travel clerk jobs vary from company to company, a high school diploma or its equivalent is the most common educational requirement. Increasingly, familiarity or experience with computers and good interpersonal skills are becoming equally important as the diploma to employers. Although many employers prefer to hire travel clerks with a higher level of education, only a few of these occupations require such a level of education. But in order to make a career at a travel agency the candidate should have a Bachelor’s or equivalent degree in Tourism, Hospitality or Management.

Some information clerks learn the skills they need in high schools, business schools, and community colleges. Business education programs offered by these institutions typically include courses in business communications, records management, and office systems and procedures.