Destination Specialist - Inbound Tourism Sales and Customer Service

Oku Japan

Company

Oku Japan

Job ID

155152

Location

Kyoto, Japan

Post date

Mar 3, 2025

Industry

Tourism / Travel / Hospitality

Function

Travel Agent

Work Type

Full Time / Experienced (Non-Manager)

Salary

¥240,000 ~ ¥325,000 / Month

Oku Japan is a Kyoto-based tour operator and destination management company (DMC) focused on adventure travel. We do more than create tours – we create memories of a lifetime by creating people-to-people connections. Our international team is bound together by a deep passion for and a strong knowledge of traditional Japanese culture. We create small-group guided, self-guided, walking, cultural, and special interest tours of Japan. Our tours place an emphasis on travel off the beaten track, and combining must see places with hidden gems. Our tours and our team reflect our support for sustainable and community-based tourism.

Job responsibilities for the positions available include but are not limited to the following:

Learning our trip destinations and individual itineraries in detail and becoming the point person for a particular destination or tour type

Taking calls and replying to emails from prospective travellers and travel advisors, often in rapid succession, throughout the day

Building rapport and understanding the needs of your travellers and travel advisors

Following up on leads to help determine the best trip fit for our travellers and the clients of our partner travel advisors and closing those sales

Preparing quotes and customizing them to ensure they meet the needs of your customers.

Booking and entering reservations and handling special requests and additional services

Supporting your customers with all pre, during and post trip questions, amendments and issues.

Connecting with your customers pre and post trip to ensure all goes to plan and listening to their feedback to ensure we continually improve our trips.

Building relationships with our customers that ensure they return again and again and tell their friends about their great experiences with us.

Ensuring that every detail of your traveller’s trip is perfectly organized and documented, including the administrative tasks this involves.

Do your utmost to ensure you are providing our travellers have a positive experience, from start to finish from their first enquiry to their post trip survey

Developing and writing custom itineraries and proposals

Communicating closely with our marketing and operations teams and other stakeholders to efficiently drive your book of business while ensuring the delivery of high-end service

Contributing to marketing initiatives including writing blog posts, contributing to documentation

Working and fully available 9-6 Monday – Friday. Additional hours may be necessary to achieve your goals and complete your work.

Occasionally, weekend work may be required

Occasionally, domestic or international travel may be required

*Please note we are not always able to reply to unsuccessful candidates on initial application

Requested skills

Japan travel experience, preferably to diverse nature destinations

You have a passion for active and adventure travel with experience and knowledge of the destinations and activities we offer.

Experience in sales or customer facing roles where you have demonstrated your ability to understand customer needs, propose solutions, overcome objections and close sales.

Outstanding customer service and problem-solving skills.

An excellent eye for detail and administrative skills.

Able to multitask, prioritize and establish deadlines to ensure competing objectives are met.
Interpersonal and team skills which enable you to build great relationships internally and externally.

Highly confident, competent and articulate individual who can communicate professionally across all levels.

Able to work under pressure, motivated to achieve targets and demonstrate a positive attitude, and who follow through.

Candidates looking to grow and develop a career with us over the long term

Learning orientated

Resilient and flexible

People who care

Good listeners

A hands-on individual willing to go the extra mile for customers, colleagues and the business.

Proficient with Microsoft Office, and online tools such as Gmail, Googledocs, and Dropbox

Experience in B2B sales and account management is highly regarded

Do you have additional skills you can bring to the table? Tell us about them!

Must be Native or be highly proficient in English

Must have permission to work in Japan

All applications must include a cover letter. Tell us about yourself!