Travel salaries rise 8.4% in 2024

LONDON - Jan. 23, 2025 - PRLog --

• Average salaries up by 21 per cent since 2022
• Pace of increase slows from 2023
• 28% of travel employees now earn at least £40,000
• Recruitment activity falls

Travel wages increase again

Salaries for the average new job in the travel industry rose by 8.43 per cent in 2024 to reach £37,036, according to the 2024 Travel Salary Index from C&M Travel Recruitment which surveyed all new vacancies registered with the company during the year.

The average increase of £2,880 follows double figure wage growth of 11.56 per cent in 2023 and 11.53 per cent in 2022, with typical travel salaries having risen by 34.92 per cent since 2021.

While standard travel roles (those paying below £40,000) saw annual wage growth of 4.71 per cent in 2024 compared to a 5.14 per cent annual fall in salaries for executive travel roles (those paying £40,000 and above), the percentage of travel employees now entering the upper wage bracket has risen considerably in the past two years.

The proportion of candidates securing roles paying at least £40,000 stood at just 9.1 per cent in 2022, before rising to 17.5 per cent in 2023 and reaching 28.1 per cent last year.

At the lower end of the wage scale, only 26.8 per cent of new travel jobs in 2024 came with salaries of less than £30,000, compared to 40.9 per cent in 2023 and 47.6 per cent in 2022.

Recruitment activity slows

The number of new candidates searching for travel jobs dipped by five per cent last year following rises of eight per cent in 2023 and 26 per cent in 2022.

New travel job placements and vacancies fell back in 2024 by 21 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively. However, both metrics saw a more encouraging second half of the year, with placements down by just six per cent from the second half of 2023 and vacancies down by 18 per cent from the same timeframe.

Finally, the business travel sector saw strong wage growth of 14.32 per cent from 2023 and 22.54 per cent from 2022 to stand at an average of £37,057 in 2024. However, the number of candidates being placed in business travel jobs fell back by 55 per cent.

Speaking about the stats, Barbara Kolosinska, Managing Director and Co-Owner at C&M Travel Recruitment (http://www.candm.co.uk/), said: "Following big increases in 2022 and 2023, we saw another very significant jump in wages in the travel industry last year. Travel has never offered the best pay, so in order for us to be competitive with other industries, salaries had to rise – and this news should be welcomed across the sector."