Salaries for new travel jobs rose by an average 8.43% in 2024 to reach £37,036, according to the 2024 Travel Salary Index from C&M Travel Recruitment.
The company 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% in 2023.
While standard travel roles (those paying below £40,000) saw annual wage growth of 4.71% in 2024 compared to a 5.14% annual fall in salaries for executive travel roles, 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% in 2022, and surged to 28.1% last year.
At the lower end of the wage scale, only 26.8% of new travel jobs in 2024 came with salaries of less than £30,000.
The number of new candidates searching for travel jobs dipped by 5% last year following rises of 8% and 26% in the previous two years,
New travel job placements and vacancies fell back in 2024 by more than 20%.
However, both metrics saw a more encouraging second half of the year.
Finally, the business travel sector saw strong wage growth of 14.32% from 2023.
Barbara Kolosinska, Managing Director and co-owner at C&M Travel Recruitment, said: “Following big increases in 2022 and 2023, we saw another very significant jump in wages 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.”
