Travel industry’s gender pay gap grows in 2024

The gender pay gap in the travel industry widened during 2024, according to research from C&M Travel Recruitment.

 

The typical female working in travel took home almost 14% less than their male equivalent last year, compared to gaps of 11%in 2023, 11.5 % in 2022, 6% in 2021 and 14% in 2019.

 

This meant women earned an average of £35,245 while men received £40,483 last year.

 

However, C&M said the gap can largely be attributed to the wide difference in pay for those earning the highest salaried jobs at the top of the travel industry.

 

The pay gap for roles paying up to £29,999 was 1% cent in 2024, with men earning £280 more on average than women.

 

The gap was just over 1% for roles paying between £30,000 and £39,999, with men outearning women by an average of £500.

 

For those in travel jobs paying between £40,000 and £59,999, there was a slightly smaller gap of 0.7% with women earning £328 less than male counterparts.

 

However, the pay gap widened significantly for roles paying £60,000 or more, with men outearning women by almost 24%, with the average man in this pay bracket taking home £83,227 compared to £65,521 for women.

 

Females continued to be awarded most new jobs in the travel industry in 2024 with a total of 66% – slightly down from 68% in 2023.

 

However, for roles paying £60,000 and above, men were awarded most positions, with 61% in 2024 – up from 60% in 2023.

 

Barbara Kolosinska, co-owner and managing director at C&M Travel Recruitment, said: “It’s very disappointing to see that the overall gender pay gap in the travel industry widened last year.

 

“After narrowing to 6.5% during the Covid-affected year of 2021 and around 11% in both 2022 and 2023, the gap has now grown to 13.8% – very close to the 14.1% we saw in 2019.

 

“On the face of it we have made very little progress in combating the gender pay gap over the past five years, which is disheartening to say the least.

 

“However, the overall figure doesn’t tell the whole story. While these latest stats show that men out-earned women across the industry last year, the gaps were relatively small with men receiving between 0.7% and 1.5% more than their female equivalents at most levels.

 

“While the gender pay gap for the average travel employee could be considered small, this is certainly not the case at the top, which continues to be dominated by men.

 

“When looking at roles paying £60,000 and above, the gender pay gap grew in 2024 to reach 23.8%, with men also being awarded a higher percentage of these positions than in the previous year.

 

“With the gender pay gap increasing for the highest paid in our industry, it’s hard to put a positive spin on these figures.

 

“While much has been done at the lower levels of travel in terms of pay disparity in recent years, this report should be a reminder that we should not be complacent.

 

“The travel industry is a wonderful, inclusive place to work, but we need to do more to ensure that the top of our industry is a reflection of that inclusivity.”