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A sharp rise in executive travel salaries helped 2014 end strongly by pushing average wages to their highest level all year, a new study shows.
Average wages for a job in travel rose by 2.16% last month to reach a new high of £26,316 for the year.
Much of this increase was due to typical pay for executive roles – those with salaries above £40,000 – rising to their highest level since May 2011, according to the latest Travel Salary Index from C&M Travel Recruitment and Chisholm & Moore Executive Recruitment.
December saw pay rise across the board with salaries for standard travel roles – paying up to £40,000 – increasing to their highest point since February last year.
The south of the country saw wages hit their highest level since May 2013 and the north saw average pay reach its highest point since May 2014.
Sales director Barbara Kolosinska said: “With wages increasing in both the north and south for both standard and executive roles, December was a great month for those seeking a new travel job.
“With uncertainties over the economy still being felt, it has been a challenging year for the travel recruitment industry, but the last quarter of 2014 has been overwhelmingly positive with consistent month-on-month salary increases.
“This is a great sign for 2015 and we’re very positive that the coming year will be a busy one – not only for the travel recruitment sector, but for the whole of the travel industry.”
December saw a usual dip in both the number of new candidates looking for travel jobs and the amount of new vacancies made available.
However, the total number of applicants was still significantly up compared to the same month in 2013.
Kolosinska added:
“The last two weeks of December are always one of the quietest points of the year for the travel recruitment market, but it was still very encouraging to see so many new candidates searching for new jobs and we are in a great position to start 2015.”