Wages for the typical new job in travel have risen by 13% since pre-pandemic times, according to the latest salary survey from C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment.
The survey covers new vacancies registered with the sister brands during first half of 2022 and compared them to pay packets offered in the same period of 2019.
With an average of £27,635, salaries for standard new travel jobs – those paying up to £40,000 – rose by more than £3,000 from the figure of £24,449 recorded in the first six months of 2019. The average was also up by 13.7 % from the first half of last year.
However, new executive travel roles – those paying more than £40,000 – have seen an average drop in salary of 4.8% 2019, and 2.6% since 2021, to stand at £50,189.
This has resulted in overall salaries for new travel jobs increasing by 5.3% in the first six months of 2022 compared to the same period of 2019.
With an average wage of £29,707, travel salaries remain in line with those seen at the beginning of last year – down by just £10 or 0.03%.
Recruitment activity levels in the sector hit a record high during the first half of 2022, with the number of candidates being placed in new travel jobs jumping by 625% from 2021, and up by 25%.
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Barbara Kolosinska, director at C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment, said: “It may look like travel salaries have unexpectedly jumped in the past year, but this has been a long time coming.
“Travel has always been a comparatively poorly paid industry and, when you couple this with the current lack of available candidates, wages simply had to rise.
“Travel companies are realising that it’s no longer acceptable to pay minimum wage to experienced candidates – and they’re also realising that they simply won’t be able to fill their job vacancies if they offer such derogatory salaries.
“We are also seeing many candidates handing in their notice and then being counter-offered by their current company with significantly higher salaries in an effort to convince them to stay.
“This bidding war for top talent suggests that wages will continue to rise for at least the short-term.
“There continues to be a lack of experienced applicants in the marketplace, but with the record numbers of vacancies and the more attractive pay packets currently on offer, we expect many talented travel professionals will want to assess the fantastic variety of travel jobs on offer in the second half of the year.”