C&M Travel Recruitment's Travel Salary Index – 2022 Overview

(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED KINGDOM - January 26th, 2023 -

Travel Salaries Jump 11.5% in 2022 C&M Travel Recruitment's Travel Salary Index – 2022 Overview

• Standard travel wages up 17%
• Pay for senior travel roles falls
• Travel job placements and vacancies jump to near-record highs in 2022
• Candidate numbers rise but at slower pace than vacancies

Record year for travel wages

Salaries for the average new job in travel jumped by a huge 11.53 per cent in 2022 to stand at a record £30,617, according to the 2022 Travel Salary Index from C&M Travel Recruitment which surveyed all new vacancies registered with the company during the year.

The figure was up by 8.59 per cent from the last pre-pandemic year of 2019 and was also up by 14.01 per cent from 2018 and by 17.62 per cent from 2017.

The rise was even larger for standard new travel jobs (those paying up to £40,000) which increased annually by 17.36 per cent to stand at an average of £28,496. Compared to previous years, 2022's total was up by 14.25 per cent from 2019, up by 14.95 per cent from 2018 and up by 23.52 per cent from 2017.

However, salaries for the average new senior travel role (those paying £40,000 and above) dipped by 6.77 per cent in 2022. This was largely due to an increasing number of roles in the £40,000 to £45,000 range which pushed down the overall average salary for senior positions.

Huge increases in travel jobs and placements

The number of people placed in new travel jobs jumped by 181 per cent in 2022 to reach a near-record high. Trailing only 2017 by just three per cent, 2022 stood above every other year since the index began in 2012. Last year also set many monthly records including all-time highs for placements in the months of March, April, May, June, July and August.

Similarly, the number of new travel job vacancies was up by 96 per cent in 2022 from the previous year and reached the second highest level since the index began. Behind only 2017 by just three per cent, last year set monthly records for new vacancies in March, April and May.

It was a more mixed picture for new candidates which rose year-on-year but could not keep pace with the increase in vacancies. The number of new candidates searching for travel jobs was up by 26 per cent from 2021 and up by eight per cent from 2019, but fell by nine per cent from 2018 and was down by 22 per cent from 2017.

It was also an impressive year for business travel recruitment, with the number of candidates placed in business travel jobs jumping by a huge 1,387 per cent from 2021 and by 174 per cent from the pre-pandemic year of 2019. There was also a big increase in salaries for new business travel jobs, which stood at an average of £30,241 in 2022 – up by 2.47 per cent from 2021 and up by 11.54 per cent from 2019.

Speaking about the stats, Barbara Kolosinska, Managing Director at C&M Travel Recruitment, said: "Whichever we look at it, 2022 was a historic year for travel recruitment. After suffering hugely as a result of the pandemic, we all needed 2022 to be a bumper year – and was it ever!

"Last year set numerous records for vacancies and job placements, with spring and summer 2022 being the busiest period for travel recruitment that we have ever seen in the past 25 years. Almost all companies in the travel industry searched for new employees last year and we're seeing very few signs of this changing as we begin 2023.

"The last 12 months have also seen travel salaries rise to a record high with a huge 11.5 per cent year-on-year jump. The shortage of talented candidates continues to be the biggest challenge, but with wages increasing and great new roles being created every day, the next year will hopefully be another extremely healthy one for travel recruitment."

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All figures are drawn from the salaries of the new vacancies advertised with C&M Travel Recruitment.

C&M Travel Recruitment was established in 1998 and is the largest and most successful specialist travel recruitment company in the UK.

For further information please contact: Owen Mckeon (Marketing and Operations Manager - 0161 238 4497 / owen@candm.co.uk) or Barbara Kolosinska (Managing Director - 07507 602 069 / barbara@candm.co.uk).

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