C&M Travel Recruitment is reporting a mixed year for travel pay, with average salaries rising by 1.78%, but pay for standard travel jobs falling by a similar amount.
Average travel salaries rose last year to £37,695, according to C&M’s 2025 Travel Salary Index.
This was the fourth successive year of wage increases, with the COVID-affected year of 2021 being the only year to not record annual growth since 2014.
However, the rise significantly slower than that of recent years, which saw increases of 8.43% in 2024, and nearly 12% in 2023 and 2022.
Average wages for a new job in the travel industry have risen by more than a third since 2021 with growth of 37% or £10,244.
Last year’s increase was largely driven by the 8.23% rise in pay for senior travel roles of more than £40,000, with a particular jump in the number of positions paying £80,000 or more.
In contrast, salaries for standard travel jobs – those paying up to £39,999 – dipped for the first time in four years with a 1.84% annual fall.
Despite this, wages for the average standard new travel job have risen by 25.73%, or £6,247, since 2021.
The travel recruitment sector saw small falls in activity across all metrics last year, with placements dipping by three per cent, new candidates easing by seven per cent and vacancies slipping by 13 per cent compared to 2024.
In contrast, it was a much busier year for business travel with a 65% increase in job placements in the sector in 2025. Salaries for corporate travel jobs dipped by 8.89% in the past year, however they have risen by 14.41% since 2021 and by 26.43% since the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
C&M Managing Director Barbara Kolosinska said: “2025 was a mixed year for travel recruitment but there were lots of extremely positive areas to be encouraged by. Excluding the COVID era, travel salaries have now risen every year for more than a decade – and with wages having jumped by more than a third in just the past four years, travel is now in a much better place to attract the best candidates into our industry.
“After a fall in activity in 2024, it’s fantastic to see a big rebound in recruitment for business travel. Placements increased by a huge 65% in the sector last year, which is a great sign for the months ahead.
“Less positive were the small falls in overall vacancy, candidate and placement volumes last year, but with many companies reporting a strong Peaks season, we’re expecting a busy start to 2026 and we’re hopeful that this momentum will continue throughout the year.”
