· Travel industry’s gender pay gap grows in 2024
· Gap mainly due to wide pay difference at top of industry
· Women awarded 66 per cent of all roles in travel
· But are paid 13.8 per cent less than men on average
Gender pay split
The gender pay gap in the travel industry widened in 2024, according to new research from C&M Travel Recruitment.
The typical female working in travel took home 13.83 per cent less than their male equivalent last year, compared to gaps of 11.15 per cent in 2023, 11.50 per cent in 2022, 6.48 per cent in 2021 and 14.15 per cent in 2019.
This meant that the gender pay gap totalled £5,238 in 2024 (up from £3,678 in 2023), with women earning an average of £35,245 while men received £40,483.
However, 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 stood at 1.06 per cent in 2024 (with men earning £280 more on average than women), while the gap stood at 1.47 per cent for travel jobs 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 0.71 per cent 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 23.81 per cent, with the average man in this pay bracket taking home £83,227 compared to £65,521 for women.
Gender role split
Females continued to be awarded the majority of new jobs in the travel industry in 2024 with a total of 66.1 per cent – slightly down from 68.3 per cent in 2023, 70.7 per cent in 2022 and 68.7 per cent in 2019.
Women took 68.7 per cent of all new travel jobs paying up to £29,999 (compared to 60.0 per cent in 2023 and 81.6 per cent in 2022), while females were awarded 70.0 per cent of all roles paying between £30,000 and £39,999 (compared to 70.7 per cent in 2023 and 76.8 per cent in 2022).
Similarly, the majority of positions paying between £40,000 and £59,999 were also taken by women, with 60.9 per cent in 2024, compared to 75.9 per cent in 2023.
However, for roles paying £60,000 and above, men were awarded the majority of positions, with 61.1 per cent in 2024 – up from 57.9 per cent in 2023.
Speaking about the findings, 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 per cent during the Covid-affected year of 2021 and around 11 per cent in both 2022 and 2023, the gap has now grown to 13.8 per cent – very close to the 14.1 per cent 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 outearned women across the industry last year, the gaps were relatively small with men receiving between 0.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent 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 per cent, 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."
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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 (Co-Owner and Managing Director - 07507 602 069 / barbara@candm.co.uk).