These are the highest paid jobs in travel

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By Alexandra Coulton


TMS Talent has released its Travel Salary Guide for 2019, revealing the positions to go for if you want to up your salary.

The guide is compiled using TMS Talent’s own data and uncovers the latest market salary trends to enable both employers and employees to make the right decisions taking into account current market conditions.

“Employing over 900,000 people, the Australian travel and tourism sector is Australia’s largest services export industry,” John Terry, TMS Talent’s group managing director, said.

“With 9.4 million visitors to Australia in 2019, Tourism Australia estimates that in 2026-2027 there will be a 50 per cent increase in dollars spent in Australia on tourism.”

Terry said that despite the Australian travel market seeing strong hiring demand this year, “movement in salaries remains relatively modest and largely unchanged over the past 12 months”.

“With specialist and niche travel roles and travel professionals with unique skill sets being offered the largest pay packets,” he said.

“To differentiate themselves, Australian travel employers are embracing new flexible working practices, as well as increasing their focus on learning and development to attract and retain quality staff.”

In terms of travel consultants, it appears corporate travel employees are paid higher than retail, with the top-paying position in this role being area sales manager at a high average of $130,000, compared with the same position for a retail consultant at $120,000.

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According to TMS, the most in-demand role in the retail sector will continue to be mid-level retail travel consultant, which attracts an average salary of $51,500, but it’s agents with specialist knowledge that will attract top salaries.

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While you might be paid more for working in the corporate sector, TMS’ report indicated that the job requires a willingness to take on extra responsibilities, such as after-hours work or have specialist skills like manual ticketing.

Consultants looking to break into different areas of the industry would do well to consider a role in product, according to the report, with the top salary for head of product sitting at $135,000.

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Download the full report here.

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